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Happy New Year everyone! We hope you all enjoyed the holidays.
One of the highlights of our own holiday season was the day my husband Jack baked this amazing Apple Cider Poke Pound Cake. It was so delicious, we just HAD to make this our first recipe of 2017 here on A Family Feast.
This Apple Cider Poke Pound Cake was inspired out of necessity. After hosting two separate Thanksgiving dinners at our house back in November, we found ourselves with more than a gallon of leftover apple cider in our refrigerator. Never wanting to see any food (or drink) go to waste – that cider inspired this delicious cake!
Jack found this very highly-rated pound cake recipe on Epicurious and used that as the starting point for today’s recipe. He made some changes to the original – reducing the sugar and adding shredded apple to the batter, then poking the cake as it cooled to allow an apple cider reduction to seep into the baked pound cake. Finally, he topped the cake with an apple cider glaze.
You’ll end up with a perfectly sweet apple-infused pound cake that is light, tender and moist. It’s delicious with coffee in the morning, or served for dessert with tea.
After only one day, 2017 is already shaping up to be a very delicious year! 😉 You’ll want to make this Apple Cider Poke Pound Cake as soon as possible!
We love seeing what you made! Tag us on Instagram at @afamilyfeast or hashtag #afamilyfeast so we can see your creations!
Apple Cider Poke Pound Cake
Ingredients
Ingredients
- 2 quarts of apple cider (1/2 gallon)
- 3 1/4 cups cake flour, plus flour to dust pan
- 3/4 teaspoon salt
- 2 sticks sweet cream butter softened, plus butter to grease pan
- 2 1/2 cups granulated sugar
- 7 large room temperature eggs (must not be cold)
- 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
- 1 cup heavy cream
- 1 Gala apple or other baking apple
- 1 packet unflavored gelatin
Glaze
- 1 1/2 cups confectioner’s sugar
- 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
- 3–4 tablespoons apple cider reserved from earlier
Instructions
- Before you begin, you will need a Bundt pan 10 inches across and 4 ½ inches deep (12 cups in volume). Liberally butter and flour this pan and set aside.
- Also, the cake starts in a cold oven, so do not preheat the oven.
- The cider needs to reduce during most of the baking time. Remove ¼ cup from the 2 quarts and set that aside for use later in the glaze.
- Take the remaining cider and place in a 3-4 quart sauce pan and bring to a boil. As it begins to boil, foam will rise to the top. Scoop that off and discard and continue to boil until the cider has reduced to one cup.
- Take two bowls and sift the flour and salt back and forth between the two bowls three times. Set aside.
- In the bowl of a stand mixer with the paddle attachment, beat butter and sugar for five minutes until pale in color.
- With mixer running, add one egg at a time beating completely before adding the next. Scrape the bowl and beat again.
- Add the vanilla and beat again.
- With mixer running, beat in half the flour until incorporated, then all of the cream, again mixing until incorporated then the remaining flour. Beat this on medium for five minutes.
- At this point, peel and core the apple and using the large holes on a box grater, grate the apple then add to the batter. Beat just to incorporate.
- Pour the batter into the pan and tap the pan on the counter to spread the batter evenly.
- Place in the cold oven and turn to 350 degrees F. Start timing now for one hour.
- Start timing now for one hour.
- After the hour, insert a tooth pick and if it comes out clean, remove from the oven. If not then bake 15 more minutes or until a tooth pick comes out clean.
- Let the cake sit in the pan on a rack to cool for 15 minutes.
- While the cake is baking, continue to reduce the cider to one cup.
- In a small bowl, place a few tablespoons of cold water and stir in the gelatin packet. Then stir in the hot cider and stir to dissolve.
- After the cake sits for 15 minutes, using a skewer or fork, poke about a hundred holes in the top and slowly pour in half the reduced cider mixture. Pour slowly so it can absorb into the cake as you pour.
- Place a plate over the cake and invert. The cake should slide right out. If any liquid sits on the bottom of the plate, pour that back into the cup with reduced cider.
- Poke the same amount of holes into this side and slowly pour in the second half of the reduced cider.
- Place in the refrigerator to set for about 30 minutes.
- While the cake is setting, in a small bowl, place confectioner’s sugar and vanilla. Whip in a tablespoon of the reserved cider at a time to make a thick creamy glaze. Out of the quarter cup I reserved, I used three tablespoons of it.
- Remove the cake from the refrigerator and drizzle the glaze over the top and serve immediately.
- You do not need to refrigerate the leftovers. Seal tight and eat within a few days.
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Why doesn’t my husband make stuff like this for me?? This is amazing, and perfect for a cozy January day, Happy New Year! (sharing on fb today, yum!)
Happy New Year to you too Sue! I totally scored marrying a guy who likes to cook! 🙂 Thanks for sharing!
Perfect for morning office coffee. my colleagues shall be delighted ! Thank you and have a healthy and prosperous 2017.!
★★★★★
Thank you so much! Happy New Year to you too!