I’ve been MIA for a long time! But I’m back at the baking thing! Most of you might not know that for the last two years I’ve freelanced as a social media manager, helping small businesses with their social media strategy and content. From about May until October of this year, I was working with a temporary client, but things got very, very busy and I was traveling a lot, and I just didn’t bake!
During this time I realized that the freelance work I was doing wasn’t giving me the fulfillment and sense of accomplishment I was seeking. The combination of the clientele I was working with and what they wanted me to do, wasn’t pushing me and I felt like I’d reached a plateau. I didn’t feel like I was learning how to be better and do more. This was no fault of my client’s—their budgets just didn’t allow me to push further.
Anyway, by about September I remember telling my husband that I just had this feeling that when my client’s were ready to move on, I would be ready to move on as well. I didn’t feel like pursuing new clients any more. Well sure enough, after I said it aloud and put it out there into the universe, within a month my remaining clients all needed to put a hold on social media services for financial reasons. CRAZY!
So that leads me to now! Ever since I sort of “closed shop” on my freelancing business I’ve decided to really get back in to my blog. I’m also taking certification courses in interior and graphic design, purely out of personal interest.
I would love to get better at baking, but also at organizing my time and really trying new recipes that can actually coordinate with the seasons, and not just with what I happen to have in my kitchen at the time! I’d also love to put out more “flair” content such as fashion and beauty posts.
I hope for this blog to take more shape, and really round itself out as a place for foodie fashionistas! Hopefully in this process I can reveal more about myself and not just be another person behind a screen.
So, THANK YOU for following along though my consistency has been lacking! And as a “thank you” I want to share this really beautiful cake that is perfect for the holidays that are right around the corner! You could totally impress your family with this at Thanksgiving dinner! The cake it so fluffy and moist, and it’s a new way to enjoy fall flavors without baking a pie. So this one is for those who want dessert options other than pie this holiday season!
Apple Cider Cake
This cake is like an apple cider donut met an apple pie! It's filled with caramelized apples between fluffy layers of apple cider cake and topped off with a cream cheese frosting flecked with a hint of cinnamon! Garnish with chopped nuts! It would be delicious with a caramel drizzle too!
ingredients:
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3 2/3 cups all purpose flour
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2 1/2 cups granulated sugar
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1 tablespoon baking soda
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1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
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1/2 teaspoon salt
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4 large eggs
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1 1/2 cups buttermilk
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1 1/2 cups hot apple cider
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1/2 cup vegetable oil
- 2 teaspoons pumpkin pie spice
- 1 cup chopped walnuts (for garnish)
- 2 medium apples peeled and chopped
- 1 teaspoon cinnamon
- 2 tablespoons butter
- 1 tablespoon brown sugar
- 4 sticks or 2 cups room temperature butter
- 2 packages or 16 oz room temperature cream cheese
- 4-6 cups powdered sugar (depending on how sweet you like it!)
- 6 teaspoons cinnamon
- 4-6 tablespoons milk
instructions:
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
- Combine all of the dry ingredients until fully incorporated.
- Add in the buttermilk, oil and eggs. Mix well.
- Mix in the hot apple cider.
- Grease and line three 8" cake rounds with parchment or wax paper.
- Equally divide the cake batter. About 3 or so cups per cake round.
- Bake for 30-35 min or until an inserted toothpick comes out clean or with a few moist crumbs.
- Cool fully in the freezer (uncovered is fine).
- Peel and chop two medium apples.
- Place in a small saucepan and add remaining ingredients.
- Stir apples on medium heat, until sugars, juices and butter have started to look like a syrup/caramel, and the apples have softened. About 10 minutes.
- Remove from heat and let sit until ready to assemble.
- Mix together room temperature butter and cream cheese until smooth.
- Sift in powdered sugar 1/2 cup at a time until desired sweetness is reached.
- Add in milk 1 tablespoon at a time until consistency is easily spreadable but still holds its shape.
- Mix in cinnamon.
- Once cake rounds have fully cooled, remove from tins and trim tops until leveled.
- Spread a dollop of frosting on cake stand and place first layer on top.
- Frost the top of the first layer, then pipe a ring around the perimeter to create a "wall" to hold in the apple filling.
- Spoon in half the apple filling, making it as level as possible.
- Add the next cake layer and repeat steps 3 and 4.
- Add the final cake layer and roughly frost the cake in a thin layer of frosting--don't worry about crumbs!
- Freeze until the "crumb coat" has set, aka the frosting has hardened.
- Fully frost and pipe the cake in any way you wish!
- Garnish with chopped walnuts and serve with a scoop of ice cream and caramel sauce!
NOTES:
-The trick to frosting is making sure the butter and, in this case, cream cheese are completely soft. It's crucial to let this happen naturally by leaving it out on the counter for several hours. A microwave will melt your butter and cream cheese and you don't want that! -Invest in a frosting spatula, or cake scraper, as it will make frosting so much easier and more even! They're cheap and totally worth it. -To pipe the design like I did, you don't need any fancy tools! Just cut a pastry/frosting bag so that the opening is an inch in diameter, and pipe!
