Apple Butter Pound Cake with Caramel Frosting

5.0

(4)

4 Reviews

Impress everyone this fall with an apple butter pound cake topped with caramel frosting and apple chips.

Pam Lolley

Updated on July 20, 2021

Active Time:

20 mins

Cool Time:

2 hrs

Total Time:

3 hrs 45 mins

Yield:

12 serves

When the baking bug bites you in the fall, two things usually come to mind. Apples and pound cakes. This season add some excitement to your cakes by cooking with Slow-Cooker Apple Butter. While apple butter really isn't a butter, this old-school condiment has a deeper, richer, and thicker consistency than apple sauce. Traditionally cooked for hours on the stovetop, your slow cooker will simplify the process for you. If you don't want to make your own apple butter, use your favorite store brand of apple butter, instead. This recipe for an apple pound cake calls for a Bundt pan which, with its curves and crevices, can turn a simple cake into an architectural showpiece. Don't skip toasting the pecans -this simple step adds tons of extra flavor and texture. If you plan to do a lot of baking this season, plan ahead and toast a large amount of nuts and store in the freezer. Keep a jar of caramel frosting in the refrigerator and drizzle over baked apples or a bowl of ice cream.

Apple Butter Pound Cake with Caramel Frosting — Antonis Achilleos; Prop Styling: Mary Clayton Carl Jones; Food Styling: Emily Nabors Hall

Ingredients

1 cup Slow-Cooker Apple Butter
¼ cup finely chopped, toasted pecans
Vegetable shortening
1 ½ cups butter, softened
1 (8-oz.) package cream cheese, softened
3 cups granulated sugar
6 large eggs
3 cups all-purpose flour, plus more for pan
3 teaspoons vanilla extract, divided
½ cup packed light brown sugar
¼ cup butter
3 tablespoons whole milk
1 cup powdered sugar
½ cup dried apple chips (optional)

Directions

Stir together Slow-Cooker Apple Butter and pecans in a small bowl; set aside. Grease (with vegetable shortening) and flour a 14-cup Bundt pan; set aside.
Preheat oven to 325°F. Beat softened butter and cream cheese in bowl of a heavy-duty stand mixer fitted with paddle attachment on medium speed until creamy, about 2 minutes. Gradually add granulated sugar, beating on medium speed until light and fluffy, about 3 minutes. Add eggs, 1 at a time, beating just until blended after each addition.
Reduce speed to low, and gradually add flour to butter mixture, beating just until blended after each addition, stopping to scrape down bowl as needed. Stir in 2 teaspoons of the vanilla.
Stir ¼ cup batter into apple butter mixture. Pour half of the remaining batter into prepared Bundt pan. Using a small offset spatula or knife, make about a ¾-inch-wide x ¾-inch-deep trench (or channel) in center of batter around pan. Spoon apple butter mixture into trench. Top with remaining cake batter.
Bake in preheated oven until a long wooden pick inserted in center comes out clean (1 hour, 20 minutes to 1 hour, 35 minutes). Cool cake in pan on a wire rack 10 minutes, and remove from pan to wire rack. Cool completely, about 2 hours.
While cake cools, bring brown sugar, ¼ cup butter, and milk to a boil in a small saucepan over medium, whisking constantly. Boil, whisking constantly, 1 minute. Remove from heat; stir in remaining 1 teaspoon vanilla. Gradually whisk in powdered sugar until smooth, and whisk gently until mixture begins to cool and thickens slightly, 3 to 5 minutes. Immediately spoon over cooled cake; top with apple chips, if desired.

Apple Butter Pound Cake with Caramel Frosting

Ingredients

Directions

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