Apple and Bourbon Bundt Cake

So still on a birthday vibe, New Year's Eve is Paddy's birthday, so you guessed it, it means a bundt! My brief was 'something I can have with custard'. He loved the Apple Pie Bundt I did at Easter, and asked for something of a similar ilk. I never make the same cake twice, so I was always going to come up with something new. Then came the wonderful moment of realisation, that I had a nice bottle of apple bourbon. Yes lad. 

Seeing as his birthday is on New Year's Eve, this had to be something suitably glitzy and party-worthy too. The obvious choice is to lace it with booze, but I also chose to make it in the elegant Crown Bundt tin, and cover it with all things glam; simple glacé icing topped with demerara sugar and a dusting of glitter. Job done with the ultimate simplicity. 

The taste of the bourbon really infuses the cake, but the sweet fruit takes any harshness away. Slices of apple soaked in bourbon and cinnamon make this cake ridiculously moist, but it's still firm enough to keep its shape in the tin beautifully. We did indeed eat ours with warm vanilla custard, just after midnight. Thankfully, no-one turned into a pumpkin, and I came home with both shoes. 

Ingredients:

Apples:

• 1 medium Bramley apple
• 1 tbsp golden caster sugar
• 1 tsp cinnamon
• 1 tbsp Apple Bourbon (standard will do)

Cake:

• 225g butter
• 400g golden caster sugar (plus a little more for dusting the apples later)
• 50g dark muscovado sugar
• 4 medium eggs
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 350g plain flour
• 3 tsp cinnamon (plus a little more for dusting the apples later)
• 1/2 tsp bicarbonate of soda
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 250ml toffee apple yoghurt (I used Yeo Valley) - Muller do a toffee one too. 
• 2 tbsp apple sauce
• 4 tbsp Apple Bourbon 

Topping:

• 300g icing sugar
• More bourbon
• Demerara sugar to sprinkle
• Freshly grated nutmeg
• Gold glitter (optional)

Method:

1. At least an hiour before baking, peel the apple and cut into thin slices. 
2. Mix the sugar, cinnamon and bourbon together, and pour over the apples. 
3. Preheat the oven to gas 3/160 c
4. Prepare a regular sized bundt tin - 2.4l, 10 cup, 10 inch with Cake Release spray and dust with flour.
5. Cream the butter and sugars until pale and fluffy.
6. Add the eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition. 
7. Add the extract.
8. In a separate bowl, measure out the flour, cinnamon, bicarbonate of soda, salt and sultanas.
9. Pour the yoghurt into a jug and add the apple sauce and bourbon.
10. Sift a third of the flour mix into the main bowl, followed by half the yoghurt mix. Repeat this until everything is combined.
11. Give everything a quick mix on a low speed for about 10 seconds.
12. Pour 3/4 of the mix into your prepared tin. 
13. Poke your apples in, in a clock formation - see pic.
14. Cover with the rest of the mix.
15. Bake in the centre of the oven for about 1 hour 15 minutes or until a skewer comes out clean. 
16. Leave the cake to cool for ten minutes before removing from the tin.
17. To make the topping, mix the icing sugar with enough bourbon to make a runny icing. You can use a bit of water here if you don't want it too boozy!
18. Sprinkle with demerara sugar and dust with gold glitter. 
19. Grate over some fresh nutmeg, and you're ready for the ball!

Bloggers: Please respect the fact I am sharing my own ideas and basic recipe. Blood, sweat and many tears have gone into getting this right, so you may enjoy a perfect bundt. If you wish to re-blog a recipe from these variations, please credit my blog and link to this original post rather than pasting the recipe on your own page.