Apple Cider Pound Cake

I must be getting old. Lately, I have been so wiped out that I've been just wanting to go home and veg out when I get home from work. I have so many posts to put up and I have been slacking. I could be posting once every couple of days if I just stopped being so lazy, but in all honesty, I've been in a funk lately. It has a lot to do with my car. Things are getting better, but in all honesty, I am in a funk. I'll get out of it though. Thanksgiving helped and Christmas will help a heck of a lot more!

So after the pumpkin fiasco I decided to make an apple cider pound cake that night. This cake is phenomenally yummy.
It didn't call for apples in the batter, but I had a ton of them still left from picking (btw, I still have a ton left! Those things are still good and I got them mid-October!) and I decided to small dice two of them and toss the apples in there. In all honesty, the cake would have been better w/out the extra moisture from the apples getting tossed in, but it still wasn't bad at all. In fact, it was DELICIOUS. :)

Apple Cider Pound Cake w/ Caramel Glaze
slightly adapted from Amanda's Cookin, which is slightly adapted from CDKitchen :)

Cake:

1 1/2 cups unsalted butter
3 cups granulated sugar
6 eggs
3 cups all purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 cup apple cider
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

Caramel Glaze:

4 tablespoons butter
1/2 cup light brown sugar, packed
pinch salt
1/2 cup heavy cream

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Spray a bundt pan with a baking spray that has flour in it. It makes the cake come out nice and easy and CLEAN!

For pound cake, beat the softened butter. Gradually add sugar, beating for 1 minute. Add eggs, 1 at a time, beating for 1 1/2 minutes after each addition.

Sift together flour, salt, baking powder and cinnamon. Blend together cider and vanilla. Add dry ingredients to butter mixture alternately with cider mixture, starting and ending with the flour mixture. Stir until just completely blended. Pour batter into the prepared pan. Bake for aprx 1 1/2 hours, or until done. I normally check cakes about 15 min before the bake time on the recipe to be safe . Cool the cake in pan for ten minutes, then remove from pan and cool on wire rack.

While the cake is baking, make the caramel glaze. In a medium saucepan over medium-low heat, melt butter. Add sugar and cook, stirring, for 1 minute. Add salt and cream; bring to a boil over medium heat. Continue cooking, stirring, for 2 minutes. If the cake is done before the glaze, let the cake cool completely before you top the cake w/ the glaze. Once the glaze is done cooling, at least 15- 20 mins, and the cake is cooled, pour the glaze over the cake, letting it drip in the middle and on the outside.

EAT and ENJOY!!!

The batter in the pan. Look at how thick it is. Btw, those apples I talked about before. If you want them in there, just small dice two medium apples and fold them into the batter after it is completely mixed.

Almost done baking.

Finishing cooling on my mom's retro (ahem, old) cake plate

Covered in ooey, gooey deliciousness

I can seriously drink that glaze. Oh it was soooooooo good. The cake, the glaze, everything. It definitely made me feel a bit better after the rough day I had. It's definitely a great fall dessert, but honestly, I'd make this all year long!