Apple Butter Spice Cake With Rum Icing
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I’m just coming right out with it… I think I could eat a whole one. I really do. I think I might actually be able to eat a whole entire apple butter cake. All by myself (because no way I’d do this in front of anyone). Of course I would take dainty little bites and it would take me awhile and I’m just saying that because I don’t want you picturing me stuffing great handfuls of cake into my mouth and licking every bit of rum icing off the platter. I have way too much self respect for such a thing. But I’m just saying…
Not sure exactly what it is I'm saying, but first, let me wipe the crumbs off my face with the back of my sleeve here. Maybe what I’m saying is this is one of those cakes with magnetic properties that draws your fork back to the plate without your even noticing so that in no time at all, there is lots of plate and very little cake and, oh man, apple butter cake is sneaky good like that.
An apt description might be that it’s sort of like the love child of a gingerbread cake and an apple cake, and if you love those two as I do, you hope like heck they keep having kids. You know, I think I’ve had just about enough of that rum icing.
I will focus now and say with all seriousness that it’s fall and everyone is talking about comfort food, which this certainly is, but I say shouldn’t all food be comfort food? That’s really the only kind I’m interested in. But to be sure, an apple butter spice cake with rum icing would be great comfort if one were in need of such. I think I best stop here before this gets any weirder. Here’s the recipe…
(I almost didn't use this photo cuz you really can't tell how moist and ridiculously luscious this cake is, but I like that plate, so I decided to post it anyway.)
Apple Butter Spice Cake
Click here for a printable recipe
This is a beautiful fall cake that's wonderful all winter long too. Sort of gingerbread meets apple cake. You can use homemade apple butter or any good store-bought kind. I've given you a link to my recipe below. Any good baking apple will work in this. I used a jonagold. And for the icing, you can certainly use all cream or milk and leave out the rum, but we loved the rum flavor with the apples.
1 cup apple butter (here's my recipe)
1/2 cup buttermilk
1/3 cup molasses
1/4 cup canola oil
1 large egg
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1 large apple (see headnote), peeled, seeded and diced
1 cup raisins
2 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 cup dark brown sugar
1 tablespoon ground ginger
2 teaspoons cinnamon
1 teaspoon allspice
1/4 teaspoon ground cloves
2 teaspoons baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
Icing:
1 1/2 cups powdered sugar
1 tablespoon cream or milk
1 1/2 tablespoons rum
Preheat oven to 350 degrees
Lightly oil a 10-inch bundt pan.
In a large bowl, whisk together the apple butter, buttermilk, molasses, oil, egg and vanilla.
In another bowl, stir together the flour, brown sugar, ginger, cinnamon, allspice, cloves, baking soda and salt. Break up any lumps of brown sugar with your fingertips.
Stir the dry ingredients into the apple butter mixture just until well combined. Stir in the chopped apples and raisins.
Using a rubber spatula, scrape the batter into the prepared bundt pan, smoothing the top. Bake for 30 to 35 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean. (Mine was done in exactly 30 minutes).
Let cool in the pan on a rack for a few minutes and then turn out to cool completely on a rack before icing.
Using a small whisk, stir together the powdered sugar, milk and rum. After the cake has cooled completely, drizzle with the icing.
