Spiced Apple Bundt Cake

This recipe sparked from a Saturday morning garage sale shopping with my husband. A 50 cent bundt pan. We wandered into a musty sub-arctic shop covered in farm tools, mis-match bed sheets, and eclectic household items. There it was, a scratched and worn navy blue bundt pan. A glistening light enveloped the shop obscuring all items but the bundt pan. Okay, that didn’t happen, but the recipe of a paleo spiced apple bundt cake was forming.

I wanted this to be spiced to the core… see what I did there with apple pun? Still reading after that, good for you, you must really want an apple recipe. I was really tempted to shake some apple pie spice mix in the bowl and move on, but that is just as easy as making my own. So the spices I used in this were cinnamon, nutmeg and ginger. I also added a dash of maple extract, but that is completely optional. I get that some people don’t need maple sugar and maple extract to make an autumn dish like I do.

Then I felt like I had to make up for the fact that my pan was 50 cents, and needed some sophistication added to this dish. Two kinds of apples? How extra am I? i used the honeycrsip variety for the apples that I incorporated into the batter, and a nice firm tart grannysmith to dice up and add as a fun center strip in the cake.

Ingredients:

For Cake

• 3 large honeycrisp apples- peeled, cored, grated, excess juice removed, and set aside

• 1 medium grannysmith apple- peeled, cored, diced, and set aside

• 2 1/2 cups almond flour

• 1/2 cup arrowroot flour + 1 tsp, divided

• 1 tsp baking powder

• 1/2 tsp baking soda

• 1 tbsp cinnamon + 1/2 tsp, divided

• 1/2 tsp nutmeg

• 1/4 tsp ginger

• 1/2 tsp sea salt

• 5 eggs (can sub for flax egg if seeking vegan cake)

• 1/3 cup unsweetened almond milk

• 1/2 cup coconut sugar

• 1/4 cup maple sugar

• 1/4 cup coconut oil, melted

• 1 tsp vanilla extract

• 1/4 tsp maple extract

For Glaze

• 1 can Coconut sweetened condensed milk

Instructions:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

2. Peel, core, and grate honeycrisp apples. Place grated apples in a dishcloth or paper towels, and wring out excess liquid. You should get about 1 1/2 cups of grated apple. Set grated apples aside.

3. Peel, core, and dice grannysmith apple. Place diced apple in a bowl and set aside.

4. In a medium mixing bowl, combine all dry ingredients; almond flour, arrowroot flour, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon, nutmeg, ginger, and salt. Mix until incorporated.

5. In another medium mixing bowl, combine eggs, almond milk, maple sugar, coconut sugar, coconut oil, vanilla extract and maple extract (if you are feeling Canadian, eh!).

6. Combine with a whisk until everything is well incorporated. Slowly mix dry mixture into the wet ingredients. Stir until dough is mixed. Slowly fold in the grated apples.

7. In a small bowl, add in cinnamon and arrowroot flour to the diced apples.

8. Spray avocado oil (or good ole Pam) to cover the bundt cake pan.

9. Spoon about half of the mix to the pan. Spoon in diced apple mix to the pan. Cover the diced apples with the rest of the mixture. Spoon to smooth mix.

10. Place cake in the oven, uncovered for 35-40 minutes.

11. Remove and let cool completely. Place plate on top of the cake and slowly flip over the pan. If you had liberally sprayed the pan, this should come out easy.

For the Glaze

There are three ways you can do this: on the stove, in a crockpot, in an Instant Pot. Really it depends on how much time you are wanting to devote to this glaze, or which kitchen appliances you own.

Stovetop

1. In a medium size saucepan, place can of coconut sweetened condensed milk in. Fill saucepan with water until the can is about an inch covered.

2. Bring to a boil, and then reduced to a high simmer. Simmer for 3 1/2 hours.

3. Remove from stove, and let cool completely. Once cooled, open and you have dairy free dulce de leche.

4. Drizzle over bundt cake and enjoy!

Instant Pot

1. Place can of coconut sweetened condensed milk in pot. Fill pot with water until can is covered by about an inch of water.

2. Place knob in venting position, and press “pressure cook” for 17 minutes.

3. Let Instant Pot release pressure naturally.

4. Remove once lid releases, and let cool completely. See above steps 3-4!

Crockpot

1. Place can of coconut sweetened condensed milk in crockpot. Fill pot with water until can is covered by about an inch of water.

2. Cook on low for 8 hours.

3. Remove once cook time is over, and see above steps 3-4!