Grandma's cake

Recipe by Rick Dees, Entertainer, Producer and Owner, Sweetbrier Farm, Danville, Kentucky, USA

Ingredients

Cake

• 2 cups Flour
• 1-1/2 teaspoons Baking Soda
• 1/4 teaspoon Salt
• 1 teaspoon Cinnamon
• 1 teaspoon Nutmeg
• 1 teaspoon Allspice
• 1 teaspoon Vanilla
• 1 cup Vegetable Oil
• 2 Tablespoons Butter (melted)
• 3 Eggs (beaten)
• 1 cup Buttermilk
• 1-1/2 cups Sugar
• 1 cup Prunes, (cooked, chopped and mashed)
• 1 cup Pecans or Walnuts (chopped)
• 1 Tablespoon Powdered Sugar (for garnish)

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Bourbon Sauce

• 1 cup Sugar
• Pinch of Salt
• 1/2 cup Buttermilk
• 1/2 teaspoon Baking Soda (dissolved in the buttermilk)
• 1 Tablespoon Corn Syrup
• 1 Tablespoon Bourbon
• 3/4 stick (6 Tablespoons) Butter
• 1 teaspoon Vanilla Extract

Preparation

Cake
Preheat oven to 325°F. and butter and line an 8-by-8-inch or 9-by-9-inch baking pan with parchment paper.
Sift the flour, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, nutmeg, and allspice. Combine the vanilla, oil, melted butter, eggs, buttermilk, and sugar in a mixing bowl and beat well. Stir in dry ingredients, and fold in prunes and nuts. Bake for 45 to 55 minutes or until the center springs back when touched lightly in the center. Remove from the oven and let the cake cool for 10 minutes.

Bourbon Sauce
Chef Note: Make the bourbon sauce while the cake is baking.
Mix together sugar, salt, buttermilk mixture, corn syrup, bourbon, butter and vanilla in a small saucepan and bring to a boil. Cook for 1 minute. Set aside.

Assembly
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Invert the still-warm cake onto a serving platter. Spoon the sauce over the cake and let it soak in. Chef Note: Use all the sauce—dust with powdered sugar. Serve warm. Cut into 12 to 15 slices...and get outta the way!!!!

# 2 tee, looking across the pond at a 245 yard par 3.  Image: Diana DeLucia, 2012