Get a look inside at the long awaited Whiskey Cake opening in Fort Worth
This Fort Worth restaurant’s most popular menu item gave them its name.
The gooey, sticky cake will be available in Fort Worth in Alliance Town Center beginning on Oct. 6. This region recently gained the ever popular H-E-B as well as other new restaurants like Son of a Butcher and Chop Shop.
“Our signature dish, which is a classic date and whiskey cake recipe, very dark in color by nature, but we put a vanilla bean cream on glaze, whiskey toffee sauce, and candy pecans,” says Nick Walker, director of Culinary for Whiskey Cake. “And then we actually whip fresh whipped cream every two hours throughout the day, and it gets smothered on top table side. It does not suck.”
The eatery is a scratch kitchen serving up classic American dishes and cocktails. The restaurant partners with local farmers and has its own herb garden on the patio. Dining here is like having a home-cooked meal with grandma’s famous dessert.
The Star-Telegram got an inside look at the dining space, kitchen, and bar. Here’s what we learned.
A taste of Whiskey Cake Fort Worth
As mentioned before, Whiskey Cake is just across the street from the Alliance Town Center, a new and fast-growing region of northern Fort Worth.
Whiskey, in both cocktails and desserts, of course, is the show stopper. However, the food itself shouldn’t be forgotten.
“At our core, we are a wood fire-focused concept. So the majority of our items will have some format of touching the wood fire grill,” says Walker. “We use post oak and mesquite, and we have really simple products that are simple dishes which have an elevated chef’s touch to it.”
They offer starters like Goat Cheese Fondue, Deviled Eggs, Roasted Garlic Hummus and Butcher Board of neighborhood cheeses and meats. For entrees, guests can savor burgers, Amish Rotisserie Farm Bird or farm fresh salads. And for dessert, you guessed it, Whiskey Cake or a Chocolate Almond Pie.
“So we very strongly believe in craft cocktails, and not the craft cocktails that I think a lot of people sometimes put out that say that they’re craft cocktails,” says Alan Dean, Concept Beverage Manager for Whiskey Cake, “We juice all our juices. We have our own syrup infusions. We have a fat-wash cocktail. We have a clarified dairy cocktail. Barrel aged thing going on for the entire brand right now. We take it all very, very seriously.”
Their classic WC Old Fashioned is made with Evan Williams 1783 Bourbon and Angostura bitters (Evan Williams 1783 has 45% ABV, more than the normal 40% for bourbon). Tracy’s Garden is one of Whiskey Cake’s gin cocktails made with Ford’s Gin, fresh cucumber, house grown basil, homemade simple syrup and lime.
The star of the show is Whiskey Cake. This indulgent, sticky, cavity provoking cake should be eaten at least once a week. The cake is baked perfectly – dense but still airy covered in a golden toffee glaze and airy whipped cream. Candied pecans give a perfect crunch.
Meet the staff behind Whiskey Cake
Both Walker and Dean are passionate about their work. Just by explaining their brand, you can tell that they love their jobs and are forward thinkers.
Walker, Whiskey Cake’s culinary director, has been working in the culinary industry for 22 years and Whiskey Cake for only four months. Walker obtained his culinary degree in Charlotte, North Carolina. Before he came to Texas 10 years ago, he gained experience in Miami Beach, Florida.
While in Texas, he worked for some hotel restaurants in the Dallas area, including Rosewood Mansion in Turtle Creek, Joule, and Virgin Hotel. Most recently, before Whiskey Cake, Walker was the Culinary Director for the Village, which operated nine restaurants—Meridian, one of which received a James Beard nomination.
Now he finds himself at Whiskey Cake as a full circle moment.
“I moved here about 10 years ago, and one of the first restaurants I went to was actually Whiskey Cake in Plano,” he said. “I went there and sat down for dinner with a friend. I was really shocked and surprised at how good the dinner was.”
As far as Dean’s experience goes, he originally studied finance before realizing he hated numbers, so he decided to manage at a Starbucks.
“Turns out bartending and Starbucks are identical, with recipes and measurements.” says Dean.
He originally wanted to work at Ida Claire (also managed by Front Burner, Whiskey Cake’s parent company) as a server but had to work his way up. In 2015, he got a position as bartender which has led him to be concept beverage manager at Whiskey Cake today.
Another full circle moment for Dean, as his sister had her bridal shower at a Whiskey Cake 15 years ago.
About Whiskey Cake
The flagship location opened in Plano back in 2010. Whiskey Cake has now expanded to 10 other locations across Texas, Oklahoma and Florida. The new 10,692-square-foot restaurant is located on 2849 Heritage Trace Pkwy.
Whiskey Cake has three private event spaces for whatever part you may want to throw. They are open daily on Monday to Thursday, from 11 a.m. to 10 p.m., Friday, 11 a.m. to 11 p.m., Saturday 10 a.m. to 11 p.m. and Sunday from 10 a.m. to 9 p.m.
This story was originally published September 26, 2024 at 4:59 PM.