EGGNOG CAKE RECIPE

Who wouldn’t want eggnog cake?! Perfect for entertaining during the holidays!

WHAT MAKES THIS ONE A KEEPER

• This is a nutmeg coffee cake recipe, with a crumbly, streusel topping, and an eggnog icing. It’s a holiday classic.
• This recipe has eggnog in the cake AND the icing. It’s an eggnog lover’s dream come true.
• The cake is super soft and a bit on the dense side due to the addition of sour cream. It pairs perfectly with the crunchy, crumbly streusel topping. The icing sets at room temp, so it’s more of a glaze than a runny frosting. It’s light and perfectly complements the nutmeg streusel and eggnog cake.
• No cinnamon in this recipe, as it would overpower the eggnog. Nutmeg compliments eggnog perfectly.

WHAT TO KNOW BEFORE YOU START

• I used a dark colored 9×13 for this recipe since it is important for achieving an even golden brown on the sides and the bottom of the pan. If you’re using a glass pan, lower your oven temp by 25 degrees, or shorten the baking time by about 5 minutes.
• The sour cream adds richness and fat content, keeping the cake from being dry. It’ll keep on the counter for several days without drying out.
• This can be served for breakfast with a cup of coffee, or for a holiday dessert. It’s delicious either way.
• Make sure that your butter is softened before you begin by leaving it out for about 30-45 minutes. Creaming softened butter is key, as creaming butter straight out of the fridge will affect the lightness of the crumb, as well as uniformity.
• Be sure to use full-fat eggnog, because low-fat eggnog will add too much moisture, and water down the flavor.
• Don’t over-mix once you’ve added the flour. Over-mixing develops gluten which will result in a tough, rubbery cake. Mix only until no more streaks of flour are visible.
• Different ovens perform differently, so keep an eye on your cake.
• Start testing for doneness with a toothpick at 38. It’s done when a toothpick comes out clean, meaning with maybe a couple of moist crumbs, but NO wet batter.
• You can top the cake with streusel topping or icing. If using icing, make sure to wait at least 20 minutes before spreading, and longer is better. Spreading icing on a too-warm cake will result in a runny icing that melts off the cake and pools around it. I’m impatient and want to dive into cake NOW but it’s worth waiting.

FOR THE CAKE

1 cup granulated sugar, because this amount of sugar makes the cake just sweet enough, nothing too strong that it’ll compete with the eggnog

1/2 cup real butter, as this recipe needs this amount of fat for flavor and texture. For best results, use REAL butter, not margarine, softened.

• 1 cup eggnog, full-fat

8 oz sour cream, because this ingredient makes the cake super rich and moist. You can substitute plain yogurt but the results won’t be as good as sour cream as yogurt is much thinner.

2 large eggs, at room temperature for easier and more even incorporation into batter

1 tsp rum extract, so you’ll taste the warm, spiced notes without tasting boozy alcohol, just like eggnog. Vanilla extract works, but you’ll lose a little of that classic eggnog note.

2 and 1/2 cups all-purpose flour, remember always to SPOON the flour into your measuring cups then level off with a straight edge because this way, you’ll be guaranteed not to pack in more than called for

• 1 and 1/2 tsp baking powder, which is our primary leavener

1/2 tsp baking soda, needed to react to the acid from the sour cream

• 1/2 tsp salt, needed to balance out all that sweet

FOR THE EGGNOG STREUSEL TOPPING

• 1/3 cup granulated sugar
• 2 Tbsp real butter, see above, soften before using
• 1 Tbsp all-purpose flour

1/2 tsp ground nutmeg, if you have a whole nutmeg and a grater, grate some. Much better than store-bought.

FOR THE EGGNOG ICING

3/4 cup powdered sugar, make sure to sift before adding to bowl. Powdered sugar likes to get all clumpy.

2 Tbsp eggnog, plus more as needed. Use less eggnog for an opaque glaze, more for a thin drizzle.

HOW TO MAKE EGGNOG CAKE

STEP 1: PREHEAT AND PREP YOUR PAN

Preheat oven to 350°F. Spray or grease a 9×13 baking pan on the bottom and sides.

