Eggnog Cake and Happy New Year!

Happy New Year, everybody! I can’t believe it’s 2013. Back when I was a kid, I figured we’d be in flying cars by now, with colonies on the moon. It’s hilarious to read old science fiction novels or watch old sci fi tv shows ‘n movies where the plots are set in this timeframe, with all the crazy things they forecasted that haven’t come to pass.

Here are the Jetsons in their flying car. While we’re at it, where the hell is my robot maid?

I can’t wait until we figure out how to hyperspace. I hate leaving my apartment and driving on cold, wet, rainy days. Wouldn’t it be amazing if we just walked into our hyperspace chambers and voila, we were instantly transported to our destinations? Y’know, kinda like Mario’s warp zones:

3D_Super_Mario___Warp_Zone_by_NES__still_the_best

Technology advances at a rapid pace but I can’t say the same about people. If we were in flying cars, fatality rates for accidents would be astronomical! As it is, we can’t even get rid of the common cold quick enough.

The Husband and I spent New Years Eve at home, with him nursing a bad cold. Sadly we had to miss our annual NYE hot pot with friends but we spent a lovely evening in, getting as much as we can out of our free month of Netflix. We watched Jiro Dreams of Sushi, which I enjoyed but it bored the Husband to tears. We also started watching Breaking Bad and we’re seriously addicted. There’s nothing like a dude with cancer cooking meth and an old guy making sushi to ring in the New Year!

It may be a bit too late to post this recipe since eggnog flew off the store shelves right after Christmas but I wanted to share just because it’s so incredibly delicious and easy to make. The last item that I made for my Annual Day of Baking was this eggnog layer cake.

Eggnog cake (this is bakingdom’s recipe – the amount of sugar I have listed here has been decreased from the original recipe)

4 large eggs, room temperature
1/2 cup eggnog, room temperature
2 tsp vanilla
1 3/4 cup cake flour
1 cup granulated sugar
2 tsp baking powder
3/4 tsp salt
1/2 tsp nutmeg
1 cup unsalted butter, room temperature

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees F. Generously butter two 8″ round cake pans.

In a small bowl or a glass measuring cup, whisk together the eggs, eggnog and vanilla. Set it aside.

In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, sugar, baking powder, salt and nutmeg.

In a separate bowl or in the bowl of your stand mixer, cream the butter. Turning the mixer to low, slowly add in the flour mixture. As the butter and flour incorporate, it will become sandy in appearance. Add half of the eggnog mixture and mix on medium speed until light and fluffy. Slowly pour in the rest of the eggnog mixture until fully combined.

Divide the batter between the two cake pans. Bake the cakes for 20-24 minutes or until a cake tester comes out with only a few clinging crumbs.

I made this cake twice – once for Christmas Eve dinner with my family and the second time for my Annual Day of Baking. I used two different frostings and while both were delicious, I preferred the cream cheese version.

Eggnog buttercream:

2 tbsp eggnog
1 tsp nutmeg
1 tsp vanilla
1 cup unsalted butter, room temperature
1 to 1 1/2 cup icing sugar

Cream the butter until light and fluffy. This takes time – sometimes I takes me almost 10 minutes on medium/medium-high speed to get the butter looking fluffy as whipped cream. Add the eggnog, vanilla and nutmeg, continue creaming. With the mixer on medium low speed, slowly add the icing sugar until it reaches your desired consistency and sweetness.

Buttercream version.

White Chocolate Cream Cheese Frosting:

2 packages of cream cheese, room temperature
1 1/2 cups white chocolate chips, melted
1 tsp vanilla
1/4 cup unsalted butter, room temperature
1 cup icing sugar (or more if you like your frosting on the sweet side)

Cream the cream cheese and butter together until light and fluffy. Add the melted white chocolate and vanilla; mix to combine. With the mixer on medium low speed, slowly add the icing sugar until it reaches your desired consistency and sweetness.

Cream cheese frosting.

One of my 2013 foodie goals is to learn how to properly frost and decorate cakes!

Even the Husband, who’s not a fan of eggnog, enjoyed this cake. The cake flour makes it super delicate, with a moist, tight crumb. Both frostings were delicious – the buttercream subtle and smooth on the tongue, with just a hint of eggnog and nutmeg. The cream cheese frosting is all up in your face – it’s super creamy, sweet but not overpowering. The perfect compliment to the flavourful cake.