The idea behind Alberta Whisky Cake (AWC) was first created in July 2003. From the beginning, the goal has always been a cake that represented the best of Alberta; solid, bold, rich, authentic, and spirited. One of our mandates has always been to use the highest quality local products in our cakes. We only use whole fresh eggs, milk, butter – never powdered or frozen.
We decided quite early on that these would be liquor-infused cakes, as they would have a much longer shelf life and produce a more moist and rich cake. It was one of the owner’s sons who suggested the alcohol be whisky, as the ingredients to produce rye whisky are grown and distilled locally.
Over the years we trialed various cake recipes, tweaking each one trying to find the best blend of ingredients. We even worked with scientists at the Alberta government’s Department of Agriculture’s Product Development Centre having the cakes tested, the recipes reviewed and feedback provided on improving the cakes without affecting their texture or flavors.
Finally, after almost 4 years of baking test cakes weekly the ‘The Whisky Runner’ (chocolate) and ‘The Malted Maple’ (maple walnut) were created.
Every AWC cake comes heat sealed & most elegantly packaged, ready for gift giving, with a lithographed ‘Artist Card’ promoting the work of a local emerging artist, one of our ‘Unbridled Spirits’. We believe that baking is an art form, and we want to encourage other artists to pursue their dreams in the same way we have within the AWC family.
Since in 2017, AWC has been proud to sponsor the Way Out West Fest (WOW Fest), a modern west festival of arts, music, culinary, spirits and all-around good times with a western flair. Kam McGonigal, Owner and Founder of AWC, has been an executive member of the core planning group for WOW Fest since 2019.
In 2019 AWC offered a scholarship to an art school in Mexico run by a prestigious Calgary artist, one of AWC’s unbridled spirits. And we have supported many artists by collecting their work and increasing the awareness of their work to others.
AWC also won runner-up in the inaugural Made In Alberta Awards. Our cakes were tested by various judges and deemed to be one of the top sweet food produced in Alberta, out of all the entrants!
In spring of 2021 our brand new line of Canadian Cowboy Cookie Mix came into being after Kam, now a grandmother, wanted a more nutritious cookie recipe with less sugar to bake with her grandkids… but one they’d still want to eat! We’ve been so pleased with the response to our cookie line, and hope it brings our customers as much joy as baking with our families does for us.
From our AWC family to yours,
Kam