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This Bourbon Spice Toffee Layer Cake is one of my favorites! I’ve made it several times and I think I love it more and more every time! The combination of chocolate, toffee, maple, cinnamon and the spice from the bourbon are a party for your taste buds!
For another fun celebration cake, give my Strawberry Champagne Layer Cake a whirl!
Bourbon Spice Toffee Layer Cake
This delicious cake recipe is the perfect way to celebrate today – the one year anniversary of the release of my cookbook – Simply Beautiful Homemade Cakes!
So this is a big week for us around here. The first thing going on is that we figured we didn’t have enough to do with planning for twins and decided to buy a house and move. We’ve totally lost our minds! You may remember that we’ve been looking at homes for almost a year now, but we put moving on hold when we found out we were having twins.
Well, a couple weeks ago, a real estate agent we’d been working with let us know that the model home in a neighborhood we almost bought in last year was going on the market that night. We knew it’d go fast, so we went to look at it again the next day and see if we would really want to make the move. The fact that it’s so move-in ready is a big plus for us right now.
They got three offers over the next couple of days, including ours. I was convinced there wasn’t a chance we’d get it. We loved the house, but with so much going on we weren’t really willing to be terribly aggressive. But to my surprise, we got the house! And now it’s a whirlwind trying to pack and get ready to move and sell our current house. Especially considering I’m limited in what I can do, being so pregnant. We’ve spend the last couple of weeks packing and getting things ready and the house will be on the market by the end of the week. Let’s hope it sells fast! I’m ready to move on and get ready for these babies!
The other thing going on this week, which is really more of a celebration than anything, is that today is officially the one year anniversary of the release of my cookbook, Simply Beautiful Homemade Cakes! It’s hard to believe it’s already been a whole year!
I have wanted to share this cake with you for forever! It’s seriously one of my faves from the book. It might seem like there’s a lot going on, but it all comes together in the most amazing cake. Like seriously, so good.
Why I Love This Layer Cake Recipe
The chocolate cake isn’t as intense of a chocolate, which is perfect with everything else going on. It’s also a little denser of a cake than mine usually are, but I really enjoy it in this cake. It’s got the flavor of the bourbon baked right in there too. And if you’re thinking you may not be into this cake because you don’t drink bourbon, think again. I totally do not drink bourbon – I leave that to the hubs – but I do steal it and put it in baked goods. A good spiced bourbon adds so much flavor! You don’t so much taste the alcohol as you do that spiced flavor. Love it!
The frosting is a maple cinnamon frosting and it alone is good enough to eat with a spoon. Then there’s the toffee sauce made with brown sugar and a touch more bourbon. Drizzle that stuff on everything! And the toffee bits? Yes, please! Layer them all together and it’s seriously heaven in a cake.
All the flavors come together so magically! If you can’t tell, I’m in love with this cake. And it’s just one of many from my cookbook that I love. If you haven’t gotten the cookbook before now – or didn’t even know I had one – there’s no time like the present! Plus, the holidays are coming up, so it’d make a great gift. You could even bake someone this cake and give them the book with it. Then you get to enjoy the book and cake too. Win-win. 🙂
Watch How To Make It
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Bourbon Spice Toffee Layer Cake
- Prep Time: 25 minutes
- Cook Time: 25 minutes
- Total Time: 50 minutes
- Yield: 12-14 Slices
- Category: Dessert
- Method: Oven
- Cuisine: American
Description
This Bourbon Spice Toffee Layer Cake is one of my favorites! I’ve made it several times and I think I love it more and more every time! The combination of chocolate, toffee, maple, cinnamon and the spice from the bourbon are a party for your taste buds!
Ingredients
CAKE LAYERS
- 2 cups (260g) all purpose flour
- 2 cups (414g) sugar
- 3/4 cup (85g) natural unsweetened cocoa powder
- 2 tsp baking powder
- 3/4 tsp salt
- 2 large eggs, room temperature
- 1 cup (224g) unsalted butter, melted and slightly cooled
- 1/2 cup (115g) sour cream
- 1/2 cup (120ml) milk
- 1/2 cup (120ml) bourbon
- 1/2 cup (120ml) hot water
- 1 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
FROSTING
- 1 1/4 cup (280g) salted butter, room temperature
- 1 1/4 cups (237g) shortening
- 10 cups (1150g) powdered sugar
- 1 1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
- 2 tsp maple extract
- 5–6 tbsp (75-90ml) water or milk
TOFFEE SAUCE AND ADDITIONAL INGREDIENTS
- 10 tbsp (140g) salted butter
- 3/4 cup (108g) unpacked light brown sugar
- 1/2 cup (120ml) heavy whipping cream, room temperature
- 2 tbsp (30ml) bourbon
- 1 tbsp flour, sifted
- 2 cups toffee bits, divided
Instructions
1. Preheat the oven to 350°F (176°C). Line the bottom of three 8 inch cake pans with parchment paper and grease the sides.
2. In a large mixing bowl, combine the flour, sugar, cocoa powder, baking powder and salt.
3. Combine wet ingredients in another medium sized bowl, then add to the dry ingredients and beat on medium-low speed until well combined. The batter is thin, so be careful of splashing.
