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This Bourbon Brown Sugar Pound Cake is a delicious combo of sweet, salty, and booze make up this perfect fall pound cake.

Bourbon Brown Sugar Pound Cake

I’m not sure when the whole salty-sweet dessert revolution started (I could probably Google it, but that takes effort) but I’m sure glad it did.

Then again people have been eating chocolate covered pretzels for quite some time.

My blogger friend Heather, of Sprinkle Bakes, wrote a whole book using sea salt in desserts it’s called Sea Salt Sweet: The Art of Using Salts for the Ultimate Dessert Experience.

Heather is one of my go to bloggers when I need inspiration and I want a recipe to turn out. It doesn’t hurt that she loves Sprinkles. 🙂

The story in her introduction is about her first love of salty sweet was one I had never heard of which is filling a Coke with salted peanuts.

That one I did Google and it turns out it is very much a thing.

Has anyone tried this?

I want to try it and if I like it make a dessert out of it. Which I did end up making this Coke and Salted Peanut No Churn Ice Cream.

Bourbon Brown Sugar Pound Cake

Anyway, we were told we could choose any recipe and since I love bourbon in my baked goods I immediately decided on the Bourbon Brown Sugar Pound Cake.

We served it with a pumpkin ice cream and my husband was all over it.

Couldn’t stop raving about the fact that it wasn’t heavily frosted yet had so much flavor.

I did tell him it had syrup on there and he was like, ah that makes more sense.

There’s a video of how to make the cake if you want to watch it.

Also in the book is her awesome Ale and Pretzel Soft Caramels (which is actually how I found her blog).

The hubs is pushing for me to make Bacon Fat Buttermilk Biscuits with Milk Chocolate Gravy.

But I’m leaning towards the Overnight Donuts with Merlot Glaze.

And as always it’s a great day to order my cookbook. 

Bourbon Brown Sugar Pound Cake

Want more pound cake recipes?

Toffee Apple Cider Pound Cake

Whiskey Glazed Apple Buttermilk Pound Cake

Glazed Apple Cider Donut Cake

Bourbon Brown Butter Chocolate Chip Cake

Strawberry Lemonade Bundt Cake

Bourbon Brown Sugar Pound Cake

Bourbon Brown Sugar Pound Cake

Ingredients

  • Pound Cake:
  • 8 oz. unsalted butter, at room temperature
  • 1 ½ cups brown sugar, packed
  • ½ cup granulated sugar
  • 5 large eggs, at room temperature
  • 2 tsp. vanilla extract
  • ¼ cup Kentucky bourbon
  • 3 cups all-purpose flour
  • ¾ tsp. fine grain-sea salt
  • ½ tsp. baking powder
  • ½ tsp. baking soda
  • ¾ cup buttermilk
  • Butter Bourbon Syrup:
  • 1/3 cup granulated sugar
  • 4 TBSP unsalted butter
  • 1/16th tsp. fine-grain sea salt
  • ¼ cup Kentucky bourbon
  • Cinnamon-Sugar coating:
  • ¼ cup granulated sugar
  • 1 tsp. ground cinnamon
  • 1/16 tsp. fine-grain sea salt

Instructions

Preheat oven to 325F.Butter and flour a 12-cup Bundt pan or be lazy like me and use the baking spray.

Using a stand mixer with a paddle attachment (or a large bowl with electric beaters) cream together the butter and sugars until light and fluffy, about 5 minutes.

Add the eggs one at a time, scraping down the bowl after each addition.

Beat in the vanilla and whiskey until all the ingredients are thoroughly combined.

Whisk together all the dry ingredients into a medium size bowl.

With the mixer on low speed beat in the flour mixture and buttermilk, alternatively, beginning and ending with the flour mixture.Pour the batter into the prepared pan.

Bake for 1 hour or until a toothpick inserted into the center of the cake comes out clean.

Allow the cake to cook in the pan for 5 minutes.

Turn cake onto a cooling rack to cool completely. Place cooling rack a top a large baking sheet.

Butter Bourbon Syrup:

Combine the sugar, butter, and ¼ cup water in a small saucepan and place over medium heat.

Stir until the sugar melts, about 5 minutes.

Remove the pan from the heat and whisk in the bourbon and salt.

Brush the syrup over the surface of the cooled cake liberally using a pastry brush.

Cinnamon-Sugar Coating:

In a small bowl whisk the cinnamon, sugar, and salt together.

Sprinkle it all over the cake.

Transfer cake to a cake stand or plate using a cake lifter or two spatulas.

Serve cake immediately or wrap in plastic wrap and store it at room temperature for up to 48 hours before serving.

