Entertaining

3 Foolproof Boozy Cakes Anyone Can Make

When Fernanda Capobianco saw a lack of wholesome and delicious vegan desserts on the market, she decided to take matters into her own hands. In the following years, she opened a Manhattan bakery and cafe, launched a successful mail-order business and wrote The Vegan Divas Cookbook. One of our favorite of her recipes is a tropical treat inspired by Capobianco’s homeland. “Mango is considered the queen of tropical fruit in Brazil,” she says. “I love its sweet, musky flavor and frequently feature it in my desserts, as I do in these festive cupcakes.” The bright, fruity cake brings to mind poolside Piña Coladas, even if rum doesn’t make an appearance. Vodka does, though. “It adds a special touch, and the flavor becomes very intriguing," she says. To make these cupcakes extra amazing, be sure to use high-quality maraschino cherries like Luxardo.

For novice bakers, banana bread is one of the easiest and most satisfying things to make. It doesn’t require yeast and gives you a chance to use those almost-brown bananas before they go bad. Joy the Baker makes the classic recipe even more user-friendly by baking the entire thing in a cast iron skillet. The self-taught, confectioner-turned-cookbook-author loves her sweets, but her enthusiasm for cocktails is undeniable—she dedicated and an entire chapter of her latest cookbook, Over Easy, to brunch drinks. This rum-spiked recipe combines her two passions for a crowd-pleasing treat that’s best served straight from the oven with plenty of butter. If you don’t have any rum on hand, whiskey works great in this recipe, too.

Prohibition Bakery founders Brooke Siem and Leslie Feinberg were onto something when they decided that booze and sweets belonged together. Not only is their New York City bakery a hit, but their cookbook and cupcake kits are are getting people excited about boozy baked goods all across the country. With so many cocktail-inspired flavors to choose from—like Margarita and Bee’s Knees—it was difficult to choose a favorite recipe. But when we heard that their Old Fashioned cupcakes included a bourbon frosting and boozy cherry filling, we were sold. The alcohol in this recipe isn’t cooked down, which makes this dessert more potent than most, so please nosh responsibly.