In the avalanche of holiday treats Trader Joe’s rolled out over the last month, one new one caught my eye: Trader Joe’s Bourbon Cake mix ($3.49 per box). I’ve generally liked Trader Joe’s boxed mixes and used their lemon cake as the base for my Lemon Elderflower Cake for the Royal Wedding. Bourbon is the very last ingredient in the mix, so the booziness really comes from mixing a couple of tablespoons of bourbon into the glaze.
Trader Joe’s includes a powdered glaze packet along with the cake mix. You’re on your own for the bourbon. The instructions say you can bake this up in an 8×8 square pan, a standard bundt or mini bundts. I opted for the standard bundt. It produces a smallish cake, don’t expect it to stand up as tall as a Duncan Hines or Betty Crocker cake mix cake.
I was surprised Trader Joe’s Bourbon Cake wasn’t more gingerbread-like, since it has molasses powder in the ingredient list. It’s got a nice hit of nutmeg, so it’s almost, but not quite, reminiscent of egg nog. You could also poke some holes in it and drizzle over some bourbon for extra booziness before glazing the cake. Be careful not to overdo it, this cake isn’t as dense as say, a pound cake.
The glaze instructions advise using three to four tablespoons of bourbon (and alternatively two tablespoons of water). I started with three tablespoons and it came out pretty watery, so I ended up adding some extra powdered sugar to get it to a pourable, but not watery consistency. I’d start with two tablespoons next time. It’ll be plenty flavorful.
Overall, it’s a tasty cake with a nice crumb, especially for a box cake mix. It has the holidays written all over it, but hopefully it’ll stick around past the New Year.
