Fresh Apple Spice Cake

Autumn is right around the corner…tomorrow to be exact. Get ready for the season with this Fresh Apple Spice Cake. The kitchen smells amazing while whipping up this delicious cake. It’s packed with apples and raisins, lots of fall spices and a hint of citrus. The caramel sauce and vanilla ice cream put it completely over the top.

Fresh Apple Spice Cake

Ingredients:

1 cup chopped pecans
½ cup dark rum
1 cup golden raisins
1 cup granulated sugar
1 cup dark brown sugar, lightly packed
3 extra-large eggs, at room temperature
¾ cup vegetable oil
2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
2 teaspoons grated orange zest (2 oranges)
2½ cups all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
½ teaspoon kosher salt
2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
½ teaspoon ground nutmeg
½ teaspoon ground ginger
1⁄8 teaspoon ground cloves
1½ pounds Granny Smith apples, peeled, cored and chopped
Vanilla ice cream
Caramel sauce

Directions:

1. Preheat to 350℉. Grease and flour a 9 x 13-inch baking pan.

2. Place pecans on a sheet pan and toast them for 5 to 10 minutes, until lightly toasted. Set aside.

3. Combine the rum and raisins in a small bowl, cover with plastic wrap and microwave for 60 seconds. Set aside.

4. In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, beat the granulated sugar, brown sugar, eggs, vegetable oil, vanilla and orange zest on medium speed for 3 minutes.

5. Sift the flour, baking powder, salt, cinnamon, nutmeg, ginger and cloves into a medium bowl.

6. With the mixer on low, slowly add the flour mixture to the wet mixture, just until combined.

7. Drain the raisins, discarding the liquid. With a rubber spatula, fold the raisins, pecans and apples into the batter. Spread into the prepared pan and smooth the top.

8. Bake for 35 to 40 minutes, until a tester inserted in the center comes out clean. Set aside to cool a little.

9. Cut cake into squares and serve warm or at room temperature with a scoop of vanilla ice cream and a drizzle of caramel sauce. The cake can be stored at room temperature for up to 24 hours.

Serves 12

Recipe from “Make It Ahead” by Ina Garten

Does anyone listen to the podcast ‘Song Exploder’? I learned about it early in the summer and have slowly been catching up on older episodes. Each podcast features a song that the artist breaks down for the listener. It gives great insight into how each tune came to be in its finished form. Really interesting stuff.

This morning I listened to a past episode for Andrew Bird’s song ‘Roma Fade’. The back story is wonderful and the tune is classic Andrew Bird which equals awesome in my ears.