This Apple Cake With Buttermilk Sauce won 1st prize in the Taste of Home Cozy Baking Recipe Contest!
Apple cider pound cake is topped with simply spiced fresh apples and drizzled with vanilla buttermilk sauce for this easy apple cake. This apple cake with buttermilk sauce shines with natural, harmonious flavors. The cake is much like a buttery pound cake that is infused with reduced apple cider. The apples are macerated with a touch of orange juice, cinnamon, sugar, and cloves. A buttery vanilla buttermilk sauce soaks into all the nooks of the crispy baked apples and rich cake to create a truly incredible Autumnal dessert. This lovely Fall cake is an easy and quick dessert that will be a household favorite.
This easy peasy fresh apple cake is rich, buttery, warm, cozy, and a total comfort food dessert that sings fresh Fall flavors. So go ahead and get the fire roaring in the fireplace, get your fuzzy socks on, and snuggle up with a warm slice of apple cider cake.
The following recipe make an 8 inch round apple cake using a springform pan for easy removal. You will notice that it doesn’t seem too full once it is spread in and topped. That’s because this cake rises a lot and anymore batter or apples would lead to spillage and uneven baking.
My First Fall Injury
I started this gorgeous Fall week with a badly sprained upper leg. So I can’t sit or move without yelling loudly and muttering obscenities under my breath. The worst part, I don’t even exercise. So I have no idea how this happened. One minute I was caramelizing white chocolate. The next, I’m limping to the bus stop.
I swear, the minute I hit my last birthday everything has gone downhill. I developed a creepy eye twitch, a sallow complexion, am eating nonstop, and now I have frail body parts to go with it all. Aging is great, and apparently, not graceful at all for some of us.
Also, for some reason, I keep dropping eggs on a daily basis. They’re rolling from the counters, flying from my hands, just falling out of the fridge. Maybe my equilibrium has been wiped out as well. Maybe my house is haunted. I don’t know. Although, I did hear a superstition that breaking eggs is a sign of good news. I actually googled frantically for the meaning of breaking eggs and that’s what came up. I’ll keep you posted. So far, all it has led me to is a lot more cleanup.
All I knew by the end of the day yesterday was that I wanted dessert more than ever. But since I couldn’t walk it had to be easy, no fuss, and comforting. So this apple cake with roasted apples and buttermilk sauce was born.
Apple Cider Reduction
The key to flavoring this simple apple cake is in the reduced apple cider. The apple cake itself doesn’t have any added flavors besides vanilla extract and the reduced apple cider concentrate.
Apples are abundant this time of year, so finding easy recipes that give you a variety of flavors is key to not getting sick of them. We live less than an hour away from several apple orchards. So we go apple picking at least once a year. It’s so much fun and really gets us in the Fall spirit. I love hand picking ingredients and then using them in recipes, like this Apple Cake and Spiced Apple Pie.
We come back with buckets of fresh apples and I make everything from slow cooked mulled cider to Fig Apple Tarts. Fresh apples simmering and baking away with spices makes your house smell like Autumn and the holidays should: welcoming, comforting, and warm.
Reducing apple cider to a syrup gives this Apple Pound cake a kick of bold and concentrated apple cider flavor without adding too much liquid. Too much liquid in fruit desserts can make them runny, dense, or gummy. So for this apple cake, I opted for infusing the apple cider syrup into the batter. Then the cake batter is covered with macerated apples that get crisp, caramelized, and ready for a hefty dose of buttermilk sauce.
The first step to making this easy and flavorful apple cake is to to reduce the cider into a concentrated syrup. To make the apple cider reduction, pour one cup of well shaken, homemade or store-bought, apple cider into a saucepan set over medium high heat. Let it boil and reduce until only 2-3 tablespoons of syrupy reduction is left. This may take around 20 minutes. Then set it aside to cool while you work on the rest of your apple cake.
Fresh Apple Topping
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Then grease a spring form pan. Put a parchment round on the bottom of the pan for easy removal. Since this cake has the apples on top, the use of a springform pan is essential. Then keep it to use for Cheesecake!
Fresh apples are cored, peeled, and diced then tossed in a squeeze of orange juice, sugar, cinnamon, and cloves. The apples top the cake and get crispy, caramelized, and so sticky and yummy! The juices from the apples drip down around the sides of the cake adding a stickiness and crunch that surrounds each tender bite of cake.
Have a medium size mixing bowl ready. To make the apples, simply peel and core some apples. Then slice and dice them into small chunks. Put them into the bowl. Sprinkle on granulated sugar, cinnamon, cloves, and a bit of fresh orange juice. Then toss them and leave them to macerate while you work on the cake batter.
Apple Cider Pound Cake
The cake for this apple cider cake is much like the pound cake recipe I gave you in my Berry Trifle Recipe. The only liquid added to this cake is the cider reduction. It is a simple sour cream butter cake with a touch of vanilla and that’s it. Additionally, you can do this in one bowl with a whisk and spatula.
