It’s apple season in Vermont and I have a big bag of Macs sitting on my kitchen counter. We have an orchard close to our house where we can pick or buy several varieties of apples, along with freshly pressed apple cider and homemade apple cider donuts (a weakness of mine). But sometimes you’ve had one too many fried donuts. Sometimes you just want cake. Maybe you want a delicious, non-fried, warm, apple-y cake that tastes like apple cider donuts. I got you covered!
This cake is so good. It’s best made in a bundt, as that type of pan maximizes the surface area of the cake and allows it to form a nice crust, (especially when you rub it all over with cinnamon sugar while it’s still warm!) I used vanilla paste, which tastes to me most like vanilla bean -it even has the black vanilla bean seeds in it – but vanilla extract is perfectly fine too.
- 2 medium macintosh apples, peeled, cored and chopped
- 1¼ cup apple cider
- ½ cup heavy cream
- 1 stick butter, softened
- ¾ cup sugar
- ½ cup dark brown sugar, packed
- 3 eggs
- ¼ cup canola oil
- 2½ cups flour
- 1½ teaspoons baking powder
- ½ teaspoon baking soda
- Pinch salt
- ½ teaspoon nutmeg
- ½ teaspoon cinnamon
- ¼ teaspoon allspice
- 1 teaspoon vanilla paste (or vanilla extract)
- Cinnamon Sugar Topping:
- ⅓ cup sugar
- 1½ teaspoon cinnamon
- ½ teaspoon nutmeg
- Pinch salt
- Preheat oven to 350
- Generously butter the bundt pan, being sure to get into every crack and crevice.
- Place apples and cider in heavy saucepan and simmer until apples have turned to mush and liquid has thickened and reduced a bit. Turn off heat and use a potato masher to mash the apples into a purée. Let the mixture cool for a few minutes, then stir in the heavy cream. Set aside.
- In the bowl of a mixer, beat the butter, sugar and brown sugar until light and fluffy, about 2 minutes. Add the eggs, one at a time, beating after each egg. Add the canola oil and beat for another minute.
- Sift the flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, nutmeg, cinnamon and allspice into a separate bowl.
- With the mixer on low, add the flour mixture in thirds, alternating with the apple cider mixture in thirds, until all is added, scraping the sides of the bowl as needed.
- Turn the batter into the prepared bundt pan and bake for approximately 40-45 minutes, until cake is nicely puffed and tester inserted into center of cake comes out clean.
- Cool for about 10 minutes and then turn out onto a rack. Mix the cinnamon sugar topping ingredients together in a small bowl. Rub the warm cake with the cinnamon sugar mixture, pressing it gently into the sides and center of the cake until it's completely covered. You can carefully tilt the cake to make it easier to get the sugar to stick to the sides of the cake.
