Cake Slice Bakers: Pumpkin Apple Cake

A couple of months ago, I can't remember if it was late August or early September, my Hubby and kiddies all came to me with one complaint, "You haven't baked us a cake in FOREVER! What kind of food blogger are you??? We want cake!"  At first I was a little taken aback because they've had a steady supply of all kinds of baked goodies: cookies... brownies... pies... empanadas...  But the more I thought about it I realized they were right. I couldn't even remember the last time I had baked them an actual cake. So I headed straight into the kitchen and whipped them up a quick and easy Mexican Chocolate Coffee Cake (recipe to come very soon) and made a mental note to bake my Hubby and kiddies a cake at least once a month, because they all LOVE cake, and I love them.

It was around that time that The Cake Slice Bakers announced they were accepting new members and were getting ready to start baking from a new book. For those of you unfamiliar with The Cake Slice Bakers, it is a group of bloggers from all over the globe who get together once a month to bake a different cake from one cookbook for an entire year.  The Cake Slice Bakers was the first food blogger group I ever joined in the early days of this blog. I always had so much fun baking with them, and I loved that I got to try cake recipes that I might not have tried otherwise.  My favorite cake cookbook to this day is still the Southern Cakes cookbook I bought during my first year with The Cake Slice Bakers.

To make a long story short, I got to thinking that re-joining The Cake Slice Bakers would the perfect way to help me stick to my plan of baking my family a cake once a month. I emailed Paloma (the group's leader and a good friend of mine) asking if I could join the group again and was immediately welcomed to the group with open arms.  So from now on, you can expect a new cake recipe here in my Cocina on (or around) the 20th of each month.

This year The Cake Slice Baker's are baking from the Great Cakes cookbook by Carole Walter.  The book is HUGE and has over 250 recipes.  It doesn't have very many photographs, but after reading through a few pages I'm already very excited to bake from this newest addition to my cookbook collection.

The first cake we've chosen to make is an Applesauce Spice Cake, a perfect cake choice for fall.  Normally, I'm really good about following directions and sticking pretty closely to what the recipe says, but that wasn't the case with this cake.  For starters, even though I did have a batch of freshly made applesauce in my fridge, I also had some homemade pumpkin puree that needed to be used, so I turned this month's cake into a Pumpkin Apple Cake.  And I left out a couple of ingredients, like the vegetable shortening because all I had on hand was butter, and also the allspice and nutmeg, because neither of those spices are easy to find in my small town.

Even with the changes I made, the cake was incredibly moist and delicious.  I loved the combination of pumpkin and apple.  And the Lime Cream Cheese Glaze on top was the perfect way to finish off this cake.  I think this Pumpkin Apple Cake would be a wonderful morning treat on Thanksgiving or Christmas day.

Applesauce Spice Cake
(Recipe adapted from Great Cakes by Carole Walter)



Ingredients:

• 2-1/4 cups flour
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1-1/2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
• 3/4 cup pecans, finely chopped
• 2/3 cup butter
• 1 teaspoon grated lime zest
• 1 cup granulated sugar
• 1 cup brown sugar
• 3 eggs
• 1 cup chopped apple (I used apples from Chihuahua)
• 1 cup homemade pumpkin puree (unsweetened)

Lime Cream Cheese Glaze:

• 3 oz. cream cheese, softened
• 1-1/2 cups powdered sugar
• Fresh lime juice

Directions:
Generously grease and flour 2 (6 cup) Bundt pans. (DO grease the pans very generously with butter, as some bloggers had problems with the cake sticking to the pan.) Preheat oven to 350°F.

Sift together flour, baking soda, salt, and ground cinnamon in a medium bowl.  Stir in the chopped pecans and set aside.

Cream the butter and lime zest with an electric mixer on high speed for about a minute.  Add the sugar, one cup at a time, continuing to beat on high speed until well incorporated, about 2 minutes with each addition.  Add eggs, one at a time, beating on medium speed until completely incorporated. Stir in fresh apple and vanilla.

Reduce mixer to low.  Stir in 1/3 of the flour mixture alternately with 1/2 of the pumpkin puree until completely dissolved.  Repeat with remaining flour and pumpkin, ending with the flour.

Divide batter evenly between the two pans.  Bake at 350°F for 25 to 30 minutes or until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean.  Remove cakes from oven and let cool in pans for 5 to 10 minutes.  Unmold and invert cakes onto serving platters.

To prepare the Cream Cheese Glaze, stir the powdered sugar into the softened cream cheese. Add fresh lime juice, 1 tablespoon at a time, until desired consistency.  Drizzle over cooled cakes.  Enjoy!

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