Apple Cider Cake

This is the best apple cider cake! It’s extra moist with lots of apple cider flavor, filled with apple cider caramel, topped with luscious cream cheese frosting and an apple cider caramel swirl. Apple cider lovers will absolutely love this decadent cake! The Fall season really is the best time of year!

Ingredients:
For the Apple Cider Reduction:
6 cups (1440 ml) apple cider

For the Apple Cider Cake:
2¼ cups (282 g) all-purpose flour, spooned and leveled
1 tbsp cinnamon
1 tsp nutmeg
¼ tsp allspice
1½ tsp baking powder
¼ tsp baking soda
½ tsp salt
10 tbsp (140 g) unsalted butter, softened
1 cup (200 g) granulated white sugar
½ cup (110 g) light brown sugar, packed
3 eggs, at room temperature
1 tbsp vanilla
½ cup (120 ml) buttermilk, at room temperature
½ cup (122 g) sour cream, at room temperature
½ cup (120 ml) apple cider reduction from above, at room temperature
⅓ cup (95 g) unsweetened apple butter, at room temperature

For the Apple Cider Caramel:
½ cup (120 ml) apple cider reduction from above, at room temperature
¾ cup (165 g) light brown sugar, packed
9 tbsp (126 g) unsalted butter
1 cup (240 ml) heavy cream
1 tsp vanilla
1/8 tsp salt

For the Cream Cheese Frosting:
1 cup (224 g) unsalted butter, softened
8 oz (226 g) cream cheese, cold
2 cups (260 g) powdered sugar

Instructions:

For the Apple Cider Reduction:
Add 6 cups of apple cider to a large sauce pan. Bring it to a simmer over medium low heat then simmer for 40-50 minutes until reduced to 1 cup. (Start checking it has reached 1 cup at around 40 minutes and let it simmer for longer if needed.) Let the apple cider reduction cool completely before using in the cake batter.
(Half will be used in the cake batter, and half will be used in the caramel sauce.)

For the Apple Cider Cake:
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Grease a 9×9 inch metal baking pan and line it with parchment paper.
In a medium bowl, combine the flour, cinnamon, nutmeg, allspice, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. Then set aside the flour mixture.
Add the granulated white sugar, brown sugar and butter to a large bowl. Cream together for 2 minutes on high speed with an electric mixer. (You can also use the bowl of a stand mixer fit with a paddle attachment.)
Then add in the eggs and vanilla and mix on medium speed until pale in color and smooth, about 1 minute.
Add in the buttermilk, sour cream, ½ cup of apple cider reduction, and apple butter. Mix on medium speed until combined. The batter will look curdled at this point but don’t worry. It will pull together once the dry ingredients are added.
Add in the dry ingredients a little bit at a time, mixing on low speed just until all is combined and the batter is smooth. Scrape the sides of the bowl with a rubber spatula as necessary.
Pour the batter into the prepared pan. Bake the cake for 48-52 minutes, or until a toothpick comes out clean from the center.
Let the cake cool in the pan on a wire cooling rack until completely cool.

For the Apple Cider Caramel Sauce:
While the cake bakes, make the easy apple cider caramel sauce. Add the rest of the apple cider reduction, butter and brown sugar to a medium saucepan. Bring to a simmer over medium heat and let it simmer for 5 minutes, stirring occasionally.
Reduce to medium-low heat and mix in the cream. Let the mixture simmer for 3-4 minutes.
Remove from the heat, then mix in the vanilla and salt. Pour the hot caramel into a bowl and let it cool on the counter to room temperature.

For the Cream Cheese Frosting:
While the cake cools, make the cream cheese frosting by adding the butter to a large bowl. Whip the butter on high speed with an electric mixer until pale and fluffy.
Then add in the cold cream cheese and mix on medium speed until combined and fluffy.
Sift in the powdered sugar a little at a time and mix on low speed until all is combined, then on high speed for 1 minute until fluffy again.

Assembling the Cake:
When the cake is completely cooled, carefully pull up on the parchment paper to release the cake. Transfer it to a serving plate. Poke holes on the top of the cake using a wooden stick or the handle of a wooden spoon.
Transfer the cooled apple cider caramel sauce to a piping bag and cut a bit of the tip off. Pipe the caramel into the holes of the cake. (If the caramel is too thick, warm the caramel just a bit until it is easier to work with. I like to run the piping bag, before it’s cut, under hot water to loosen the caramel.)
Frost the top of the cake with a thick layer of cream cheese frosting. Drizzle extra caramel on top of the frosting and gently swirl it into the frosting with the back of a spoon. Then cut into 16 squares and serve! Drizzle extra apple cider caramel over each piece when serving for extra yumminess!

Pro Tips:

For best results, measure your flour properly. This is always my #1 baking tip. Do not ever scoop a measuring cup into your flour. This will always lead to using too much flour. Instead, scoop spoonfuls of flour into your measuring cup and swipe excess flour off with the back of a knife. Or better yet, weigh your flour. 1 cup of flour equals 120-125 grams.

Make sure all your wet ingredients are room temperature. You’ll have the best textured cake when the ingredients are room temperature instead of cold. Cold wet ingredients can make any kind of cake batter/donut batter “gummy”.

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