140 brandy cake recipes

Old-school dark fruitcake soaked overnight in brandy and orange liqueur with figs, apricots, currants, walnuts, and pecans. Makes four loaves; ages beautifully.

Baked pumpkin empanadas with a brandy-laced pastry dough and spiced pumpkin-brown sugar filling, finished with cinnamon sugar. A Mexican-Californian fall dessert pastry.

Swiss Leckerli cookies: honey-spiced almond bars with candied citrus peel and kirsch, finished with a hardening sugar glaze. Traditional Basel Christmas market sweet that improves with age.

A scrumptious torte made with almonds, rum, brandy and semi-sweet chocolate.

A self-saucing chocolate pudding cake spiked with kirsch that creates its own hot fudge sauce as it bakes. Scoop out the cake, spoon the gooey chocolate pudding from beneath, and top with cherry pie filling.

Swiss Aargau carrot cake made with ground almonds, grated carrots, kirsch, and cornstarch instead of flour. Finished with apricot glaze, fondant icing, and marzipan carrots.

White chocolate cashew pie, a sophisticated cousin to pecan pie with chunks of cashew, melty white chocolate, and a splash of kirsch cherry brandy. Brown-sugar custard, made-from-scratch crust.

A delicious Christmas bread made with almonds, cream cheese, golden raisins and brandy.

Scotch black bun, a traditional Scottish Hogmanay fruitcake wrapped in buttery shortcrust pastry and packed with raisins, almonds, brandy, and warm spices. A rich celebration centerpiece.

Lester's fruitcake is a heirloom holiday loaf: pounds of candied fruits, figs, dates, raisins, pecans, and walnuts bound in spiced molasses batter. Slow-baked, brandy-soaked, aged a month.

Vegan Black Forest cake with whole wheat pastry flour, applesauce, and a kirsch syrup. Cashew-tofu icing replaces dairy whipped cream. Three layers of chocolate cake, cherries, and creamy frosting.

A hearty bundt cake packed with oats, sesame seeds, raisins, and mixed nuts. Warm spices, rum, and brandy give it deep, earthy flavor that lives up to its name.

Flourless-style chocolate almond torte with fresh raspberries and framboise, layered with raspberry jam glaze and a poured chocolate ganache. A showstopping French-inspired dessert.

Yuletide chocolate chip cookies loaded with candied cherries, currants, pecans, and almonds. A festive holiday cookie with brandy flavoring and warm pumpkin pie spice that ages beautifully in the cookie tin.

Traditional British Christmas plum pudding with cognac-soaked dried fruit, walnuts, suet, and warm spices, steamed in a mold and served with brandy butter sauce. A Victorian holiday classic.

Chocolate fruitcake with cocoa, candied cherries, pecans, golden raisins, and mixed dried fruit, topped with a semisweet chocolate-almond glaze and toasted almonds.