Fall has always held a special place in my heart. Even though it brings on cold mornings and evenings and eventually frost, which signals the end of the growing season and Farmers’ Markets, you can’t beat the colors of dying foliage. Fire pitting is a big plus. Not to mention football and hockey seasons start and it hosts my favorite holiday of them all: Thanksgiving! In fact, I did a bit of all three this past weekend. Made some cocktails on Friday night which we enjoyed, fireside, on our back patio. My friends hosted a Friendsgiving on Saturday night. Then, yesterday, I went to the local Farmers’ Market and along with my normal purchase of veggies and seasonal fruits, grabbed some Granny Smith apples to make this sensational Bundt cake. I even went out into the back yard and raked up some leaves and threw them on my photo table!
This cake is a complete celebration of the season incorporating apples, cider, and cinnamon. While the “icing” is sweet, the cake is a perfect mix of spiced and savory, with just a hint of sweetness. I put the quotes around icing because this turns out more like a glaze than a typical icing. If you like apple cider donuts, you’ll love this recipe. I’ve adjusted the recipe below to allow the cake to cool almost fully before adding the icing in hopes that it would look iced, instead of glazed.
Cider-Glazed Apple Bundt Cake
adapted from Cooks’ Illustrated, America’s Test Kitchen
You will need a 12-cup Bundt pan and either a grater box or vegetable shredder attachment for a food processor, as well as a digital scale for perfect measurements of the flour and sugars.
4 cups apple cider
18 ¾ oz AP flour (or 3 ¾ cups) + more for dusting the pan
1.5 tsp salt
1.5 tsp baking powder
3/4 tsp ground cinnamon
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp ground allspice
3 oz Confectioners’ sugar (or ¾ cup)
2 sticks of butter
10.5 oz dark brown sugar (or 1.5 cups, packed)
3 eggs
2 tsp vanilla extract
1.5 lbs Granny Smith apples (approx. 3 large apples)
Pour the cider into a 12-inch skillet and bring to a boil over high heat. Reduce down to approximately a cup, for about 20 minutes.
While the cider reduces, grease the Bundt pan (I used room temperature butter) and dust with a small amount of unmeasured flour, tipping out the excess.
In a large bowl, combine the measured AP flour, salt, baking powder, cinnamon, baking soda, and allspice with a whisk. Reserve.
Measure out the Confectioner’s sugar in a small bowl and set aside. Melt the butter and reserve.
In another large bowl, combine the brown sugar, eggs and vanilla. Reserve.
Preheat your oven to 350 degrees with the rack set in the middle position.
When the cider has reduced, add 2 tbsp of it to the bowl of Confectioner’s sugar. Whisk until smooth and all sugar has dissolved. You may need to add a little more cider, 1/2 tsp at-a-time. Cover with plastic wrap and reserve.
Set aside 6 tbsp of reduced cider in a small bowl.
Pour the remaining reduced cider from the pan into a measuring cup until you have 1/2 cup. If you don’t have a full 1/2 cup left, add some water until you do.
Peel, core and grate your apples.
Pour the half cup of reduced cider into the large bowl that has the eggs in it. Whisk to combine. Then pour this mixture over the large bowl of flour.
Using a spatula, stir the mixture until almost fully combined. Then, add in the grated apple and stir until fully incorporated. Pour the batter into the prepared Bundt pan. Using the spatula, press the batter down slightly and ensure it comes into contact with all of the edges of the mold. Smooth out the bottom (exposed portion) of the batter.
Place in the oven and bake for 55 minutes. When cooked, place the pan onto a cooling rack and after 5 minutes, brush some of the reserved reduced cider on the bottom (exposed side) of the cake. Let cool for 10 minutes.
After 10 minutes, place the cooling rack on top of the Bundt pan and carefully flip it over. Remove the mold. Brush the remaining reduced cider all over the cake. Let cool for 90 minutes.
(if you want the cake glazed, as it appears in the photo, drizzle the icing on after just 20 minutes of cooling)
After 90 minutes, stir the icing with a spoon and drizzle spoonfuls over the cake in a back-and-forth manner, like scribbling. Let the cake cool completely, and the icing to solidify, for another 30 minutes, or overnight.
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Copyright 2021, Brendan McCann, All Rights Reserved.
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