Holiday Spiced Apple Cake with Rum Caramel
For me, Thanksgiving dinner preparations start with dessert. No one has room for it after eating mountains of mashed potatoes and turkey with gravy, but somehow everyone manages to find that little extra bit of room for the sweet stuff! Because I an in the middle of a long-distance move, I will not be able to cook dinner this year. I'm pretty bummed out about it, but I still may try to make this, my favorite Autumn dessert. It is so delicious, that I thought I'd better share it a couple of weeks early, so that you have time to get the ingredients together.
Holiday Spice Bundt Cake with Apple/Rum Carmel
1 vanilla bean-split lengthwise and scraped
2 1/3 cups of all purpose flour
1 1/4 cups slivered and toasted almonds
2 tsp. baking powder
2 tsp. kosher salt
1 1/2 tsp. grated nutmeg (please grate your own if you are able)
1 1/2 tsp. ground cinnamon
1 tsp. ground allspice (again please grind your own if able)
3/4 tsp. freshly grated ginger (ok....even I use the stuff in the jar here)
1/2 tsp. ground cardamom
1/2 tsp. ground cloves
1 cup dark brown sugar
1 cup white sugar
3/4 cup powdered sugar
1 tsp. finely grated lemon zest
3 eggs
5 yolks
1 cup whole milk
In a sauce pan melt the butter. Add the vanilla bean and the scrapings. Cook over medium high heat-stirring often-until the butter foams up and then browns. Be very careful not to allow the butter to burn, you just want a light amber color.
Remove the bean from the butter, and pour the hot butter into a tempered glass dish. Place in the fridge for about an hour until the butter has set back up to nearly solid.
In the meantime...with the blade attachment in your food processor, pulse the flour and almonds until the almonds are finely ground. Add the next 8 ingredients, and pulse a few times to mix everything together.
(Preheat oven to 350F)
Once your browned butter mixture is solid, place into a stand mixer with the peddle attachment in place. Add the 3 sugars and turn the machine to the highest setting and whip the mixture until light and fluffy (about 5 minutes). Turn the machine off and scrape down the sides. Add the lemon zest and turn the machine to the middle setting. Add the eggs and the yolks ONE AT A TIME BEATING FOR 30-60 SECONDS AFTER EACH. If you have done this correctly you will have a very light, fluffy (almost icing-like) texture.
Turn the machine to low and add 1/2 the flour mix and all of the milk. Mix for 2 minutes and add the remaining flour. Mix one more minute.
Pour your cake batter into a very well oiled Bundt pan. Bake undisturbed for 65-70 minutes. Cake is done when a tooth pic is inserted into the deep part of the cake and comes out clean. Cool the cake in the pan for 25 minutes, invert onto a cooling rack and allow the cake to cool completely before serving or storing WELL WRAPPED in the fridge for up to 6 days.
pinch of cream of tartar
1/4 cup filtered or distilled water
1/4 cup fresh apple cider
1/4 cup heavy whipping cream
2 Tbs. dark rum
1/4 tsp. kosher salt
Combine sugar, cream of tartar, and water in a HIGH WALLED sauce pan (you will thank me for this later).
Over medium high to high heat dissolve the sugar. Cook without stirring until the caramel turns a dark amber color (about 320F on a candy thermometer).
Remove from the heat, while standing a bit back from the pot, and add the remaining ingredients. The caramel with boil VIOLENTLY...this is normal and why you need a high walled pot.
Once the boiling has subsided, with a wire whisk, vigorously whip the caramel over low heat until any hard bits of sugar remaining are dissolved. Set aside and cool to room temperature before use.
Once the cake and the caramel are room temperature, you can pour the caramel over the Bundt cake and serve!
Holiday Spice Bundt Cake with Apple/Rum Carmel
cake
1 3/4 cups butter1 vanilla bean-split lengthwise and scraped
2 1/3 cups of all purpose flour
1 1/4 cups slivered and toasted almonds
2 tsp. baking powder
2 tsp. kosher salt
1 1/2 tsp. grated nutmeg (please grate your own if you are able)
1 1/2 tsp. ground cinnamon
1 tsp. ground allspice (again please grind your own if able)
3/4 tsp. freshly grated ginger (ok....even I use the stuff in the jar here)
1/2 tsp. ground cardamom
1/2 tsp. ground cloves
1 cup dark brown sugar
1 cup white sugar
3/4 cup powdered sugar
1 tsp. finely grated lemon zest
3 eggs
5 yolks
1 cup whole milk
In a sauce pan melt the butter. Add the vanilla bean and the scrapings. Cook over medium high heat-stirring often-until the butter foams up and then browns. Be very careful not to allow the butter to burn, you just want a light amber color.
Remove the bean from the butter, and pour the hot butter into a tempered glass dish. Place in the fridge for about an hour until the butter has set back up to nearly solid.
In the meantime...with the blade attachment in your food processor, pulse the flour and almonds until the almonds are finely ground. Add the next 8 ingredients, and pulse a few times to mix everything together.
(Preheat oven to 350F)
Once your browned butter mixture is solid, place into a stand mixer with the peddle attachment in place. Add the 3 sugars and turn the machine to the highest setting and whip the mixture until light and fluffy (about 5 minutes). Turn the machine off and scrape down the sides. Add the lemon zest and turn the machine to the middle setting. Add the eggs and the yolks ONE AT A TIME BEATING FOR 30-60 SECONDS AFTER EACH. If you have done this correctly you will have a very light, fluffy (almost icing-like) texture.
Turn the machine to low and add 1/2 the flour mix and all of the milk. Mix for 2 minutes and add the remaining flour. Mix one more minute.
Pour your cake batter into a very well oiled Bundt pan. Bake undisturbed for 65-70 minutes. Cake is done when a tooth pic is inserted into the deep part of the cake and comes out clean. Cool the cake in the pan for 25 minutes, invert onto a cooling rack and allow the cake to cool completely before serving or storing WELL WRAPPED in the fridge for up to 6 days.
caramel
1 cup white sugarpinch of cream of tartar
1/4 cup filtered or distilled water
1/4 cup fresh apple cider
1/4 cup heavy whipping cream
2 Tbs. dark rum
1/4 tsp. kosher salt
Combine sugar, cream of tartar, and water in a HIGH WALLED sauce pan (you will thank me for this later).
Over medium high to high heat dissolve the sugar. Cook without stirring until the caramel turns a dark amber color (about 320F on a candy thermometer).
Remove from the heat, while standing a bit back from the pot, and add the remaining ingredients. The caramel with boil VIOLENTLY...this is normal and why you need a high walled pot.
Once the boiling has subsided, with a wire whisk, vigorously whip the caramel over low heat until any hard bits of sugar remaining are dissolved. Set aside and cool to room temperature before use.
Once the cake and the caramel are room temperature, you can pour the caramel over the Bundt cake and serve!
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