Brown Sugar Bundt Cake with Maple Espresso Glaze

A long time ago, when I was a itty-bitty Alex who liked to run around in her PJ's all day and refused to wear actual clothes until she was well past 8 years old, my Mother baked me my own cake for my birthday.

It was a lovely box mix yellow cake with lovely Pillsbury white frosting slathered all over it. She made it in her Bundt Cake pan, and after she had frosted it completely, she decided it would be a great idea to stick a little doll figure angel in the middle of the cake. She then had an even better idea, which was to surround said doll figure with candles.

Candles.

Lit. Candles.

With fire.

Fiery candles of death.

I don't think anyone in the room thought it was the best idea, but she went with it anyway. And as she lit the candles, I still remember to this day the image in my head of that poor helpless doll sitting on top the middle of a thickly frosted bundt cake, surrounded in flames. As if the doll was being made as an ancient sacrifice to Chthulu and the candles were the natives lighting their torches getting ready for the sacrifice to their angry God.

Ok, so I wasn't exactly thinking that when I was a kid. But when I think about it today, that's all I see.

Now-a-days, It's hard for me to look at a bundt cake without thinking about that moment. It's not often that I eat bundt cakes. Anyone who knows me knows that I don't like cake. It's not my preferred dessert of choice and given the chance I will always pick something other than cake at the dessert table or party. Sure, I'll try it to be nice, but that's about as far as it goes for me. As I've touched on numerous times in my blog, it's no specific thing about cake that makes me dislike it. I just don't like the cake/frosting combo. Doesn't sit well with me or my tummy.

The thing about cake is that often, it has a dry crumb that gives it that kind of "stick to the roof of your mouth" chew that can be both unpleasant and yucky to many people. Dry crumbs are often caused by 1. using cake mix and 2. having not enough moisture in your cake. I've always thought anyone who can pull off a moist but not "wet" cake had a one in a million skill of being able to perfect the balance between a cake that has enough dryness in it to keep it together but has enough moisture to make it both tender, sweet, and melt-in-your-mouth quality.


This cake...is nothing like that. In fact, it's a superb way to end any meal, or start any day with a thick slice for breakfast. The glaze on top is subtley sweet, giving a perfect finish to the caramely tasting insides. The crumb is both moist and satisfying, and the chocolate chips inside are just a fantastic added bonus that ties it all together and makes it much more than just a regular ol' cake with some glaze on it. Even I myself could be found picking off pieces of this cake here and there throughout the day. And that's definitely saying something.

If you wanted to, you could make the glaze a lot thicker. I like a thinner glaze on my cakes, so I used a bit more heavy cream. But if you like a thicker, more visually apparent glaze, go ahead and stick with the recipe below. And please, do not disclude the chocolate chips. They are worth the extra trip to the store. Promise.

Brown Sugar Bundt Cake with Maple Espresso Glaze
(Recipe by Bon Appétit)

INGREDIENTS:

Cake:
Nonstick vegetable oil spray
1 12-ounce package semisweet chocolate chips
3 cups all purpose flour, divided
2 teaspoons baking soda
1 teaspoon baking powder
3/4 teaspoon salt
1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, room temperature
1 1/2 cups (packed) golden brown sugar
2 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1 teaspoon maple extract
4 large eggs
1 cup buttermilk

Glaze:
1 cup powdered sugar
2 tablespoons pure maple syrup
2 tablespoons (or more) whipping cream
1 1/2 teaspoons instant espresso powder

DIRECTIONS:

1. Preheat oven to 325°F. Butter 12-cup Bundt pan. Spray pan generously with nonstick spray. Dust pan lightly with flour.

2. Mix chocolate chips and 2 tablespoons flour in medium bowl.

3. Sift remaining flour with baking soda, baking powder, and salt into another medium bowl.

4. Using electric mixer, beat butter and brown sugar in large bowl until fluffy, about 3 minutes. Beat in vanilla extract and maple extract. Add eggs, 1 at a time, beating well after each addition.

5. Mix in flour mixture in 3 additions alternately with buttermilk in 2 additions, beginning and ending with flour mixture. Fold in chocolate chip mixture. Transfer batter to prepared pan, spreading evenly.

6. Bake cake until tester inserted near center comes out clean and cake begins to pull away from sides of pan, about 1 hour. Cool cake in pan on rack 30 minutes. Invert cake onto rack and cool completely.

