Cider Spice Bundt Cake #BundtBakers

This cider spice Bundt cake will fill your house with the most wonderful aroma as it bakes. The tender crumb lives up to that promise. Delicious!

If you’ve ever perused New York Times Cooking, you know that one of the most useful features of having a subscription is access to the notes people leave when they’ve made a recipe. “Did it work as written?” being the most important. 

In the case of this cake, many agreed it did not! The most frequent comment said that the batter was thick, not thin as described in the instructions. Also, the cake didn’t rise and was very dense. Well, most people would step away quickly and scroll on to another recipe. But I am not most people! I decided that the “bones” were good and those were problems I could fix. 

I’m pleased to tell you that I did. By adding extra liquid in the form of orange juice and another egg, along with baking powder and more baking soda, this cake turns out light yet moist. It’s the kind of cake you keep on the countertop in the kitchen and it just disappears because your family keeps cutting themselves a small slice as they pass by. So good! It would be perfect for the holidays.

Cider Spice Bundt Cake

For this recipe, I used Strongbow Original, a traditional dry English cider, which contains alcohol. Substitute another dry alcoholic or non-alcoholic cider if you can’t get Strongbow in your neck of the woods. Here in Houston, we buy it at Total Wine. This recipe was adapted from one in New York Times Cooking. 

Ingredients

2 1/4 cups or 281g all-purpose flour, plus extra for the pan

1 teaspoon baking powder

1 teaspoon ground cinnamon, plus extra for the pan, if desired

1/2 teaspoon fine sea salt

1/2 teaspoon ground cloves

1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg

1/4 teaspoon ground ginger

1 cup or 227g unsalted butter, softened, plus extra for the pan

1 cup, packed, or 200g light brown sugar

3 large eggs, at room temperature

2 teaspoons freshly grated orange zest

1/4 cup or 60ml orange juice

1/2 cup or 120ml unsulfured molasses (not blackstrap)

1 teaspoon baking soda

3/4 cup or 180ml dry apple cider (I used Strongbow Original.)

Optional: icing sugar to dust

Method

Preheat your oven to 350°F or 180°C and prepare a 9- or 10-cup Bundt by brushing it generously with melted butter and flouring it liberally. Sometimes I dust with a little extra ground cinnamon as well after the flour, putting it in a tiny strainer to distribute it evenly. I did that for this cake because more cinnamon is a good thing.

In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, salt and spices. Set aside.

Working in the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment (or using an electric mixer), cream together the butter and brown sugar on medium until smooth. 

Add eggs, orange zest and juice, and beat on medium-high speed, about 1 minute.

In a separate large bowl or liquid measuring cup, add the molasses and baking soda. 

In a small saucepan, bring the apple cider to a boil over high; pour it very slowly over the molasses and baking soda and whisk until combined. The mixture will froth up a lot so make sure you use a big enough vessel to contain it! 

Beat in half of the flour half the cider mixture to the butter mixture on low until combined. When it’s blended, scrape down the bowl with a rubber spatula, then add the rest of the flour and cider, beating again till it's well combined. 

Carefully pour the batter into your prepared pan. Bake for 35-40 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the center of the cake comes out clean.

Let cake cool in pan for about 10 minutes, then turn the cake out onto a wire rack to cool fully.

Once cool, dust with some icing sugar, if desired. 

 

Enjoy! (With a glass of cider, if you'd like. Someone's got to drink the rest of that can, after all.)

It's time for Bundt Bakers and this month we are sharing recipes with spice! Check out all the links below!

• Apple Bundt Cake from Palatable Pastime
• Carrot Cake Bundt from A Day in the Life on the Farm
• Cider Spice Bundt Cake from Food Lust People Love
• Leftover Cake Spiced Bundt Pudding from Sneha's Recipe
• Kiss of Cherries Bundt Cake from Patyco Candybar

#BundtBakers is a group of Bundt loving bakers who get together once a month to bake Bundts with a common ingredient or theme. You can see all of our lovely Bundts by following our Pinterest board. We take turns hosting each month and choosing the theme/ingredient. Updated links for all of our past events and more information about BundtBakers, can be found on our home page.

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