4. Divide batter evenly between the cake pans.
5. Bake for 23-26 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the middle comes out with a few crumbs.
6. Remove cakes from the oven and allow to cool for 3-4 minutes, then remove from pans to a cooling rack to finish cooling.
7. To make the frosting, beat the butter and shortening until smooth.
8. Slowly add about half of the powdered sugar and beat until smooth.
9. Add cinnamon, maple extract and 3 tablespoons of water or milk and beat until smooth.
10. Add the remaining powdered sugar and mix until smooth.
11. Add additional water or milk a tablespoon at a time as needed to get the right frosting consistency.
12. To make the toffee sauce, melt the butter and sugar over medium heat in a large saucepan.
13. Slowly bring mixture to a boil allowing the sugar to dissolve, about 10-15 minutes.
14. Once it begins to boil, slowly add the heavy whipping cream and bourbon, whisking constantly. The mixture will be bubbly.
15. Whisk for 2-3 minutes, allowing it to come back to a boil. Once boiling, stop whisking and let it boil for 1 minute.
16. Remove from heat and whisk until smooth. Add the flour and whisk until smooth. Set aside to cool a bit.
17. To put the cake together, use a large serrated knife to remove the domes from the top of the cakes.
18. Place the first layer of cake on your serving plate or a cardboard cake circle. Spread 5-6 tbsp of toffee sauce evenly onto the cake layer. It should soak into the cake a bit.
19. Pipe 1 cup of frosting into an even layer on top of the toffee sauce, starting along the outside edge and spiraling inward. With the toffee sauce on top of the cake, spreading will be tough, so piping works best.
20. Sprinkle 2 tablespoons of toffee bits evenly over the frosting. Repeat process with the second layer of cake, toffee sauce, frosting and toffee bits, then add the final layer of cake on top.
21. Frost the outside of the cake with the remaining frosting, then press toffee bits into the sides of the bottom of the cake.
22. Pipe swirls of frosting around the top edge of the cake, then drizzle toffee sauce sauce the sides and fill in the center with more toffee sauce. Sprinkle with some additional toffee bits.
23. Refrigerate cake until ready to serve. Cake is best served at room temperature and is best for 2-3 days when well covered.
Nutrition
- Serving Size: 1 Slice
- Calories: 1235
- Sugar: 123.6 g
- Sodium: 439.4 mg
- Fat: 70.7 g
- Carbohydrates: 144.4 g
- Protein: 6.7 g
- Cholesterol: 154.9 mg
Categories
Enjoy!
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My daughter loves bourbon in things but is not a fan of chocolate. Can I make this cake without the cocoa powder and if so, do I need to add anything additonal?
Thanks so much! I’ve made several of your recipes and they are always so delicious and turn out perfect everytime!
It can be tough to just swap out the cocoa powder and say for sure that the cake will work well. It’s not always a one to one swap. You could certainly give it a try though. You could also use my vanilla cake and swap out some of the milk for bourbon. You don’t want to swap out too much because you’re going to lose some fat from the milk that tenderizes the cake, but you can substitute some.
So, this cake has become the main staple of birthdays and Thanksgiving (the neighbors put their request in months ahead!!!) for the last several years. I wrote a review, but felt like I had to come back and just say again what a fantastic cake this is. Super easy to follow and so yummy. I’ve doubled the recipe for three 9 inch pans and it’s perfect every time. Thanks again, Lindsay.
That’s so awesome to hear. Thank you for sharing! I love this one too.
I made this cake but the layers didn’t come out fluffy but thin and dense is this normal
It’s hard for me to say from a distance if they turned out normal or not. But I will say that the layers of this cake are on the more dense side.
Everyone at work absolutely LOVED and raved about this cake. Wish I could send you a picture. I made pecan brittle for the top and crushed between layers
So glad to hear that! I love this one! The brittle sounds great too!
Could you replace the cup of butter with oil in the cake recipe?
I haven’t tried to say for sure.
This is probably the 6th cake I’ve made from your amazing website. They have all been unbelievably delicious and beautiful. I’ve now got a reputation for making incredible cakes and I feel a pang of guilt knowing that they are all your recipes! So, of course, I tell everyone it’s you and send them links to your site. I’ve got to be honest. LOL. So, I made this for my son’s 18th birthday and… well… WOW. This was SO incredibly good. I’m not sure words can describe it. Each item- the cake, the toffee sauce, the frosting were, by themselves, divine. There was a thought that maybe it was going to be too sweet when they all came together, but, as you said, the cake adds the perfect balance. Thank you in providing a very special recipe for a special birthday!
Wonderful! I’m so glad to hear you’ve enjoyed the recipes!
Can you use square pans instead of circle? I only have 9 inch circle pans!
I don’t see why that’d be a problem.
Hello.. excited to see how this comes out!! Smells wonderful. My question is why isn’t there any baking soda.. just curious if this will make the cake denser and not rise as much.. thanks a bunch!
It’s been quite a while since I made this recipe, so I can’t say I remember my exact thinking. But you are correct that it is a more dense chocolate cake. Super tender, but not as on the fluffy side.