Glorious Apple Cake

I've been wanting to try an apple cake for a very long time. I like the taste of apple pie but always find myself picking out the chunks of apple since I'm not a fan of cooked apples. Because you can't make apple pie without apples I thought that making an apple cake would be the next best thing for me to try.

With hundreds of recipes to choose from I settled on the Double Apple Cake from the book Baking: From My Home to Yours by Dorie Greenspan. I chose this recipe because Dorie Greenspan has a good reputation and also because it calls for grated apples instead of apple chunks. I have never come across apple butter here in South Africa so I made my own using a recipe that I found on the myrecipes website.

Although I found the cake rather pleasant I don't think that apple cake is something I would reach for very often - I'm a chocoholic can you blame me.

Double Apple Bundt Cake
Adapted from Baking: From My Home to Yours

2 cups all-purpose flour

2 teaspoons baking powder

½ teaspoon baking soda

½ teaspoon ground cinnamon

¼ teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg

¼ teaspoon ground ginger

¼ teaspoon salt

1 ¼ sticks (10 tablespoons) unsalted butter, at room temperature

1 ½ cup granulated sugar

2 large eggs1 cup store-bought apple butter – spiced or plain

2 medium apples, peeled, cored and grated

1 cup pecans chopped or walnuts

½ cup plump, moist golden or dark raisins

Confectioners’ sugar for dusting (optional)

Center a rack in the oven and preheat oven to 350º F. Butter and flour a 9-10 inch bundt pan. Don’t place pan on a baking sheet; you want the oven’s heat to circulate through the bundt’s inner tube.

Whisk together the dry ingredients, flour through salt.

Working with stand mixer fitted with paddle attachment, or hand mixer in a large bowl, beat the butter and sugar on medium speed, scraping the bowl as needed, for 3 minutes, or until the mixture is smooth, thick, and pale.

Add the eggs one at a time, beating for about 1 minute after each addition; you’ll have a light, fluffy batter.

Reduce the mixer speed to low and beat in the apple butter – don’t worry if it curdles the batter.

Still on low, add the grated apples and mix to completely blend.

Add the dry ingredients, mixing only until they disappear into the batter. Using a rubber spatula, fold in the nuts and raisins.

Turn the batter into the bundt pan and smooth the top of the batter with the spatula.

Bake for 50-55 minutes or until a thin knife inserted deep into the center of the cake comes out clean.

Transfer the cake to a rack to cool for 5 minutes. Unmould and cool to room temperature.

Allow the cake to stand overnight to improve the flavour of the cake. Wrap well in cling wrap and leave to stand at room temperature.

Dust with confectioners sugar or drizzle with glaze.

To make glaze:

½ confectioners sugar

Enough freshly squeezed lemon juice to make a smooth glaze.

Mix the confectioners sugar and lemon juice together in a small bowl. Add the juice a little at a time until the desired consistency is reached. Mix until smooth and satiny.