Fall is my favorite season! I was thumbing through the pages of a glossy magazine I love and spotted this recipe for apple cider donut cake! I was immediately intrigued because it uses a large amount of apple cider. Hmmmm.
My brother and his sweet wife brought us a goodie bag from Trader Joe’s when they visited recently. We live one hundred and fifty miles from the nearest Trader Joe’s, so they know it’s always a huge treat. I still had some heavenly Honeycrisp apple cider left, so I saw this as a golden opportunity.
Years ago, I won a gorgeous Nordicware magnolia pattern bundt pan, and I love any excuse to use the beautiful pan! Here’s your opportunity to use your bundt pan because you should get it out of the dark back of the cupboard and take it for a spin once in a while. This recipe worked great in the pretty 10-inch Bundt pan.
After I baked and tasted this cake, I knew it would also make magnificent muffins and luscious loaves, so don’t let the fact that you don’t have a bundt pan stop you from enjoying the amazing flavor of this recipe! Please try it!
My curiosity about using over two cups of apple cider in a cake made me want to learn more. Answer: You create an apple cider reduction by simmering the cider until the liquid is reduced to about half, intensifying the flavor. Brilliant! And wow, it’s incredible.
This process is the only part of this recipe that’s a little fiddly and will keep you bustling around the kitchen for ten or fifteen minutes to keep an eye on it. It turns out that an apple cider reduction is nothing new, but my goodness, where have I been? The difference in flavor is miraculous, don’t skip it.
While the cider is doing its thing, preheat the oven to 325 degrees, prepare the bundt pan by buttering or greasing every nook and cranny carefully, and then add flour. Shake and tip the pan in every direction until all surfaces, including the center stem, are well coated.
Finally, turn the pan upside down and tap it to ensure any excess flour is gone. Hint: I’m going to try Baker’s Joy next time; it is a great product with flour right in with the spray to make even an intricate bundt pan like mine to release the baked goods easily.
Once the cider is reduced by half (the original recipe says to one cup and two tablespoons), set aside two tablespoons for the glaze and pour the hot cider into a mixing bowl. Confession: I cheated a teeny bit and added a tablespoon of fresh cider to make the exact amount, and then I set aside two tablespoons. Precision has never been my gift, but full transparency always is! 😉
I had cut the butter into pats, and it was pretty much at room temperature. I added the butter and the applesauce to the bowl of warm cider, and when it was cooled off a little, I whisked in the eggs, the egg yolk, the vanilla, the sugars, the salt, and the spices.
Next, I whisked in the baking powder and soda. I have found that I can save time by mixing the leavening into the wet ingredients before adding the flour. It's so easy to blend them in thoroughly at this point, and it saves me a bowl to wash. After the leavening is well blended, gradually whisk the flour a little at a time.
The original recipe used two bowls, but I can never see doing that when one bowl will do. The cake’s texture turned out perfect, and I didn’t have to wash two bowls!
In my opinion, magazine recipes always seem to require a lot of steps, and I often try to bypass some of them because, after half a century in the kitchen, I have gotten lazy, no, smarter.
Now, spoon the batter into the bundt pan and ensure it is level.
Bake it in a 325-degree oven for about forty to fifty minutes. A cake tester inserted near the center should come out clean. Let the cake sit in the pan on a rack for 15 minutes or so, then run a thin knife around the edges of the pan to loosen it and invert it on a wire rack. It took longer for my cake to cool, but after a little longer, it obligingly plopped out intact. I moved it onto a serving plate before the last step.
Here’s a handy tip: Put three strips of waxed paper on the cake plate before you put the cake on it. Look closely at the picture, and you can see the waxed paper. The edges should be just under the cake. When you are all finished glazing the cake using the directions below, pull them out gently. You will have a clean and tidy plate under your gorgeous cake!
Mix two tablespoons of melted butter with the two tablespoons of cider reduction you set aside. Brush this mixture all over the cake while it’s warm and receptive. Make sure to get every crease and bump. Now sprinkle it with cinnamon sugar for the final crowning glory. When it has had time to stick, gently pull out the waxed paper, and voila! Celebrate your beautiful creation.
Here is a recipe for a moist, buttery bundt cake made with an apple cider reduction for intense flavor. It is finished by brushing with a mixture of butter and cider reduction, then sprinkled with cinnamon sugar. Delightful!
We gather more when fall rolls around. Potlucks, tailgates, fifth-quarter parties, and before we know it, the holidays start rolling around. Apple desserts of every kind are always welcome at the table! Here are some of my favorite and most popular apple recipes. Best Oatmeal Apple Crisp, Fresh Apple Cake, Snicker Salad (or is it dessert?), and Two-Ingredient Mini Apple Pies.
Do you have a favorite apple dessert? If you do, drop them in the comments! I'd be delighted to see them!
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What size Bundt pan?
That's a very fair and intelligent question! 10 cups- I'll add that valuable information to the post! Thank you!