An apple cake with a spicy, chai twist and mouthwatering maple cream cheese drizzle. This recipe will knock your spicy socks off.
Apple Chai Cake with Maple Cream Cheese Drizzle
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I have made a lot of cakes…like…a lot of cakes, but this one, this cake, is one of the most amazing tasting desserts I have come across in a long time. I can’t stop eating it! It has the perfect ratio of cake to apples and drizzly frosting. I also covered mine in walnuts because walnuts with anything sweet are the ultimate pairing in my opinion.
This recipe came to me by way of my friend’s new cookbook. Sweet Noshings is filled with new twists on traditional Jewish desserts and let me tell you…they are inspired and inspiring.
Just wrap your head around things like Drunken-Honey-Pomegranate Cake, Snickerdoodle Bagels and Tex-Mex Chocolate Rugelach. Has your jaw dropped yet? Every recipe has a beautiful, mouthwatering photo and you are going to want to make every single one.
What an amazing gift this book would be for anyone celebrating Hanukkah this year. But honestly, you don’t need to be Jewish to love this book. It is for anyone who loves sweets!
I never thought about making an apple cake with a chai mixture. It’s honestly so perfect and a nice change up from a traditional cinnamon spiced version. I could eat the apples just like this and I just might have.
The sliced apples are layered between the cake batter and baked to perfection in your favorite Bundt pan.
The cake slides easily out of the pan and is a gorgeous golden brown color with some of the apples peeking through.
Every slice is packed with apples. I’ve eaten this cake for breakfast, lunch and dinner, it just keeps on giving and tastes great for days.
How can you not make this?
Get the Sweet Noshings cookbook for yourself or as a gift, you will not regret it.
Other Apple Cake Recipes You Might Enjoy:
- Six Years Ago: Chocolate-Peanut Butter-Banana Upside Down Cake
Apple Chai Cake with Maple Cream Cheese Drizzle
Ingredients
Cake:
- Butter, oil or cooking spray for greasing pan
- 3 cups (426 g) all-purpose flour, plus more for flouring pan
- 1 Tablespoon baking powder
- 1 teaspoon kosher salt
- 1 cup (235 ml) neutral-flavored oil (such as canola, vegetable or grape seed)
- 4 large eggs, at room temperature
- 1/4 cup (60 ml) orange juice
- 1 Tablespoon vanilla extract
- 2 cups (400 g) sugar, plus extra 5 Tablespoons for apples
- 4-5 Granny Smith apples (3-1/2 cups/440 g), sliced
- 1 Tablespoon ground cardamom
- 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- 1 teaspoon ground ginger
- 1 teaspoon ground cloves
Drizzle:
- 4 ounces (113 g) cream cheese, softened
- 2 Tablespoons unsalted butter, softened
- 1 cup (113 g) powdered sugar
- 3 Tablespoons maple syrup
- pinch kosher salt
- 1 Tablespoon (plus 1-2 teaspoons, if needed) milk (or water or almond milk if keeping parve), at room temperature
- walnuts for garnish (optional)
Directions
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees F/ 180 degrees C. Grease a 12 cup (2.8 L) Bundt pan with butter and a dusting of flour (or use nonstick spray) and set aside.
- In a large bowl combine flour, baking powder and salt. Set aside.
- In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with whisk attachment, or a large bowl with hand mixer or spoon, mix together oil, eggs, orange juice and vanilla. Mix in sugar until combined. Add dry ingredients to wet ingredients, switching to beater attachment (or continue to mix by hand). Mix until combined, being careful not to over mix. Batter should be thick but pourable.
- Peel and core apples and cut into thin, 1/8" (3 mm) wedges.
- Combine apples in a large bowl with remaining 5 Tablespoons sugar, cardamom, cinnamon, ginger and cloves.
- Spoon a third of the batter in pan and add half of the apple mixture in an even layer , add another third of the batter. Follow with other half of the apple mixture and last of the batter.
- Bake for 60-70 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean. Let cool in the pan for 15 minutes, then remove and finish cooling on a cooling rack.
- To make drizzle, beat cream cheese and butter with a hand mixer until light and fluffy. Then beat in powdered sugar, butter, maple syrup, salt and enough milk to get a thick, but runny glaze. Keep beating until smooth. Drizzle all over your cooled cake.