How To Take The Bitter Taste Out Of Boozy Desserts

Alcohol can make or break a great dessert. If done right, the alcohol will subtly enhance all the best flavors on your plate. But if done wrong, adding alcohol will drown your dish in a sharp, ethanol bitterness. Luckily, pastry chef Dru Tevis, winner of season 9 of Food Network's "Holiday Baking Championship," told Daily Meal some critical tips to make the best use of alcohol in desserts. The most important tip? Cook off that burn.

To eliminate any bitter flavor from the liquor in bakes like cakes, cookies, and brownies, Tevis recommends simmering the alcohol until its strong, boozy overtones are gone. "When you breathe in the fumes, once they no longer sting the nostrils, the alcohol has been cooked off," he said. Tevis explained to Daily Meal that this is only necessary for high-proof alcohols like whiskey, rum, or tequila. If cooking with sweeter liquors or liqueurs, they can go directly into your mixture. "Using alcohol in baking is the same as using extracts like vanilla," Tevis said. "Unless you are using an extremely large amount they won't result in a bitter flavor in the final product."

Don't worry about finding the universally perfect alcohol for desserts. "All flavored alcohols work well in baking if they complement the flavors you are working with," Dru Tevis said. Some of his favorites share flavor notes commonly found in desserts, like the coffee notes of Kahlua, or the floral sweetness of an elderflower liqueur. "Frangelico, chocolate liqueur, Baileys, Liqueur 43, and elderflower liqueur are just a few of my favorites that I use on a regular basis. Any alcohol you enjoy drinking because of the flavor will work well in baked goods."

As Tevis advised, consider the flavors of your dessert, and which notes you want to highlight. If making a chocolatey dessert with nuts, like a turtle cheesecake, consider adding the hazelnut liqueur Frangelico to your ingredient list. Another of Tevis' examples, elderflower liqueur, is especially versatile in fruity desserts. "Really anything berry, apple, or citrus is enhanced by this flavor," he said. 

The one liquor Tevis said had little place in desserts (at least as a flavoring boost) was vodka, due to its strong alcohol content and nonexistent flavor profile. Vodka is, however, the keystone ingredient to a perfectly flaky pie crust because the alcohol cooks off faster than water would.

One area where alcohol can particularly shine in baking is with creamy desserts. If combined properly, cream and alcohol make for a stable emulsion, meaning they can mix together well without separating. In the case of frozen desserts, the high proof of certain liquors inhibits freezing, making for a softer consistency.

When adding alcohol to creamy desserts that require you to cook the base, like a custard, pudding, or mousse, Dru Tevis recommended whisking alcohol directly into the cream while heating it up, to cook off the bitterness while ensuring a smooth emulsion. Depending on the recipe, you can also whisk alcohol into a homemade simple syrup as it heats, as you would for an Italian meringue. A highly-acidic alcohol can break your dairy, Tevis warned, "but as long as you don't use too much, and whisk it immediately upon adding, it will be fine."

Just as before, let the flavors of your dessert guide your choice of alcohol. Tevis advises using layers of complementary flavors to create a well-rounded final product. For instance, he suggests making a limoncello buttercream loaded with layers of lemon flavor from fresh juice, zest, lemon oil, and a nice Italian limoncello. "All these flavoring agents will play well together creating a multidimensional lemon flavor," he said. And for the perfect espresso buttercream, he suggests a mixture of espresso, instant coffee powder, Kahlua, and coffee extract.