NOTE: If you’re baking in a glass pan, lower oven temperature by 25 degrees OR check for doneness a couple of minutes earlier. Also, my results with a metal pan have been better than glass, with more and more even browning, and darker metal pans brown more uniformly (see photos below).

STEP 2: MAKE THE STREUSEL TOPPING

In a small bowl, combine 1/3 cup sugar, 2 Tablespoons softened butter, 1 Tablespoon flour and 1/2 teaspoon nutmeg and stir with a fork until crumbly, with a consistency of damp sand that holds together when squeezed. Set aside until batter is in the pan.

STEP 3: CREAM BUTTER AND SUGAR

Using a stand or hand-held electric mixer on medium, mix 1/2 cup softened butter and 1 cup sugar for about 2 minutes, until pale, fluffy, creamy, not grainy.

STEP 4: ADD WET INGREDIENTS

Add the eggnog, sour cream, eggs, rum extract, mix on medium until incorporated. Batter may look a little curdled, do not panic, adding flour fixes that.

STEP 5: ADD DRY INGREDIENTS

Whisk flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt together. Mix into butter/sugar/eggnog mixture on low for about 30 seconds until no more streaks of flour.

Batter will be pretty thick, thick enough to scoop.

STEP 6: FILL THE PAN AND ADD STREUSEL

Scoop batter into pan, smooth with a spatula and be sure to get it into all of the corners. Scatter the streusel topping all over so every slice will have some.

STEP 7: BAKE

Bake for about 35 minutes, until a toothpick comes out clean when inserted into center of cake. Edges will be starting to pull away from sides of pan and top will be lightly browned like photo above.

Remove from oven. If you’re covering the cake to let it cool, a lid that fits (I used this one) prevents the icing from sticking to foil.

Otherwise, line with parchment like I did in the photo.

NOTE: If using parchment, don’t lay it on the icing, just loosely lay it on top of cake. If you lay it right on top of icing, it’ll stick.

If you have a lid for your pan, the icing won’t transfer to it.

If you know that your oven runs hot, you may want to check the cake at 35 minutes. Otherwise, resist temptation.

Underbaked eggnog cake will sink in the middle as it cools.

STEP 8: COOL, THEN ICE

To make icing, combine powdered sugar and 2 Tbls. eggnog in small bowl and stir until smooth. If icing seems too thick to drizzle, stir in more eggnog 1 tsp. at a time until texture is right.

Cake should cool in pan for 20 minutes before icing. Drizzle icing over the cake in the pan, zigzagging back and forth with spoon or fork.

Allow to rest for 10 to 15 minutes for delicate, drizzled glaze.

HELPFUL TIPS

• To cover cakes with icing, double recipe, using 1 1/2 cups powdered sugar and stirring in 3 to 4 Tbls. eggnog until texture is right. Wait until drizzled cakes are completely dry before covering. Otherwise, as soon as foil touches them, icing will stick to foil and lift right off cakes. Alternative: Choose a dark, light-absorbing pan with a lid rather than clear glass, which will reduce the need to cover cakes.
• Butter, sour cream, and eggs should be at room temperature. Remove them from refrigerator about half-hour ahead of time to allow ingredients to come to room temp. Cold eggs will result in lumpy batter that’s difficult to stir until smooth.
• Spoon and level flour into measuring cup, don’t dip measuring cup into bag to scoop flour because this packs the flour and will result in a very dense cake.
• Don’t skimp on the rum extract. It gives eggnog cake its eggnog-y flavor. Otherwise, the cake will just taste like a plain vanilla cake with nutmeg. Besides, a little rum extract goes a long time.

VARIATIONS

Grate your own nutmeg. I know that’s easier said than done, but the aroma and flavor is SO much more potent with freshly grated nutmeg than the store-bought ground stuff.

And a microplane is inexpensive and totally worth it. If you don’t have one and don’t want to get one, well, the ground nutmeg isn’t going to kill ya.

But trust me, there is a distinct difference.

Want to make it into a bundt cake?

Go for it. Use a very well greased and floured nonstick bundt pan (affiliate link), bake at 350° for 45-50 minutes.

