This cake is simple, delicious, and a cold weather fave. Not only does it combine two of my favorite drinks (apple cider and chai), but it looks and tastes like a giant apple cider donut! There are still a few tweaks I’d like to try to up the apple cider flavor (maybe double the cider and boil to reduce to a syrup and concentrate the flavor? Add an apple cider glaze instead of the cinnamon sugar coating? Both?) and I think creating my own chai spice mix would be better than the jarred mix I used, but if you want a fairly impressive dessert without a lot of fuss, you should definitely give this a try!
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| Apple Cider Chai Spice Bundt Cake |
Apple Cider Chai Spice Bundt Cake
Ingredients
For the cake:
- 3 cups flour
- 1 TBSP chai spice mix or pumpkin pie spice
- 1 1/2 TBSP baking powder
- 1 tsp salt
- 1 cup granulated sugar
- 1 cup brown sugar
- 1 cup vegetable or coconut oil
- 1 cup applesauce
- 1 cup apple cider
- 3 eggs
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
For the cinnamon sugar coating:
- 1/4 cup (half a stick) melted butter
- 1/4 cup granulated sugar
- 2 tsp cinnamon OR chai/pumpkin pie spice mix
Directions:
- Preheat your oven to 325 degrees F. Spray a bundt pan with non-stick spray and then dust with flour or use Baker’s Joy (my preference). Set aside.
- In a medium size mixing bowl, combine the flour, spice mix, salt, and baking powder. Whisk to combine. Set aside.
- In a large bowl, combine the sugar, brown sugar and oil. Mix to combine.
- Add the eggs to the sugar mixture and mix on medium speed for about two minutes.
- Add the applesauce and vanilla. Mix to combine.
- With the mixer on low, add ⅓ of the flour mixture, followed by half of the apple cider. Continue alternating the flour mixture and the apple cider, finishing with the flour mixture. Mix until no streaks of flour remain.
- Pour the batter into the bundt pan and bake for about 50 minutes. The cake is done when a knife or chopstick inserted in the center of the cake comes out with a few moist crumbs on it, but no batter.
- Let the cake cool for at least an hour in the bundt pan before turning it over onto a cake plate or cooling rack.
- Using a pastry brush, coat the cake in melted butter.
- Mix the sugar and cinnamon for the coating and then sprinkle onto the top and sides of the cake.
- Enjoy with a steaming cup of tea or a nice hot cider!
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| Mix the sugars and oil thoroughly, then add the eggs and mix until combined. Add applesauce and vanilla extract and mix for about two minutes. |
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| In a separate bowl, mix together the flour, baking powder, salt, and spices. |
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| With the mixer on low, add 1/3 of the flour mixture. |
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| With the mixer still on low, add half the apple cider. Alternate adding the remaining flour and apple cider, finishing with the last third of the flour. |
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| Once the cake batter is fully mixed, with no large clumps of flour, add to the prepared bundt pan and bake in a 325 degree Fahrenheit oven for about 50 minutes. Check with a thin knife or chopstick--it's done when there's only a few moist crumbs on the utensil. |
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| Let the cake cool for at least an hour, then flip out onto a plate. Mix the cinnamon and sugar in a small bowl and melt the butter for the coating. |
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| Use a pastry brush to coat the whole cake with melted butter. Use all of the butter even though it seems like a lot at first! |
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| Sprinkle with cinnamon sugar all over. You might want to put your cake plate on top of an easy to clean surface since this part can get messy. |
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| Enjoy! |
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Homicide and Halo-Halo (February 8, 2022)
Death at a beauty pageant turns Tita Rosie’s Kitchen upside down in the latest entry of this witty and humorous cozy mystery series by Mia P. Manansala.
Things are heating up for Lila Macapagal. Not in her love life, which she insists on keeping nonexistent despite the attention of two very eligible bachelors. Or her professional life, since she can’t bring herself to open her new café after the unpleasantness that occurred a few months ago at her aunt’s Filipino restaurant, Tita Rosie’s Kitchen. No, things are heating up quite literally, since summer, her least favorite season, has just started.
To add to her feelings of sticky unease, Lila’s little town of Shady Palms has resurrected the Miss Teen Shady Palms Beauty Pageant, which she won many years ago—a fact that serves as a wedge between Lila and her cousin slash rival, Bernadette. But when the head judge of the pageant is murdered and Bernadette becomes the main suspect, the two must put aside their differences and solve the case—because it looks like one of them might be next.
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