Cake Recipes
Secret Ingredient Apple-Spice Cake
This Secret Ingredient Apple-Spice Cake is a symphony of fall flavors: sweet cake, fragrant spices, and brisk, tangy apples. The secret is cherry juice concentrate, which subtly brightens the cake's flavor without competing with the apples.
Hands-on: 25 to 35 min | Bake: 55 min to 1 hr 15 min | Yield: 16 servings
Ingredients
Cake
- 1/2 cup unsalted butter, softened but not melted
- 1/2 cup vegetable oil
- 1 3/4 cups granulated sugar
- 2 tablespoons King Arthur Cake Enhancer (optional)
- 2 teaspoons Apple Pie Spice, or a combination of cinnamon, nutmeg, and allspice
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 2 teaspoons baking powder
- 4 large eggs
- 3 cups King Arthur Unbleached All-Purpose Flour
- 1/4 cup cherry juice concentrate (or substitute applesauce)*
- 1/4 cup applesauce*
- 3 cups peeled and cored apples, cut into 1/2" chunks (about 2 large apples)
- 2 cups chopped walnuts
Glaze
- 1/4 cup granulated sugar
- 2 tablespoons rum or brandy; or water with a drop or two of rum or brandy flavor
Instructions
- Heat the oven to 350 degrees F. Grease a 10 inch, 10 to 15 cup capacity tube pan or bundt-style pan.
Cake
- Beat together the butter, oil, sugar, cake enhancer, spice, salt, and baking powder until light and fluffy, about 4 to 5 minutes.
- Add the eggs one at a time, beating after each addition until the batter looks fluffy. Scrape the bottom and sides of the bowl.
- Beat in half the flour, then the cherry concentrate (or 1/4 cup applesauce). Scrape the bottom and sides of the bowl, then beat in the remaining flour and the applesauce.
- Fold in the apples and nuts. Spoon the batter into the prepared pan.
- Bake the cake for 55 to 65 minutes, until a cake tester inserted into the center comes out clean.
- Remove the cake from the oven, and cool for 10 minutes before turning out of the pan.
Glaze
- Stir all the ingredients in a small saucepan over low heat until the sugar dissolves.
- Brush on the warm cake.
- Allow the cake to cool completely before slicing.
Notes
* Use 1/4 cup cherry juice concentrate + 1/4 cup applesauce; or 1/2 cup applesauce.
Attribution
Recipe and photo used with permission from:
King Arthur Flour