© Peabody
Bourbon Brown Sugar Pound Cake

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Comments

  3. Chocolate dipped potato chips are pretty evil. But I would generally cut off with of my arms for a thick slice of dark chocolate cake with a salted caramel frosting. Good thing I only have two arms . . .this would not be an effective weight loss program 😉

    Reply

  5. Does sausage and syrup count as salty and sweet? You can’t go wrong with pretzels and chocolate and, because I just made them, the NY Times Chocolate Chip Cookie is alwaysalwaysalwasys a winner!

    Reply

  6. NYT CCCs… I have a batch aging in the fridge as we speak, waiting for the house party next weekend. If they make it that long.

    Reply

  9. Kettle corn, chocolate dipped pretzels, or anything with salted caramel. I love Heather’s blog, I’m so excited for her new book!

    Reply

  14. Salted caramels and potato chip chocolate chip cookies. Yum!! Thanks for sharing the article on the book. Can’t wait to try.

    Reply

  16. Haha! I thought “salted caramel” before I even finished reading the first sentence! It was definitely what made it trendy. I guess that makes chocolate covered pretzels hipsters, because they were cool before then……

    You absolutely have to make a salted peanut and coke dessert! And I just know it’s going to be as awesome as this cake.

    Reply

  17. My favorite salty sweet combo is something I’ve been eating since I was a little kid. I learned it from my German father. We eat liver sausage sandwiches on rye bread with my grandmother’s home made plum jam smeared on top – open face. Num num!

    Reply

  34. I love PayDay candy bars! I am also a Southerner and we used to pour Milk Duds into our Cokes at the movie theater. As you drink the Coke, it gets sweeter and sweeter. Then, you’ll have nice, frozen caramels to eat, too.

    Reply

  36. Salted caramels are my go to favorite. I loved Heather’s first book and would love to have this one too. Thanks for the chance to win & sharing her recipe.

    Reply

  37. Kettle corn is the only salty sweet treat I have tried. I think I may be missing out. Thanks for the chance to win what sounds like a great book.

    Reply

  38. i used to like cinnamon sugar on popcorn (before I discovered kettle corn) and now it’s salted caramel sauce on almost anything 🙂

    Reply

  44. Gotta go with salted fudge! When I was growing up, my mom would always make fudge at Christmas time that had a thick bottom layer of pecans drowning in salted butter. The combo with the sweet marshmallow magic chocolate fudge on top is ummmmmmazing.

    Reply

  45. I love salted caramel anything, but have to admit I was in hog heaven after trying chocolate covered bacon. YUM!

    Reply

  48. Growing up, I liked to eat potato chips with chocolate ice cream,…but chocolate drizzled popcorn is amazing, too!

    Reply

  53. I make a dark chocolate shortbread finished with a sprinkling of Maldon salt flakes that is absolutely addictive!

    Reply

  54. This cake looks so good! I love the salty sweet combo….chocolate covered pretzels, chocolate chip cookies with sea salt or brownies with sea salt are some of my favorites.

    Reply

  55. My guilty pleasure is pretzels and peanut butter m&m’s. Also obsessed with salted caramel buttercream. 🙂

    Reply

  57. You seriously have made magic with salt and chocolate together, it can’t get any better than that except my husband will bake the recipe for me! I cook…he bakes!

    Reply

  62. Love chopping up salted pretzels to add to my chocolate chip cookie dough. Perfect with a steaming mug of cocoa or glass of cold milk.

    Reply

  63. Aah, my favourite salty sweet combination is salted peanut butter covered in chocolate or anything that combines all three. I made chocolate chocolate chip cookies filled with peanut butter and sprinkled with sea salt once and they were everything I’d ever dreamed of.

    Reply

  72. My favorite salty/sweet combo is the cheese popcorn and caramel corn mixed together. It might be called Chicago style? Either way – best way to enjoy those tubs of popcorn!

    Reply

  74. Good lord, that cake! It looks like heaven. My favorite salty sweet is definitely a pretzel, caramel, peanut butter, chocolate combo. Oh and my vote is for the Bacon Fat Buttermilk Biscuits with Milk Chocolate Gravy 🙂 Thanks, Peabody!

    Reply

  78. I’m leaning towards the classic salted caramel, but there’s a vendor at our local Christmas craft fair who makes the best white chocolate popcorn. Oh, wait, one time when I was working at Arby’s, we took a potato and made our own potato chips, and I dipped them in a chocolate shake. It was the best. So I think my favorite is homemade salty chips with a chocolate shake!

    Reply

  79. I usually don’t like caramel since it’s sweet, but salted caramel is yummy! I’ve also always been a fan of chocolate covered pretzels.

    Reply

  80. Favorite salty-sweet is definitely kettle corn.. but you know, I don’t say no to chocolate-covered potato chips either.

    Reply

  97. My husband and I love to find any occasion to use spicy candied bacon! A little bit of sriracha, a little bit of brown sugar, the salty crispy bacon- straight up magical! We use it on ice cream, pizza, to accompany breakfast.. you literally can’t go wrong.

    Reply

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