Lemon Whiskey Cake ft. Root Beer Frosting + Kettlecorn Garland
Never have I ever used a cake to suck up to someone... until now.
Enter Jessica Hische - famed letterer, proclaimed whiskey drinker, and avid procrastiworker - who also has as many side projects on the Internet as I have fingers on my hands. Last year I read a Method & Craft interview w/ Jessica and loved how articulate and well-spoken she came across, and this point is further proven with every interview and design talk I have listened to since then. She is extremely quotable and has penned pieces about everything from freelance compensation to becoming an accidental hipster.
To me, the greatest example of this is her Daily Drop Cap project which she began as she transitioned from a full-time paid position to being a freelance designer. The idea was to have some sort of regular routine during the ups and downs of freelancing, and to also create her own body of inspired work and maybe begin to make a name for herself. And that it did - Jessica herself says this side project 'catapulted' her into the design scene and even if people first heard of her as 'that daily drop cap girl,' they certainly know her by name now.
Well, dig a little deeper and you'll find that Jessica has another 'side project' called The Internet Sends Me Cake. She says it started out as almost a joke among her studiomates, that she was frequently asked to promote other designers' work to her large following and that she could create an equal-opportunity site exchanging portfolio links for homemade cakes.
Which brings us to today's cake remix. Jessica writes that she prefers lemon cake, enjoys Kettlecorn, and has been known to put whiskey in her root beer. BOOM, remix. With the recipe out of the way, the graphics needed to match the graphic designer and just a quick scroll through her portfolio will give you a pretty good idea of her lettering style. The 'J' and 'H' are based on versions of her own Drop Caps and while I myself am not a swirly embellisher, I can curly-cue and loop-di-loop when the occasion calls for it.
So without further ado, the Jessica Hische Remix:
lemon whiskey cake
1 box lemon cake mix
5 eggs
1 c. whiskey
1/4 c. vegetable oil
1/3 c. cold water
1-2 tbsp. squeezed lemon juice
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Preheat oven to 350 degrees F, grease pan with butter or a non-stick spray like PAM. In a large mixing bowl, beat eggs, oil, whiskey, water, and lemon juice until smooth. Slowly add in cake mix, beating well after each addition. Pour batter into greased 8” round pans and bake according to times on the back of the box.
whiskey root beer frosting
1/4 c. butter
4 c. powdered sugar
1 tbsp. whiskey
5-6 tbsp. root beer
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Beat butter, root beer, and whiskey on low speed until smooth. Slowly add in sugar and beat on high speed until frosting forms. Add gel food coloring for orange frosting.
kettlecorn garland
kettlecorn
thread
needle
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Thread needle, knot the end, and string kettlecorn piece by piece, sliding to the end of the thread. Drape around cake as a garland.
