Apple Cider Doughnuts have been an especially popular autumn thing the past few years. Good food, however, should be confined to no single season. This Cider Doughnut Bundt Cake would be delicious to make this very day.
Use a good quality nonalcoholic apple cider for this recipe. The more flavor and spice to start, the more flavor in the final bake. I’m rather fond of a Honeycrisp cider that Aldi carries in the fall and I wish they had it year-round for my baking needs.
The end result here is a moist spiced cake with lots of apple pieces and a outer layer coated in cinnamon and sugar. Note that this is a cake to feed a crowd, but leftovers are fantastic to freeze in slices.
The ultimate apple cider donut: a big bundt cake imbued with that same flavor and spice! Modified a lot from Bake from Scratch Magazine.
Course: Dessert
Keyword: apple, bundt cake, cider
Author: Beth Cato
Equipment
10-cup bundt cake
baking spray with flour
pastry brush
Ingredients
Cake
1cupunsalted butter (2 cubes) softened
1cupwhite sugar
1teaspoonvanilla extract
3large eggs
3 1/4cupsall-purpose flour
1Tablespoonground cinnamon
2teaspoonskosher salt
1teaspoonbaking powder
1/2teaspoonbaking soda
1 1/2cupsapple cider (nonalcoholic) spiced version, if available
1/2cupmilk or half & half
1teaspoonapple cider vinegar
1large Honeycrisp applepeeled and chopped
Topping
2/3cupconfectioners’ sugar
1Tablespoonwater
2Tablespoonswhite sugar
1/2Tablespoonground cinnamon
Instructions
Preheat oven at 325 degrees. Coat the inside of a 10-cup Bundt pan with baking spray with flour.
In a big bowl, beat butter, white sugar, and vanilla until creamy. Add eggs, one at a time.
In another bowl, mix together flour, cinnamon, salt, baking powder, and baking soda.
In another small bowl, stir together cider, milk, and apple cider vinegar.
Gradually add flour mixture to butter mixture, alternately with cider blend, beginning and ending with flour mixture. Beat until just combined after each addition. Fold in apple pieces. Pour batter into prepared pan and even out.
Bake for 1 hour to 1 hour 12 minutes, until the middle passes the toothpick test. Let cool in pan for 10 minutes then invert onto a wire rack. Let cool for about 30 minutes more.
In a small bowl, whisk together confectioners’ sugar and water until smooth. Brush mixture all over surface of cake, working quickly to keep moist.
Combine the remaining sugar and cinnamon; sprinkle over cake to coat. Serve cake warm or at room temperature.
This bethcato2 account is impersonating me and direct messaging writers in an effort to sell marketing services. Any account pretending to be me on TikTok is fraudulent. Even more, I will never, ever, in a million years contact people in such a manner to sell marketing services on any platform.
I’ve been informed that reporting an impersonator on TikTok isn’t really possible unless you are the person being impersonated. That said, if you’re on there, report them however you can, and even more, shame them and shame the platform for enabling this behavior. Please. I want people to share my warning posts and graphic everywhere. Get the word out.
Please reach out to new authors online and in person. Warn them to never, ever trust direct solicitations, no matter how flattering they seem, whether they come via email or social media. As I posted just recently, I’m also being impersonated in AI-compiled email scams that also target writers. I get spammed with these scams, too, purporting to be opportunities from book clubs, Goodreads list curators, and even radio stations.
My website lists my real, active social media accounts. If you see a suspicious Beth Cato out there, hey, let me know. Do the same for other authors, too.
Thanks. I hope I don’t have to do another post like this soon, but well…
These Glazed Maple Cream Cheese Cookies were subjected to repeated experimentation as I perfected the dough, first rolling it in maple sugar, then realized no, a glaze drizzle was the way to go. I had to make sure that worked, too, to a delicious and beautiful result.
These cookies are something special. So special I entered them in the annual Star Tribune cookie contest. Alas. Those judges apparently didn’t deem them special enough.
Therefore, I present the recipe for your enjoyment. If you love maple like I do, I think you’ll rate them quite highly.
Bready or Not Original: Glazed Maple Cream Cheese Cookies
These soft, chewy perfectly-sweetened cookies are a must for any maple lovers!
