I went apple picking last week, so I'm back on the Fall Flavors train and I've got a new recipe to show for it. And it's a baked good. What a treat! It's true that I've cut back on the baking recently, but was my dad's birthday, so that calls for cake. Apple Gingerbread Cake with Cream Cheese Frosting to be exact.

So apple cake is a thing and gingerbread is a thing. I put them together to make a whole new thing. Traditionally apple cake is made with shredded apples, but I want whole chunks of delicious hang-picked Macintosh apples because I love them so much. Most of the time you find gingerbread made as a sheet cake or loaf cake because it can be a little dense. I switched things up and made it into a three layer cake, but made the layers shorter to combat the denseness. I think it turned out great.

As for the topping, the cream cheese frosting was a great complement to the cake because it's tangy and cuts through the sweetness of the molasses and the spiciness of the ginger, cinnamon, cloves and allspice. I chose to decorate with large piped stars, mellowcreme pumpkins (because they are my dad's fav-- not because there's pumpkin in it), and of course the obligatory 'Happy Birthday' text. All that was because it was a birthday cake, so you can make it simpler or even more complicated than I did.

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Apple Gingerbread Cake with Cream Cheese Frosting

by Daphne Medina October-14-2015

Ingredients

1 1/4 c. butter butter
3/4 c. dark brown sugar
3/4 c. molasses
3 eggs
1 1/2 tsp. vanilla extract
2 1/2 c. flour
1 1/2 tsp. baking powder
1 1/2 tsp. baking soda
1/2 tsp. salt
1 1/2 tsp. ground cinnamon
1 Tbsp. ground ginger
1/2 tsp. ground allspice
1/4 tsp. ground cloves
1 1/8 c. buttermilk
1 Tbsp. crystallized ginger, chopped fine
4-5 large / abt 2 lbs. apples
12 oz. cream cheese
4-5 cups powdered sugar
1 Tbsp. milk

Instructions

1. Preheat the oven to 350F. Grease and flour three 9" cake tins. 2. Peel your apples and cut them into large 1-inch chunks. You need to do this first so they are ready to folding the batter at the end, but work quickly so that they don't have a chance to brown too much. Set them aside.3. Prepare the wet ingredients: Cream 3/4 c. of the butter and the brown sugar together using a mixer until they are fluffy. Add the molasses and mix until incorporated. Add 1 tsp of the vanilla and the eggs (one at a time) and mix thoroughly. 4. Prepare the dry ingredients: Sift the flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt and spices together. 5. Add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients and mix on low just until it looks like the dry ingredients won't fly everywhere if you turn up the speed. Add the buttermilk and turn the speed up to medium-low and mix for a minute until you have a smooth batter.6. Add the apples and crystallized ginger and gently fold them in using a rubber spatula. 7. Bake for about 25-30 minutes until a cake tester comes out clean. Cool completely.8. Prepare the frosting: cream the remaining butter and cream cheese together until smooth. Add the remaining vanilla and mix to combine. Add the powdered sugar in a bit at a time to thicken the mixture, using the milk to make it creamier and smoother. Continue this until you have a spreadable frosting. You know what frosting looks like. I believe in you! 9. Frost the cake and decorate it the way you want. Eat and enjoy!

Details

Prep time: 20 mins Cook time: 30 mins Total time: 1 hour 30 mins Yield: 1 9" - 3 tier cake

I know I said I was going to get to more spooky stuff this week, but my plans were thwarted by an eye infection that kept me from doing the costume makeup tutorials I wanted to do! Hopefully I'll be able to get that stuff out next week. Anyways, thanks for stopping by and make sure you follow me on social media to see when I'm posting again!