Apple Spice Cake with Cream Cheese Icing
Add tart Granny Smith apples, walnuts and raisins to spice cake with nutmeg and cinnamon, then top it with a rich cream cheese icing.
Prep Time:
Cook Time:
Total Time:
Ingredients:
| 1/2 stick | butter, plus extra for loaf pan |
| 3 | granny smith apples, peeled and cored, cut into 1/2-inch dice and tossed with a little lemon juice |
| 1/2 | lemon, juiced |
| 1 cup | apple cider |
| 1 3/4 cup | all-purpose flour, plus extra for loaf pan |
| 1 teaspoon | ground cinnamon |
| 1 teaspoon | baking soda |
| 3 or 4 | grates fresh nutmeg (about 1/2 teaspoon) |
| 3/4 cup | brown sugar |
| 3/4 cup | sugar |
| pinch kosher salt | |
| 1 | egg |
| 1 teaspoon | vanilla extract |
| 1/2 cup | toasted and chopped walnuts |
| 1/2 cup | golden raisins |
| cream cheese icing, recipe follows | |
| ounce | one 8- package cream cheese, at room temperature |
| 1 stick | butter, at room temperature |
| 1 cup | powdered sugar |
| 1 teaspoon | vanilla extract |
| 1/2 | lemon, juiced |
Directions:
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.
Melt the butter in a large saute pan over medium heat. Toss in the apples and stir to coat them with the butter. Add the lemon juice and the apple cider. Cook until the apples have softened and the cider has reduced by half. Transfer the mixture to a food processor and pulse into a coarse paste. Reserve.
In a large mixing bowl combine the flour, cinnamon, baking soda, nutmeg, both of the sugars and a pinch of salt. Make a well in the dry ingredients and add the pureed apples, the egg and vanilla. Stir to combine. Toss in the walnuts and raisins.
Butter and flour a loaf pan. Pour the batter into the prepared pan and put it in the preheated oven. Bake until a toothpick, inserted in the center comes out clean, about 40 to 45 minutes.
Remove the pan from the oven and let cool for 10 minutes. Remove the cake from the pan and cool completely.
Cut the cake in half equatorially and spread half of the icing on the bottom layer. Replace the top half and ice the top of the cake, leave the sides bare. Slice and serve.
Beat together all of the ingredients in a stand mixer or with a hand mixer until light and fluffy.
Source: foodnetwork.com