Course: Dessert, Snack
Keyword: chocolate, cookies, maple, pecans
Author: Beth Cato
Equipment
large cookie scoop or tablespoon
Ingredients
Dough
1cupunsalted butter(2 cubes) softened
8ouncecream cheesesoftened
3/4cupwhite sugar
3/4cupbrown sugar packed
1large egg room temperature
1teaspoonvanilla extract
2 1/2teaspoonsmaple flavor
2 1/2cupsall-purpose flour
1teaspoonbaking powder
1/2teaspoonsea salt
1cupwhite chocolate chips
1cuppecan pieces
Glaze
1cupconfectioners’ sugar
1/3cupreal maple syrup
Instructions
Cream together the butter, cream cheese, and both sugars. Add the egg, vanilla, and maple flavor. In another bowl, sift together flour, baking powder, and salt. Gradually incorporate the dry ingredients with the wet. Fold in white chocolate chips and pecan pieces.
Cover dough and chill for at least two hours or overnight.
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line baking sheet with parchment paper.
Use a large cookie scoop or tablespoon to shape dough into rounds. Place spaced out on cookie sheet.
Bake for 13 to 16 minutes, until the top is just starting to gain a golden tint. Let set for a few minutes before moving to a rack to cool. Once the cookies are completely cool, make the glaze.
Combine glaze ingredients in a bowl. Transfer to a piping bag with small tip or a freezer bag with a corner snipped. Pipe lines over the cookies. Let set at least an hour before packing cookies into a sealed container. If stacking cookies, use strips of waxed paper between layers.
I bought a bag of date sugar for a recipe and then had to figure out what else to make to use up the bag. Cue my experimentation with cookies, which then led to a superior version: these Date Sugar Chocolate Chip Bars.
The date sugar I used was very light and powdery in texture. It tastes sweet in a different way than other sugars, and tends to create a dense texture, kind of like brown sugar. I didn’t get any aftertaste from it.
My husband took my experiments to work, and people gobbled them up. These bars taste different, yes, but are also still delicious, and so people still ate them even though they didn’t know what made them strange.
Bready or Not Original: Date Sugar Chocolate Chip Bars
These bars look and taste different because of the unique sugar, and they are soft, chewy, and delicious!
Course: Dessert, Snack
Keyword: bars, chocolate, dates
Author: Beth Cato
Equipment
plastic wrap
8×8 or 9×9 pan
aluminum foil
nonstick spray
Ingredients
1/2cupunsalted butter (1 stick) room temperature
3/4cupdate sugar
1large egg room temperature
1teaspoonvanilla extract
1cupall-purpose flour
1/4teaspoonbaking soda
1/4teaspoonbaking powder
1/2teaspoonkosher salt
1/2cupsemisweet chocolate chips
1/2cupchopped dates
Instructions
Cream together the butter and date sugar. Add the egg and vanilla. Scrape the bottom of the bowl to incorporate everything.
In another bowl, combine flour, baking soda, baking powder and salt.
Slowly add the dry ingredients to the wet, mixing until no white streaks remain. Fold in chocolate chips and date pieces.
Wrap the dough in plastic wrap and place in fridge to chill for at least 8 hours, overnight, or a few days. Alternatively, it can also be frozen and then thawed in the fridge.
When it’s baking time, line an 8×8 or 9×9 pan with foil. Apply nonstick spray or coat with soft butter. Preheat oven at 325 degrees.
The cold dough will be quite stiff. Leave at room temperature for 20-30 minutes, then break into pieces to press into prepared pan, forming a thick, even layer.
Bake for 20-25 minutes, until the middle passes the toothpick test.
Let cool completely. Use foil to lift contents onto a cutting board. Slice into bars. Store in a sealed container at room temperature.
I'm being impersonated on TikTok and in an AI-generated spam campaign. I'm not solicting writers to sell marketing techniques (pfft like I know what I'm doing). I AM NOT ON TIKTOK AT ALL. My legit accounts are linked here on my website. Please report any fake Beths on social media, and if you get spam that claims to be from me, please report and block!
NEW NOVEL:
Brie My Valentine, a cozy mystery novel published by Datura Books; in print, ebook; FEB 2027A Manor Beyond the Mist, a cozy fantasy novel published in 47North; in print, ebook, audiobook; late 2027
CONVENTIONS AND EVENTS:
Guest Author at Red Wing Library - May 30th 10am
Nebula Award Weekend - June 3rd-7th in Chicago, IL
Fourth Street Fantasy - June 19-21st in Minneapolis, MN