Bougie Boozy Peach Cake

Hello everyone! I'm sorry for the long delay since my last post. I was digging in Israel over the summer, and then was focused on doing some baking for a friend's wedding last week. I did do some extraneous baking over the summer, but unfortunately was a bit too lackadaisical to write down the recipes I developed for most of the bakes. This post and the next three or four will be dedicated to the various bakes I accomplished during the summer (and other miscellaneous tidbits), and then I shall be celebrating the new series of The Great British Bake Off!

Once I am back in the baking swing of things, I will be devoting my time to challenges from this new Series 10 of GBBO. I just finished watching the first episode of the new series, and have determined that I must accomplish one bake from each episode- AND post about it- before moving on to watch the next episode. As of right now, I am already drying some fruit to make a fruitcake a la Series 10, Episode 1's signature bake challenge.

As I mentioned above, I had a friend's wedding about a week ago. Almost as soon as I got back from abroad, I started baking some cakes for her wedding shower, one of which is the one I shall share in this post today. Afterwards, I had to focus on making hundreds upon hundreds of cookies for her wedding. Why? Apparently cookie tables are a big Pittsburgh area thing. Typically, a few family members of the couple will bake a couple thousand cookies to fill an entire table. The cookies are meant to supplement both the dessert and the favors... boxes are provided so wedding guests can bring them home.

Since my friend's grandmother sadly passed away a few months before the wedding, I and various family friends agreed to step in and bake the cookies for the wedding. Below are some of the cookies I tried as a mock-up. From left to right: sugar cookies with pomegranate icing, smores chip cookies, iced apple pie cookies, smores sandwich cookies, cinnamon-glazed snickerdoodles, pumpkin chocolate sandwich cookies, and cinnamon bun cookies. For the wedding itself, I only ended up making the sugar cookies with pomegranate icing, the smores sandwich cookies, and the cinnamon bun cookies. But I made hundreds of each. It was quite the feat.

One of the cakes I made for my friend's wedding shower was this bougie boozy peach cake. My friend and her now-husband didn't want a basic white or yellow cake (what even is yellow cake?), but I sold them on this variation on a whiskey cake. Plus, peaches were in season, so I had to make something peachy!

My recipe for this cake is a variation of my favorite sponge cake recipe (which itself is a variation of the Classic Sponge Cake recipe from the Spice and Spirit cookbook). You will see many of my cakes have a lot of commonalities because this sponge cake base recipe is truly a keeper. The whipping of the egg whites separately from the yolks (to be added back in later) helps the cake maintain a lovely, even rise, and the fluffiness makes it resistant to over-baking.

While the cakes are baking, the peach compote filling should be formed. The peaches should be diced and cooked with an equal weight of sugar (brown sugar preferred, but not necessary). A little lemon juice should be cooked into the mixture, as well as a tad bit of cinnamon. Lastly, either some agar agar powder or some gelatin should be stirred into the mixture about two minutes before taking it off the heat. While the cakes and the compote are cooling, the bougie boozy buttercream should be mixed together. I used a fairly basic vanilla buttercream base for this, but added a bit of something extra for flavoring.

One of the tricks to the assembly of this cake is to take a little time and be careful. Each layer gets a thin layer of buttercream on top. Then a ring of thick buttercream should be piped around the circumference of the cake layer and frozen 5-10 minutes until hard. Then the peach compote should be spread inside the buttercream ring (the buttercream holds the more liquid compote in) before adding the next layer of cake. I went for a relatively smooth finish on the sides of the cake, accomplished with a cake scraper, and a more ornate piped finish on top. The piped frosting on the top of the cake gave an extra volume of buttercream on the top layer, as is typically considered aesthetically pleasing in cakes.