Use a microwavable mixing bowl. Melt the butter in the bowl. Then whisk in the sugar for a couple of minutes until incorporated. Then add eggs, vanilla, and apple cider reduction. Whisk for another minute before adding the sour cream.
Then finish with the flour, baking powder, and salt. I switch to a spatula when I move to adding the dry ingredients in to prevent over or uneven mixing.
Spoon the batter into the pan and smooth over the top. Then scoop out the apples and spread them over the top of the batter. Leave behind most the apple juice in the bowl, but don’t worry about draining it all out.
Then bake the apple cake for about an hour. Check it with a toothpick and make sure it is clean before removing from the oven. If it needs more time, give it 5 more minutes to start before checking it again.
Then allow the apple cake to cool for 10 minutes in the pan while working on the vanilla buttermilk sauce.
Buttermilk Sauce
This buttermilk sauce is sticky, gooey, and oh so good. The sauce uses a touch of baking soda that reacts with the buttermilk, corn syrup, and sugar to make carbon dioxide bubbles. So this will foam and bubble, thicken yet have a creamy texture.
In a small saucepan set over medium low heat, melt the butter.
Then add the remaining ingredients, except for the vanilla extract. Stir it to combine. Allow it to boil and foam for 2 minutes before taking it off the heat and adding the vanilla extract.
Then remove the cake from the Springform pan and place on a rack set over a plate or cookie sheet to catch the delicious drippings.
Spoon over some of the buttermilk syrup, about 1/4 cup, while the cake is warm. But save the rest to spoon over each piece at serving time. This apple cake is best enjoyed warm, but is so tasty the next day for breakfast as well!
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Apple Cake With Buttermilk Sauce
Apple cider pound cake is topped with simply spiced fresh apples and drizzled with vanilla buttermilk sauce for this easy apple cake.
Ingredients
- 1 cup Apple Cider homemade or store bought
- ½ cup butter melted
- ¾ cup granulated sugar
- 2 large eggs
- 1½ teaspoons vanilla extract
- 1 ¼ cups cake flour sifted
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- ¼ teaspoon fine sea salt
- ½ cup sour cream full fat
Macerated Apples
- 2 cups apples diced
- 1 tablespoon orange juice
- 3 tablespoons granulated sugar
- ½ teaspoon ground cinnamon
- ½ teaspoon ground cloves
Buttermilk Sauce
- 6 tablespoons unsalted butter
- ¾ cup granulated sugar
- 2 teaspoons corn syrup light
- ⅓ cup buttermilk well shaken
- ¼ teaspoon baking soda
- ¼ teaspoon vanilla extract
Instructions
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APPLE CIDER REDUCTION
The first step to making this easy and flavorful apple cake is to to reduce the cider into a concentrated syrup. To make the apple cider reduction, pour 1.5 cups of well shaken, homemade or store-bought, apple cider into a saucepan set over medium high heat. Let it boil and reduce until only 4-5 tablespoons of syrupy reduction is left. This may take around 20 minutes. Then set it aside to cool while you work on the rest of your apple cake.
FRESH APPLE TOPPING
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Then grease an 8 inch spring form pan. Put a parchment round on the bottom of the pan for easy removal.
Have a medium size mixing bowl ready. To make the apples, simply peel and core some apples. Then slice and dice them into small chunks. Put them into the bowl. Sprinkle on granulated sugar, cinnamon, cloves, and a touch of fresh orange juice. Then toss them and leave them to macerate while you work on the cake batter.
APPLE CIDER POUND CAKE
Use a microwavable mixing bowl. Melt the butter in the bowl. Then whisk in the sugar for a couple of minutes until incorporated. Then add eggs, vanilla, and apple cider reduction. Whisk for another minute before adding the sour cream.
Then finish with the flour, baking powder, and salt. I switch to a spatula when I move to adding the dry ingredients in to prevent over or uneven mixing.
Spoon the batter into the pan and smooth over the top. Then scoop out the apples and spread them over the top of the batter. Leave behind most the apple juice in the bowl, but don’t worry about draining it all out.
Then bake the apple cake for about an hour. Check it with a toothpick and make sure it is clean before removing from the oven. If it needs more time, give it 5 more minutes to start before checking it again.
Then allow the apple cake to cool for 15 minutes in the pan while working on the vanilla buttermilk sauce.
BUTTERMILK SAUCE
In a small saucepan set over medium low heat, melt the butter.
Then add the remaining ingredients, except for the vanilla extract. Stir it to combine. Allow it to boil and foam for 2 minutes before taking it off the heat and adding the vanilla extract.
Then remove the cake from the Springform pan and place on a rack set over a plate or cookie sheet to catch the delicious drippings.
Spoon over some of the buttermilk syrup, about 1/3 cup, while the cake is warm. But save the rest to spoon over each piece at serving time.
This apple cake is best enjoyed warm, but is so tasty the next day for breakfast as well!
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