tipsy cake

{{Short description|Cake soaked in alcohol}}

{{Infobox prepared food

| name = Tipsy cake

| image = Dinner by Heston Blumenthal, Knightsbridge, London (5881681299) (cropped).jpg

| image_size = 250px

| caption = A tipsy cake served at Dinner by Heston Blumenthal

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| country = England

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| type = Cake

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| main_ingredient = Sponge cake, sherry, brandy, sometimes bourbon or Tennessee whiskey

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A tipsy cake is a sweet dessert cake, made originally of "fresh sponge cakes soaked in good sherry and good brandy".Party-giving on Every Scale, London. n.d. (1880), p. 16, as "looked on as a second-class sweet" when part of a wedding breakfast, but recommended. The dish as prepared in England would typically have several small cakes stacked together, with the cracks between bristling with almonds. As a variety of the English trifle, tipsy cake is popular in the American South, often served as a dessert or at church socials and neighbourhood gatherings. It was a well-known dessert by the mid 19th century and was included Mrs Beeton's Book of Household Management in 1861.{{cite web|url=http://www.mrsbeeton.com/29-chapter29.html|access-date=10 May 2021|title=CHAPTER 29 – CREAMS, JELLIES ETC. – RECIPES}}

The tipsy cake originated in the mid-18th century. A recipe for cake or biscuits, alcohol, and custard combined in a trifle bowl came to the American colonies via the British, who settled in the coastal south. Its popularity remained with Southern planters who enjoyed sweet desserts. Tipsy cake was also humorously called Tipsy Parson, because it presumably lured many a Sunday-visiting preacher "off the wagon". The name refers to the amount of alcohol used in the dish's preparation.{{cite web|url=http://whatscookingamerica.net/History/Cakes/Trifle.htm|title=Trifle History, Tipsy Hedgehog, Whats Cooking America|first=Linda|last=Stradley|date=May 24, 2015|publisher=Whatscookingamerica.net|accessdate=29 January 2017}}

One variety of the cake combines stale pound or angel food cake, fruit jam, one ounce whiskey, five ounces sherry, and warm vanilla pie filling or custard. All the ingredients save the pie filling are mixed together; then the warm pie filling/custard is poured over the top and the dish chilled. Whipped cream is poured over the top of the dish just before serving.{{cite web|url=http://www.cooksrecipes.com/international/irish-tipsy-cake-recipe.html|title=Tipsy Cake Recipe|publisher=Cooksrecipes.com|accessdate=29 January 2017}}