Apple Spice Layer Cake - Baking With Julie

This time of year, I always look for fresh inspiration to enjoy the flavors of my favorite season. And this one ticks all the boxes: moist spice cake, roasted apple filling, rich caramel, and cream cheese frosting, topped with a sprinkling of toasted pecans.

The cake recipe comes from The Whimsical Bakehouse, which I highly recommend as a source of delicious recipes that you can count on. I’ve also included recipes or links for the roasted apple filling, cream cheese frosting, and caramel sauce, at the end.

But first, here’s how to assemble this layer cake. Start by torting each cake layer by carefully cutting it in half. It’s easy to do if you have a large sharp knife and a cake turntable, where you keep the knife in one place, and rotate the cake until you’ve cut all the way around, then finish off the middle.

On your serving plate, place a dab of frosting. Put your first layer down, cut side up. Use a pastry bag with a large round tip and pipe a dam of cream frosting around the edge. Spread a thin layer of caramel sauce, so it covers the cake up to the dam. Then spread a layer of roasted apple filling. You may need to add a bit of frosting to the top of the dam so the apple is level with it.

Top with another layer of cake and repeat the process. Add the final cake layer, cut side down, so the uncut side is the top. Much easier to frost than a cut cake! Frost the cake with the cream cheese frosting. Decorate with some of the caramel sauce, apple filling, and chopped toasted pecans as desired. If you want to duplicate my efforts, I used a pastry bag with a round tip filled with caramel and did little drops all around. It will continue to run after you’re done, so don’t overdo it or it will puddle at the bottom.

Keep the cake refrigerated until a couple of hours before you serve. Now, for the recipes:

Spice Cake

Yields 2 full 9 inch cakes (plus a little leftover)

Heat oven to 350F. Grease, line, and flour 2 9-inch pans.

In a mixer, cream together well:

2 sticks plus 2 tablespoons unsalted butter, room temperature

1 1/2 cups white sugar

Add one at time, mixing well after each one,

4 egg yolks

Mix in 2 teaspoons vanilla and 3/4 teaspoon rum flavoring (my addition)

In another bowl, whisk together:

3 cups cake flour

2 teaspoons baking powder

3/4 teaspoons baking soda

1 1/2 teaspoons ground nutmeg

1 1/2 teaspoons ground cinnamon

3/4 teaspoon ground cloves

3/4 teaspoons salt

Turn mixer on low, and add the dry ingredients, alternating with

1 1/4 cups buttermilk

In another mixer bowl, beat until frothy

4 egg whites

Then slowly add

1/2 cup sugar

and keep beating on high until you have stiff peaks.

Carefully fold egg whites into your cake batter, until all of the egg whites are completely mixed in. I have a very slow setting on my mixer to help with this, but I still finish by hand, using a large rubber spatula.

Fill your 2 pans (about halfway) and bake at 350F until cake edges pull back from the pan and the center is baked through and/or toothpick is clean when you test the center.

Let the cakes cool for about 15 minutes then remove from pans. They should be completely cool before torting as described in the assembling notes above. Cakes can be wrapped and frozen for several months before use. For the assembled cake, you can use all 4 resulting layers instead of the three I used, or just nibble on the extra layer when the kids aren’t looking.

Roasted Apple Filling

6 apples (about 2 ½ pounds)

½ cup white sugar

1/3 cup brown sugar

3 tablespoons AP flour

2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice (more if needed for tartness)

¾ tsp apple pie spice

¼ tsp salt

2 tablespoons butter

Peel, core, and thinly slice your apples. I used Granny Smith and Mutzu, but other varieties can work. Place sliced apples into a large bowl and add all the other ingredients, except for the butter. Spread apples evenly onto a half sheet, or other baking pan with some sides, to hold in the juices. Bake at 375 degrees for about 20 minutes, or until apples are fork-tender and cooked through. For this recipe, I used a food processor to puree the cooked apples until they had slight chunks. Use right away, or keep refrigerated until ready to be used in cakes, pies, as a topping, etc.