Apple Butter Spice Cakes

Happy Wednesday, Middle of the week, AND Happy Day 5 of the 12 Days of Christmas. Today, we’re going to talk cake.

As common as it is as a dessert for the holidays or even just special occasions in general, I’ve found that cake is a pretty polarizing subject.

People usually either really like it or they really don’t.

I have several theories for why this is.

The first usually has to do with quality. You’d be surprised how commonly used ‘box mix’ cake is, and how often people think that THAT is a full cake ‘experience’.

No shade in particular to box mix cake; I grew up eating a lot of them. They can taste perfectly fine.

But they are not, and shouldn’t be taken as the highest standard for a full cake ‘experience’ anymore than a chicken patty should be taken for a full experience of a fried chicken sandwich.

One’s (usually) fine; but the other’s indisputably better.

The people I know who don’t like cake also say that it’s a texture/moisture thing for them. They’ve had one too many cakes that were dry, flavorless or both.

This is true of a lot of cake recipes out there, whether it’s because the baker became too paranoid and/or didn’t have a digital thermometer (a must have tool for baking cakes imo) on hand to check the inner temperature, or whether there isn’t enough spices or flavorings to give the cake an overall boost in flavor.

(Seriously, what’s even the point of cake withot vanilla extract, emulsion or vanilla beans if you’re feeling fancy)

Excessive frosting/icing is another thing I’ve heard from the cake-naysayers.

Even as an icing-lover, I have to admit that this one is understandable. If your cake needs to be slathered in lardy frosting/icing/glaze just to taste good or even be edible, that cake has got serious problems.

The best kind of cake is the kind of cake that can be enhanced by a frosting or icing–but can also stand completely alone as a delicious dessert without it.

Today’s recipe is that kind of cake.

Being an icing/frosting lover, I don’t typically bake cakes without some kind of icing. To me, it’s just a flavor and texture preference.

But sometimes– just sometimes– I will come across a cake recipe that is SO GOOD, that I can admit that adding frosting or icing to the finished product would actually diminish how excellent it really is.

Some cakes are really just that good.

In my opinion, most coffee cakes don’t need an icing or glaze. That crumbly streusel topping more than makes up for it.

Although I do typically ice my own, a truly good pound cake won’t necessarily need one either. The icing on a pound cake should be like sprinkles on ice cream; are they nice? Yes. Are they necessary? No.

Cookie cakes are another genre of cake that are more than capable of standing on their own without any adornments. The textures and flavors are quite delicious enough without needing any ‘help’.

This is to date, the second best cake I’ve ever made or eaten (my grandmother’s lemon cake will always take first place). It does not need a single thing to improve it. Not frosting. Not icing. Nothing.

Today’s recipe is another one of those cakes.

A few weeks ago, I made this Gingerbread Spiced Apple Butter. I knew by the time I had finished that I wanted to do more things with it than just spread it on toast. Apple butter functions a lot like applesauce, oil, or even sour cream in a cake recipe in that it gives it added flavor and moisture. I tried it out to great results making these cookies, and suspected that it would work even better in a cake batter.

In full transparency, I had every intention of icing these.

I’ve always thought that individual cakes just look better with some kind of decoration, especially holiday ones. It’s wha I’ve always done in the past.

But then I smelled these baking in my oven and I just got this feeling that I needed to wait and taste test the cake first. I’m so glad that I did. The very first bite was all I needed to know that these babies were staying exactly the way they were, un-frosted, un-iced, un-glazed.

Just really, really moist, flavorful and delectable spice cake.

Be sure to check out the rest of the eats we’ve covered so far for the 12 Days of Christmas, and stay tuned for the ones still to come 😉

Day 1: Holiday Lunch Lady Bars

Day 2: Ginger Thins

Day 3: Chunky Gingerbread Spiced Apple Butter

Day 4: Bakery-Style Apple Butter Cookies

Day 5: Apple Butter Spice Cakes

Apple Butter Spice Cakes

Recipe Adapted from Bon Appetit

Ingredients

1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, room temperature
3 cups all-purpose flour
2 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoons. kosher salt
1/2 teaspoons. baking soda
4 teaspoons ground cinnamon
2 teaspoons ground ginger
1/4 teaspoon nutmeg
1/8 teaspoon allspice
2 cups sugar
4 large eggs, room temperature
2 cups store-bought or homemade apple butter (I used this recipe)
1 tablespoon vanilla extract

Special equipment: 10-12 (5 oz.) disposable aluminum pie/tart pans. (I used these.) However, you can also bake the entire cake in a greased and floured 16 cup tube pan.

Directions

Preheat oven to 350°F. Coat pie/tart pans thoroughly with baking spray. Line two baking sheets with parchment paper or foil and set aside.*

Whisk the flour, baking powder, salt, baking soda and spices together in a medium sized bowl and set aside.

In a large bowl using an electric mixer on high speed, cream together the butter and sugar until pale and fluffy.

Add the eggs, one at a time, mixing just until combined.

Add he apple butter and the vanilla extract, mixing just until combined. (Mixture may look curled at this stage, but it’s fine.)

Add dry ingredients and beat on low speed until flour disappears and batter is thick and
smooth. Using a spatula, fold batter a few times by hand, scraping bottom and sides of
bowl.

Spoon batter into prepared tart/pie pans, until they are a little over 1/2 full; gently tap them counter 3 to 5 times to release air bubbles.

Place the pie pans on two sheet pans you’ve lined with aluminum foil.

Bake for 20-25 minutes, or or until a cake tester inserted into the center of the cakes comes out clean. (Check them early!)

*Note: You can also just make this as one large cake in a 10-12 cup Bundt pan. Just grease and flour the pan and up the baking time to around 45-50 minutes.