Old(ish)

BEAUTY, STYLE AND LIFE OVER 50

Baking with Booze: Fireball Cinnamon Whisky Apple Cake

StyleLiza Herz6 Comments

This photo is a cheat. Not my table, nor my cake. I’m just trying to class up my trashy booze cake post.

There is a delightful corner of the internet populated by smiley midwestern moms insisting that you add Fireball Cinnamon Whisky to your autumn baking right now.

A 1980s classic from Canada (go team!) Fireball Cinnamon Whisky is delicious in a ‘I just ate a zillion cinnamon hearts’ kind of way and its very existence offends whisky purists, which I consider a plus. Those tiresome, brown liquor-loving bores didn’t do Wild Cherry Jell-O shots in university and it shows.

But back to our cake. A healthy glug of alcohol mixed into the batter gives baked goods a more tender crumb (thank you, science) and Fireball brings heat and cinnamony depth, which you then amplify by drizzling a Fireball and icing sugar glaze on top of your masterpiece. (See recipe below for exact proportions.)

Of course, if you are so inclined, and you want to spend more money, you can even DIY your own cinnamon whisky, but it’s the alchemy of turning a longtime frat house staple into an elegant dessert that’s the fun part.

And in a spooky case of synchronicity, look at this comment that I saw on The Cut’s instagram feed this week. It’s from a discussion about excessive drinking:

This tells me that the universe is practically commanding you to bake with Fireball this fall.

Here I’ve added its cinnamon boozy warmth to a basic apple loaf cake, but according to the internet moms, you could use it to tart up a box of spice cake mix. The important thing is that you are having fun.

Fireball Apple Loaf Cake

  • 1 and 1/2 cups all purpose flour

  • 3/4 tsp. salt

  • 3/4 tsp. baking soda

  • 2 tsp. cinnamon

  • 3/4 tsp. cloves, 1/2 tsp. allspice 

  • 3 eggs

  • 1 cup sugar

  • 1/4 cup light brown sugar plus one T molasses (I add the molasses for more depth of flavour)

  • 3/4 cup neutral oil, like canola

  • 2 Tbsp. Fireball

  • 1 tsp. vanilla bean paste or extract

  • 2 medium tart apples, grated and then steeped in 2T granulated sugar, a quarter teaspoon of cinnamon and even more Fireball (one or two tablespoons)

For a glaze, mix together 1 cup icing sugar and three tablespoons of Fireball and stir until the sugar dissolves.

Instructions:

  1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees and line a loaf pan with parchment. Leave it ungreased.

  2. In a bowl, combine flour, salt, baking soda and spices.

  3. Grate two medium, tart peeled apples on the largest hole of the box grater and macerate in sugar, cinnamon and Fireball while preparing the other ingredients.

  4. In a larger mixing bowl, whisk together eggs and sugars until mixture gets lighter in color. You can do this by hand or with a hand mixer. 

  5. Whisk in oil, Fireball Cinnamon Whisky and vanilla.

  6. Add dry ingredients and mix until combined. Use a spatula, as the batter becomes quite thick once you add the dry ingredients.

  7. Stir in the Fireball soaked apple mixture.

  8. Pour batter into the parchment-lined loaf pan and bake for 65-70 minutes depending on how hot your oven is, rotating once halfway through. The cake is done when a toothpick inserted into the centre of the cake comes out clean with no crumbs clinging to it. Start checking at the 55 or 60 minute mark depending on how hot your oven runs and how obsessive you are.

  9. Remove from the oven and remove the cake from the pan by lifting by the overhanging parchment (how did I live before using parchment slings?) and place on a rack to cool. You can add some of the glaze to the cake when it is still warm to let it absorb and then drizzle the remainder over the cooled cake.