Bourbon Cake

This is always a crowd pleaser. The original Southern Living Recipe is here. It calls for piercing the warm cake and drizzling with the bourbon syrup. I do not do this. In my circle, some people do not care for bourbon (crazy I know, but I aim to please!), so I just serve the syrup on the side. In my opinion, this is just as good. I also do not use dates, just a personal preference and I never seem to have any on hand. Below is my adaptation of the recipe. I plan on serving it with my Bourbon Cherries on the side.

Bourbon Cake

2 c sugar
1 1/3 c vegetable oil
4 large eggs
1 1/2 t vanilla extract
3 c all purpose flour
1 1/2 t baking soda
1 t salt
1 1/2 t ground nutmeg
1 1/2 t ground cinnamon
1 1/2 t ground allspice (I never have this, so I substitute 3/4 t ground ginger)
1 1/3 c buttermilk
1 1/3 c chopped pecans
Bourbon Syrup (recipe below)

Beat first 4 ingredients at medium speed with an electric mixer until smooth.

Combine flour and next 5 ingredients; add to sugar mixture alternately with buttermilk, beginning and ending with flour mixture. Beat at low speed just until blended after each addition. Stir in pecans. Bour into a greased and floured 12-cup Bundt pan.

Bake at 350 for 1 hour and 10 minutes or until a wooden pick inserted comes out clean. Place on a wire rack. Cool in pan for 15 minutes. Invert on plate. Serve with Bourbon Syrup.

Bourbon Syrup
1/2 c butter
1 c sugar
1/2 c bourbon

Melt butter with sugar in a small heavy saucepan; whisk in bourbon. Bring to a boil; boil, whisking constantly for 3 minutes. Yield 1 1/3 cups. Serve warm with Bourbon Cake.