Do not add the streusel topping because it will sink into the batter, but make a big batch of the icing and drench the cooled cake instead.

Want a cream cheese swirl?

Mix together 4 oz. cream cheese, 2 tbsp. sugar, 1 egg yolk. Drop spoonfuls of the cheese mixture on top of the cake batter, swirl gently with a knife.

Then top with streusel and continue as written. The tangy cream cheese swirl compliments the VERY SWEET cream cheese frosting really well.

Want to use liquor instead of rum extract?

Substitute 2 tbsp. dark rum instead of rum extract AND reduce the amount of eggnog in the batter to 3/4 cup. The added liquid from the rum needs to be accounted for, but most of the actual rum will be cooked out, yet the flavor is much more interesting.

Mini eggnog muffins are adorable. Fill well-greased mini muffin tins about 2/3 full.

Bake at 350°F for 18 to 22 minutes. Makes about 18 minis.

Top with streusel. Once cooled, drizzle with icing.

STORAGE, MAKE-AHEAD, AND LEFTOVERS

Store at room temperature, covered, for up to 3 days in the pan it was baked in, as long as the icing has set. The cake is delicious on day one but even more moist, thanks to the sour cream, on day two.

If it’s hot where you live, I’d err on refrigerating after day one but remember that refrigeration will dry out a cake if it’s not protected by icing or if it’s cut into pieces. Take slices out of the fridge about 10 minutes before you’d like to serve.

Alternately, pop in the microwave for about 20 seconds. Individual slices will keep well, tightly wrapped in plastic and stored in a zip-top bag in the freezer, for up to 2 months.

Thaw in the fridge overnight or on the counter for a few hours before enjoying. You can always dress up defrosted slices with a little more of the icing if you have some on hand.

Batter and streusel: You can make the batter and streusel up to 1 day ahead of time. Refrigerate the batter and store the streusel at room temp in an airtight container.

When ready to bake, you don’t need to return the batter to room temp, though it will be very thick, so gently spread it into the prepared pan as needed. Add an extra 3-5 minutes to the baking time since the batter will start off cold.

FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS

CAN I USE STORE-BOUGHT EGGNOG?

The recipe is written with store-bought eggnog in mind, made with full-fat dairy. You will get a less rich flavor using shelf-stable eggnog found in cartons in the dairy aisle of your grocery store.

Avoid using reduced-fat eggnog. It contains more water and less dairy, which will make it more difficult to bring out the eggnog flavor.

CAN I MAKE THIS WITHOUT A STAND MIXER?

Yes, you can use a hand mixer or whisk and beat by hand. Make sure to really cream together the butter and sugar well before adding wet ingredients.

This recipe relies mostly on the sour cream and baking powder/soda for its rise so you won’t have to whip away quite as much as you might in a layer cake recipe.

MY CAKE CAME OUT DENSE.

WHAT WENT WRONG?

Two most likely culprits are 1) adding too much flour and/or 2) mixing too much. Using too much flour and/or overmixing the batter after adding the flour results in more gluten development, leading to a cake with a heavier, tougher texture.

Be sure to measure your flour with the spoon-and-level method and stop mixing the batter as soon as it comes together.

Can I double this eggnog cake recipe?

You can double this eggnog cake recipe, but instead of baking in a larger, deeper pan, which will change the baking time significantly, use two 9×13 pans. Otherwise, the edges will be done before the center.

Can I make this eggnog cake without sour cream?

If you don’t have sour cream, I’d try using an equal amount of plain, full-fat Greek yogurt as a substitute. The end result may not be as moist and rich, but will be pretty close.

Avoid using non-fat or low-fat regular yogurt as it will make the cake batter too runny.

Can I make this without the rum?

If you don’t like rum, you can leave it out and use vanilla extract instead. This will make it still taste like eggnog, just without the slight hint of rum and rum-spices.

If you’d like to use some actual rum, remove 2 Tbs eggnog to compensate for the additional liquid.

RELATED RECIPES

If you’re looking for an eggnog recipe to bring to a holiday potluck, these creamy Eggnog Cheesecake Bars with a layer of spiced eggnog won’t disappoint.