Southern Moonshine Cake

May 1, 2016: On my recent trip to the National Cornbread Festival, I picked up a souvenir from the area: some genuine Kentucky moonshine. I wasn't sure what to use it for, as I'm a very light drinker. Then, at the festival, a sign appeared from one of the vendors displaying "Tennessee Moonshine Cakes." At that moment, I knew I had to make one of these. Upon returning home, I discovered "moonshine cake" actually was not something commonly made, and not many recipes for one could be found online. There was even a "Moonshine cake" recipe that was actually an angel food cake. So, considering this, I ended up cobbling a recipe together and giving it a try. The result? Well, see for yourself…

• Dry ingredients:
  • 3 cups all purpose flour
  • 1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
  • 1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
  • 1 teaspoons salt
• Wet ingredients:
  • 2 cups sugar
  • 3 eggs
  • 1 cup canola oil
  • 1/2 cup moonshine
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla
  • 1 teaspoons cinnamon
  • Zest of 1 lemon
• 2 15-ounce cans peach pieces; I used one can of sliced peaches and of can peach chunks. I'd looked at the supermarket for fresh peaches, but they were out at the time.
• 1 cup chopped pecan pieces

Sugar glaze:

• 1/4 cup (1/2 stick) butter
• 1/2 cup firmly packed brown sugar
• 1 tablespoon moonshine (or milk, for a non-alcoholic cake)
• 1/2 cup powdered sugar

Moonshine is strong stuff, and its scent was still unmistakable when the batter was ready.

I baked this for 60 minutes at 350 degrees, and found it was not done after 60 minutes. So, it went back into the oven for another ten minutes. The probe came out clean after a total of 70 minutes (one hour and ten minutes), and the cake was done. Let cake cool completely, then prepare the glaze.

I like the consistency of this glaze, and it certainly was easy to put together: Melt butter in saucepan. Add brown sugar, stir until melted. Add moonshine (or milk), stir together. Mix in powdered sugar, stir until the liquid is thoroughly mixed and there are no lumps. When ready, immediately drizzle over the cake. The glaze thickens very quickly, so be sure to pour it fast.

I didn't want to call this "Tennessee moonshine cake," because that's the name of the cake produced by the company. Also, peaches and pecans are more famous for Georgia than Tennessee. So, we have a more generic name of "Southern Moonshine Cake." If your friends are reluctant to try it…or you're bringing this to the office…call it a "Southern Shine Coffee Cake."