It's Not Tuesday, But It's Still Dorie

I would really love to join the Tuesdays with Dorie group and bake a recipe that Dorie Greenspan has written once a week. Reality is cruel. There is no way I could find enough time or energy to do that. So instead I bake something from Baking: from my home to yours, her marvelous book, whenever I get a chance.

My lovely niece MMM is here to visit and she loves to bake, so we spend a wonderful time going through the book and being tempted by many great sounding recipes. In the end we made a Bundt cake that is the perfect thing to go with a cup of tea in the afternoon (or coffee for breakfast for that matter).

It uses fresh apples, grated, and apple butter from the store. We were able to purchase some locally made apple butter from Kozlowski's farms. Delicious! Sweetie said that the cake is almost like a carrot cake, except that it uses the fresh apple instead of carrot shreds.

We were using some rum for another recipe when it was time to do the glaze, so our version has a nice rum drizzle. It goes very nicely with the lightly spiced, apple rich cake. Time to go make a cup of tea to go with another slice.

Double Apple Bundt Cake with or without Rum Glaze
A variation of recipe from Dorie Greenspan, in "Baking: from my home to yours "

2 cups all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
½ teaspoon baking soda
½ teaspoon allspice (original recipe calls for cinnamon)
¼ teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg
¼ teaspoon ground ginger
¼ teaspoon salt
1 ¼ sticks (10 tablespoons) unsalted butter, at room temperature
1 cup granulated sugar
½ cup brown sugar, packed
Note: original recipe called for 1 ½ cups sugar
2 large eggs
1 cup store-bought apple butter – spiced or plain
2 medium apples, peeled, cored and grated
1 cup pecans chopped (or walnuts)
½ cup plump, moist golden raisins (or dark)
Confectioners’ sugar for dusting (optional)

Glaze
1 cup confectioners’ sugar
Enough rum to make a glaze with some body

Center a rack in the oven and preheat to 350 degrees F. Butter a 9 – to – 10 inch (12 cup) Bundt pan. Dust interior with flour and tap out excess. If you are using a silicone pan, no need to butter or flour it, but don’t place on a baking sheet either…the oven’s heat needs to circulate all around the pan and through the inner tube.

Whisk together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, spices and salt.

Beat the butter and sugar on medium speed, scraping the bowl as needed, for three minutes, or until the mixture is smooth, thick and pale. Add the eggs one at a time, beating after each addition for about 1 minute. The batter will be light and fluffy. Reduce mixer to low speed and beat in the apple butter. If it curdles that’s OK. Still on low speed, add the grated apples and mix completely.

Add the dry ingredients, mixing only until they disappear into the batter. Using a spatula, fold in the nuts and raisins.

Pour the batter, which will be thick, into the prepared Bundt pan and smooth the top with a spatula.
Bake for 50 -55 minutes, or until a thin knife inserted deep in the center of the cake comes out clean. Transfer the pan to a rack. Cool for 5 minutes. Unmould and cool the cake to room temperature. For better flavor, let cake cool completely, wrap well in plastic wrap, and let stand overnight at room temperature.

To serve the cake, either dust with confectioners sugar or drizzle the following glaze over it:
Put the confectioners sugar in s small bowl and gradually add the rum until a glaze with some body forms.

ENJOY!