7. For the glaze, Combine powdered sugar, maple syrup, 2 tablespoons cream, and espresso powder in medium bowl. Whisk until smooth, adding more cream by 1/2 teaspoonfuls if glaze is too thick to drizzle. Spoon glaze decoratively over top of cake; let stand at room temperature until glaze is firm, about 1 hour. DO AHEAD: Can be made 1 day ahead. Cover with cake dome and let stand at room temperature

Apple Muffins with Maple Icing

Apples. I love them. No, seriously, I love them.

There hasn't been a time in my life where apples have not been present in whatever place I'm housing. It's true.

Ask my Dad. He has the Costco receipts.


When fall comes around, I get giddy. Sure, apples are widely available at all times of the year but it's this time in specific that they really start to get tasty. Not only that, but you've got a wide variety at your disposable. Granny Smith. Jazz. Red Delicious. Fuji. Pink Lady. And I guess we can include the Grapple in there, too (although I am not a fan of the grape/apple hybrid species).

Out of all of them, I prefer my Red Delicious and Fuji. Fuji when I want something a little lighter and sweeter. Red Delicious when I want that CRUNCH every time I bite in. Yeah, i'm a crunchy-sweet-apple fan.

Which means I hate Granny Smith. In everything. Including Apple Pie. I don't know who decided a tart apple would be the best kind of apple to use for pie, but I highly disagree on all levels. That clever Granny Smith may look all sparkling green in the apple bin... but it's just to fool you. No wonder they call them Granny Smith. It's like biting into a bitter old lady with 9 cats. Grainy. Tart. Yuck.

No offense to bitter old ladies with 9 cats or Granny Smith fans... I love you. Just not the apples. Sorry.

These apple muffins in particular are fantastic. And while you could go ahead and use Granny Smith if that's your preference, I prefered a combo of my two favorites: Fuji and Red Delicious. One of each, to be specific. And as unhealthy as they may look, the only guilty thing about these babies is the brown sugar topping and perfect maple icing that pairs along with it. Seriously. Maple Icing... Where have you been all my life? I could have sat there dunking apple pieces in that stuff until I had a sugar stroke. No lie.

They are made primarily with applesauce in replace of butter and oil, with a little bit of yogurt to help keep them moist. I sifted the flours together twice to get a more light crumb but you can just go ahead and whisk them if you prefer. They are loaded with cinnamon and have just a tad bit of actual sugar in them. I couldn't really find one recipe for these in specific so I just ended up mixing some recipes together and bam: Apple Muffins.

By the way, these are worth going to the store and buying real maple syrup for. Don't use that fake pancake stuff. It's not the same AT ALL.

I hope you all are enjoying apple season as much as I am. Even if you do like Granny Smith.

Apple Muffins with Maple Icing

Ingredients:
1 cup whole wheat flour
1 cup all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon cinnamon
1 cup unsweetened applesauce
1/4 cup granulated sugar
2/3 cup brown sugar
2 egg whites, lightly beaten
1/2 cup plain fat-free yogurt
2 medium sized apples, cored and coarsely chopped
1/4 cup toasted slivered almonds (optional)

Crumble Topping:
1/4 cup brown sugar or granulated sugar
1/4 cup oats, rolled or quick-cooking
1/4 cup whole wheat flour
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
3-4 tablespoons butter, cold
handful of toasted slivered almonds, optional
(if you like A LOT of topping, double this)

Maple Icing:
1/3 cup powdered sugar
2 tablespoons REAL maple syrup (NO PANCAKE SYRUP)
1 teaspon to 1 tablespoon milk, to thin

Directions:
1. Preheat oven to 400F degrees. Prepare muffin tins with nonstick cooking spray or liners.
2. Sift or whisk the flours, baking soda, baking powder, cinnamon and salt together in a medium bowl. Set aside.

3. Whisk together the sugars and applesauce in a large mixing bowl. Add eggs and yogurt. Mix until smooth.

4. Combine the flour with the applesauce mixture and stir until no trace of flour remains. Mixture will be thick. Fold in chopped apples and almond slivers, if using.

5. To make the crumble topping, combine brown sugar, cinnamon, flour, oats, and almonds together. Using a pastry cutter or your fingers, cut in the butter in small pieces until mixture is crumbly.

5. Distribute batter evenly between muffin cups, sprinkling the crumble topping on each one as desired. Bake at 400F for 18-20 minutes (NOTE: Mine were done in 14 minutes so make sure to check them with a toothpick a little earlier on). Cool on wire rack when done.

6. While muffins are baking, make the maple icing. Simply whisk together the powdered sugar, maple syrup. Add milk in teaspoonfuls until icing drizzles easily off the tip of a spoon or fork.

7. Once muffins are done and cooled, drizzle maple icing on each one. Don't be flimsy with it either. I'm watching you.

Makes 16-18 Muffins.