Picture Perfect Cooking

A little while ago, I paid a visit to Jackson’s Orchard and purchased a peck of Jonathan apples so I had to find new apple recipes to try.  This recipe was published in Southern Living a few months ago and I knew it would be a perfect test for fresh apples.  This cake turned out great!  The apples and cream cheese swirl kept the cake moist for days and the caramel topping was so good.

In fact, this is one of those cakes that is better a day or two after it is baked.  It just gets moister and more flavorful.  Do you have a fall potluck or party to go to?  Take this and everyone will be in apple heaven!

Note: I am not including quite as many photos as usual since this recipe is quite long already.  All of the methods used are pretty basic.

For the Cream Cheese Filling:

8 oz. cream cheese, room temperature

1/4 cup unsalted butter, softened

1/2 cup granulated sugar

1 large egg

2 tbsp. all-purpose flour

1 tsp. vanilla extract

For the Apple Cake Batter:

1 cup finely chopped pecans, lightly toasted

3 cups all-purpose flour

1 cup granulated sugar

1 cup firmly packed light brown sugar

2 tsp. ground cinnamon

1 tsp. salt

1 tsp. baking soda

1 tsp. ground nutmeg

1/2 tsp. ground allspice

3 large eggs, lightly beaten

3/4 cup canola oil

3/4 cup applesauce

1 tsp. vanilla extract

3 cups peeled and finely chopped apples (The original recipe called for Galas, but I used Jonathans.)

For the Praline Frosting:

1/2 cup firmly packed light brown sugar

1/4 cup butter

3 tbsp. milk

1 tsp. vanilla extract

1 cup powdered sugar

Prepare the Filling:

Beat the cream cheese, butter, and granulated sugar at medium speed with an electric mixer until blended and smooth.  Add the egg, flour and vanilla.  Beat just until blended.

Prepare the Batter:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Spray a 14-cup Bundt pan with non-stick spray and cover with flour. (Or do like I do and use Baker’s Joy.)  Stir together the flour, granulated sugar, brown sugar, cinnamon, salt, baking soda, nutmeg and allspice.  Then add the eggs, oil, applesauce and vanilla; stir just until the dry ingredients are moistened.  Stir in the apples and pecans.

Spoon 2/3 of the apple batter into the prepared pan.  Spoon the cream cheese filling over the batter, leaving a 1-inch border around the edge of the pan.  Swirl the filling through the apple batter using a knife.  Spoon the remaining batter over the filling.

Bake for 1 hour to 1 hour and 15 minutes or until a toothpick inserted near the center come out clean.  Cool in the pan for 10 minutes and then turn out on a cooling rack and let the cake cool down completely.

Prepare the Frosting:

Bring the brown sugar, butter, and milk to a boil over medium heat, whisking constantly.  Boil for 1 minute while still whisking constantly.  Remove from heat and stir in vanilla.  Gradually whisk in the powdered sugar until smooth; stir gently for 3-5 minutes or until the frosting begins to cool and thickens slightly.  Pour immediately over the cooled cake.

 

Join me over at Miz Helen’s Country Cottage for Full Plate Thursday to see some yummy treats!