Recipes

[gkelly]

Made this cake after watching Giada on the Food Network a few weeks ago. It is one of the moistest cakes I have ever made/had! I liked that the apples were in small chunks so you could taste them in the cake. I will be making it again for Christmas day!!

Spiced Apple Walnut Cake with Cream Cheese Icing
Recipe courtesy Giada De Laurentiis

Butter for greasing the pan
Flour for dusting

Cake:

3 medium green apples, such as Granny Smith, peeled, cored and diced into 1/4 to 1/2-inch pieces
1 1/2 cups maple syrup
3 eggs, at room temperature
3/4 cup light brown sugar
3/4 cup vegetable oil
1 tablespoon pure vanilla extract
3 cups flour
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
1 tablespoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
1/2 teaspoon fine sea salt
1 cup chopped walnuts

Icing:

1 cup powdered sugar
1/4 cup heavy cream
4 ounces cream cheese, at room temperature
3 tablespoon water, plus extra, as needed
2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract

Directions

For the cake: Place an oven rack in the center of the oven. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Liberally butter and flour a 10-inch fluted tube or Bundt pan. Set aside.

In a large bowl, mix together the apples, maple syrup, eggs, sugar, oil, and vanilla. In a separate medium bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon, nutmeg, ginger, and salt. In batches, mix the dry ingredients into the apple mixture. Stir in the walnuts. Pour the mixture into the prepared pan and bake until a cake tester or skewer inserted into the cake comes out clean, 55 to 60 minutes. Cool for 15 minutes and invert onto a wire rack to cool completely, about 1 hour.

For the icing: In a food processor, combine the powdered sugar, heavy cream, cream cheese, 3 tablespoons water, and vanilla. Process until smooth, adding more water, 1 teaspoon at a time, until the icing is pourable. Spoon the icing over the cake and allow to set for 20 minutes before slicing.