Here is a super easy cake involving apples and apple cider. I loved this cake as it was simple to make and making an apple cider reduction gives the cake plenty of apple flavor.
I love apple pie, apple crumble, French apple or anything apple when it comes to a dessert and yet I don’t tend to make desserts with apples. When I worked in the commercial kitchen we would experiment by making apple cakes (which was more of a batter then a crust), I just never liked the ones we would make.
For the fall, I decided I wanted to try my own version of an apple cake so I created this recipe, I did use a few other recipes as guidelines and took the best of what I read to develop this cake recipe.
The key is the reduction of the apple cider, to reduce apple cider, take a cup of cider and cook it on the stove until it becomes 1/4 cup, here is the before
and after
I used granny smith apples as they are great for baking
I shredded the peeled apples, the old fashion way using a grater, it was so much easier then pulling out the food processor
I wanted to wring out the extra moister so I placed the shredded apple in a towel and squeezed as much of the juice out that I could, do not omit this step
beat butter with sugar until light and fluffy, then add eggs, one at a time, make sure it is mixed well
In a separate bowl put “dry” ingredients (flour, baking powder, baking soda, apple pie spice and salt) and to cream add apple cider leaving the “wet” ingredients
Just like I did in my blueberry cake, alternat adding adding 1/3 of dry ingredients, mixed until blended, add 1/2 of wet ingredients and mixed it up, add another 1/3 of dry ingreditents and mix, add all of the remaining wet ingredients, mix again and end with dry ingredients
Add the shredded apple and zest from 1 lemon and mixed it by hand until everything was incorporated. Don’t worry if your apple has some discoloration to it, it won’t matter once it’s baked up.
Put in an 8×8 pan, sprinkle with the cinnamon and sugar on top and baked it for about 50-55 minutes…YUM!
Now for the glaze, while the cake was baking I did the same thing with the apple cider by taking a cup and reducing it to only 2 tablespoons. I put the apple glaze in with confectioners sugar and used just slightly over 1 tablespoon of milk, if you like your glaze more runny add more milk and if you like a more thick glaze add less milk
here is a photo of the mixed glaze
Once the cake cooled off, slice your piece and drizzle some of the glaze on top (this can be optional as well)
I loved this recipe as you can see from my photo, you do not see large chunks of apple or any apple at all, just looks like a cake. The flavor of the apple is amazing, by reducing the apple cider, you intensify the flavor even more which helps bring out the apple flavor.
.
Thank you for visiting my site.
If you enjoyed this recipe, please leave a comment and if you enjoy my site, please subscribe. To subscribe, go to the box listed on the top of the page “Subscribe Via Email” and input your email address.
When you subscribe, you will be emailed a link to confirm the subscription, be sure to click on that link to activate your account.
Thank you again ~ Patty Limatola-Tanenbaum
.
Ingredients
- 1 cup Apple Cider
- 2 cups Granny Smith Apples (I used 3)
- 1/4 cup softened butter (4 tablespoons or half a stick)
- 1 cup Sugar
- 2 large Eggs
- 2 cups Flour
- 1 1/2 teaspoons Baking Powder
- 1/2 teaspoon Baking Soda
- 1/4 teaspoon Salt
- 1/4 teaspoon Apple Pie Spice (optional)
- 1/2 cup Heavy Cream
- 1 Zest from a lemon
- 1 teaspoon Cinnamon
- 3 tablespoons Sugar
- 1 cup Apple Cider
- 1 cup Confectioners’ Sugar
- 1-2 tablespoons Milk
Directions
- In a small saucepan, put 1 cup of apple cider in and reduce it to 1/4 of a cup. Set aside to cool
- Peel your apples and shred them until you have 2 cups, put them in a towel and wring them until all moisture has vanished
- In a large bowl place your butter and sugar and beat until light in color. Add your eggs, one at a time until it's well mixed, mix for about 3 minutes
- In a small bowl add your flour, baking powder, baking soda, apple pie spice and salt (dry ingredients)
- In a measuring cup, measure out milk and apple cider (wet ingredients)
- With your mixer on low, alternate adding the dry ingredients first then the wet, ending with the dry until well mixed.
- Pour into your prepared 8x8 pan
- Prepare the cinnamon and sugar mixture and sprinkle that on top of your cake. Bake for 50-55 minutes or until cooked through*
- While the cake is baking, place the second cup of apple cider on the stove and reduce it down to two tablespoons make sure that it doesn’t evaporate too far.
- Place the confectioners’ sugar in a small bowl and add the reduced cider along with one tablespoon of milk and stir. Add more milk if you desire, but to it in small increments, this glaze should be thick but runny enough to drizzle off the end of a spoon.
- When the cake comes out of the oven, cool it to room temperature, cut into squares and drizzle a little glaze over just before serving. Enjoy
- * if you do not wring out the apples, there will be moisture and the cake could take longer to cook and may stay wet in the inside