Please note, this cake does not pack a very boozy punch, but the alcohol merely adds an appropriate hint of flavor. For the flavor, I personally recommend using a darker liquor, such as whiskey or brandy. I personally couldn't decide what I wanted, so I used a combination of honey bourbon, apricot brandy, and a wonderful honey liqueur that I picked up over the summer in Slovenia. In the written recipe, I shall recommend brandy only, but please note that the type of alcohol used can be altered. 

The alcohol in the cake naturally burns off as it is baked. For those who are concerned about the minimal alcohol content in the cake's glaze or frosting, the alcohol can be brought to a simmer and cooled before using for either purpose. This will be enough to burn off the alcohol, but will maintain the flavor. I recommend using about 10% more brandy (or other alcohol) to account for the amount that evaporates during the heating.

Bougie Boozy Peach Cake

Ingredients

Cake

10 eggs, separated

3 C granulated sugar, divided

1/4 C peach juice or peach nectar

3/4 C brandy

1 C vegetable oil

zest of 1 lemon

2 tsp vanilla extract

3 C all purpose flour, sifted

1 3/4 tsp baking powder

 Glaze

1/2 C brandy

Peach Compote

3 white peaches, diced

1 C brown sugar

1 tsp vanilla extract

juice of 1/2 lemon

1 tsp ground cinnamon

1/2 tsp agar agar powder

Buttercream Frosting

1 1/2 C (3 sticks) unsalted butter, softened

6 C confectioner's sugar

1 tsp vanilla extract

3-4 tbsp brandy

1-2 tbsp heavy whipping cream or whole milk

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350°F (180°C). Line three 9" round cake pans with parchment paper and grease the sides.
2. In a large mixer bowl, beat egg whites. Once soft peaks form, gradually add 1 1/2 C of the granulated sugar until peaks are stiff and glossy. Set aside in the refrigerator.
3. In another large mixer bowl, beat egg yolks and remaining 1 1/2 C granulated sugar. Add oil and mix. Add peach juice, brandy, lemon zest, and vanilla extract and mix until incorporated. Sift in flour and baking powder and mix thoroughly.
4. Mix a spoonful or two into the egg yolk mixture into the egg white mixture, taking care to fold it in to keep it from losing air. Then fold the egg white mixture into the egg yolk mixture, continuing to make sure to not knock out too much air.
5. Pour finished cake batter evenly into the three pans. Bake 40-50 minutes.
6. While the cakes bake, prepare the peach compote. Dice the peaches, and mix them with the brown sugar, vanilla extract, lemon juice, and cinnamon in a pot over medium heat. Cook, stirring occasionally, until peaches are soft and mushy and the mixture is thick and bubbly. Stir in agar agar powder and simmer 2 more minutes. Pour into a container and refrigerate to cool.
7. When the cakes come out of the oven, immediately brush liberally with the brandy glaze. Cover loosely and allow to cool completely.
8. While the cakes and compote cool, make the buttercream frosting. Thoroughly mix together the softened butter and confectioner's sugar. Add vanilla extract and incorporate. Add half of the brandy and cream or milk and mix at medium speed for at least five minutes (to make it light and fluffy). Set aside 1/4 of the mixture for piping the circumference between cake layers. Add the remaining brandy and cream/milk to the remaining 3/4 of the frosting and mix another 5 minutes.
9. To assemble the cake, cut off any humps on the cake layers. Put one layer down. Spread a thin layer of the thinner buttercream mixture along the top of the cake layer. Then, using a wide circular nozzle, pipe a rope of the thick buttercream mixture around the circumference of the cake. Set in freezer 5-10 minutes to let the buttercream set. Bring cake out. Spread peach compote inside the thick buttercream ring, not exceeding the height of the buttercream ring. Then carefully stack the next layer of cake. Again, spread the thin buttercream, make a thick buttercream ring along circumference of cake, freeze, spread peach compote, and top with the final layer of cake. 
10. Use the remaining thinner buttercream to decorate as desired. For a more polished finish, carefully coat the cake in a thin layer of buttercream and freeze for a few minutes before completing final decorations. Then serve and enjoy.