Holiday Spice Cake

Happy Sunday Fellow Foodies

 Today is the Sunday before Thanksgiving, and it is officially the day that I start my Thanksgiving Day feast preparations. So, not only do I finish up my shopping list, I begin with anything that can be done in advance of the day.

So for me, Thanksgiving dinner preparations start with desserts. This year I am making a Spiced Bundt cake with apple/rum caramel. I took the recipe from this month's issue of Bon Appetit magazine, but I did tweak it a bit from the original. If you would like to use the recipe as printed you can find it in the magazine or on their webpage. Here my version of the recipe:

Holiday Spice Bundt Cake with Apple/Rum Carmel

cake

1 3/4 cups butter
1 vanilla bean-split lengthwise and scraped

2 1/3 cups of all purpose flour
1 1/4 cups slivered and toasted almonds

2 tsp. baking powder
2 tsp. kosher salt
1 1/2 tsp. grated nutmeg (please grate your own if you are able)
1 1/2 tsp. ground cinnamon
1 tsp. ground allspice (again please grind your own if able)
3/4 tsp. freshly grated ginger (ok....even I use the stuff in the jar here)
1/2 tsp. ground cardamom
1/2 tsp. ground cloves

1 cup dark brown sugar
1 cup white sugar
3/4 cup powdered sugar

1 tsp. finely grated lemon zest
3 eggs
5 yolks
1 cup whole milk

In a sauce pan melt the butter. Add the vanilla bean and the scrapings. Cook over medium high heat-stirring often-until the butter foams up and then browns. Be very careful not to allow the butter to burn, you just want a light amber color.

Remove the bean from the butter, and pour the hot butter into a tempered glass dish. Place in the fridge for about an hour until the butter has set back up to nearly solid.

In the meantime...with the blade attachment in your food processor, pulse the flour and almonds until the almonds are finely ground. Add the next 8 ingredients, and pulse a few times to mix everything together.
(Preheat oven to 350F)
Once your browned butter mixture is solid, place into a stand mixer with the peddle attachment in place. Add the 3 sugars and turn the machine to the highest setting and whip the mixture until light and fluffy (about 5 minutes). Turn the machine off and scrape down the sides. Add the lemon zest and turn the machine to the middle setting. Add the eggs and the yolks ONE AT A TIME BEATING FOR 30-60 SECONDS AFTER EACH. If you have done this correctly you will have a very light, fluffy (almost icing-like) texture.

Turn the machine to low and add 1/2 the flour mix and all of the milk. Mix for 2 minutes and add the remaining flour. Mix one more minute.

Pour your cake batter into a very well oiled Bundt pan. Bake undisturbed for 65-70 minutes. Cake is done when a tooth pic is inserted into the deep part of the cake and comes out clean. Cool the cake in the pan for 25 minutes, invert onto a cooling rack and allow the cake to cool completely before serving or storing WELL WRAPPED in the fridge for up to 6 days.

caramel

1 cup white sugar
pinch of cream of tartar
1/4 cup filtered or distilled water
1/4 cup fresh apple cider
1/4 cup heavy whipping cream
2 Tbs. dark rum
1/4 tsp. kosher salt

Combine sugar, cream of tartar, and water in a HIGH WALLED sauce pan (you will thank me for this later).

Over medium high to high heat dissolve the sugar. Cook without stirring until the caramel turns a dark amber color (about 320F on a candy thermometer).

Remove from the heat, while standing a bit back from the pot, and add the remaining ingredients. The caramel with boil VIOLENTLY...this is normal and why you need a high walled pot.

Once the boiling has subsided, with a wire whisk, vigorously whip the caramel over low heat until any hard bits of sugar remaining are dissolved. Set aside and cool to room temperature before use.

Once the cake and the caramel are room temperature, you can pour the caramel over the Bundt cake and serve!
(As I have not served my cake yet-this is the picture out of BA magazine so you know what it should look like!)

You can chill this in the fridge, and store cold in an airtight container for about 10 days.

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