Apple-Cream Cheese Bundt Cake

In celebration of my 3-year blog anniversary, I am sharing a cake recipe with you.  I’m not much of a cake lover (you know, cake with thick frosting and flowers), so I haven’t spent much time perfecting my cake making techniques.  Though, while I was flipping through cake recipes for inspiration the layer cakes intrigued me.  I have to admit layer cakes have intrigued me since I saw Pollyanna eat a 3-layer mile-high slice of cake at the town fair (Do you remember that scene in the movie with Hayley Mills?).  I’m still searching for a layer cake to love like the one Pollyanna ate.  The Chocolate-Covered Strawberry Cake from Rose’s Heavenly Cakes looked like a layer cake I could love, but her description of the frosting as, “…tricky to apply, requiring the patience of a craftsperson.” frankly, scared me.

The cover recipe of Southern Living’s September issue has called to me for months.  Apple-Cream Cheese Bundt cake is right up my alley.  I like more homey rustic cakes, and this cake is amazing!  I wanted to eat the praline frosting straight out of the saucepan, and if I wasn't worried about how much frosting the recipe made, I would have eaten more.  From the look of the cake in Southern Living, it had at least a double recipe of frosting.  Next time I will triple the frosting, so I can eat more out of the saucepan, and still have frosting dripping all the way down the sides of the cake.

I wanted to have a beautiful layer cake to celebrate my blog’s anniversary, and though Apple-Cream Cheese Bundt Cake isn’t beautiful, it is a homey, moist spice cake that tastes like fall, but is perfect in January too.  I hope I’m invited to dinner somewhere soon.  I’ll bring dessert!

Apple-Cream Cheese Bundt Cake

Adapted from Southern Living

Printable Recipe
Cream Cheese Filling
1 8 ounce package cream cheese, room temperature
¼ cup butter, room temperature
½ cup granulated sugar
1 large egg
2 Tablespoons all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon vanilla

Apple Cake Batter
1 cup finely chopped pecans
3 cups all-purpose flour
1 cup granulated sugar
1 cup firmly packed brown sugar
2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
1 teaspoon table salt
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg
½ teaspoon ground allspice
3 large eggs lightly beaten
¾ cup canola oil
¾ cup unsweetened applesauce
1 teaspoon vanilla
3 cups peeled and finely chopped Gala apples

Praline Frosting
½ cup firmly packed light brown sugar
¼ butter
3 Tablespoons milk
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 cup powdered sugar

Prepare the Cream Cheese Filling:  Beat the cream cheese, butter and granulated sugar with an electric mixer until blended and smooth.  Add egg, flour and vanilla, and beat just until blended. Set aside.

Prepare the Apple Cake Batter: Preheat the oven to 350F°.   Bake pecans in a shallow pan until toasted, about 8 to 10 minutes.  In a large bowl, mix together flour, granulated sugar, brown sugar, cinnamon, salt, baking soda, nutmeg, and allspice.  Make a well in the dry ingredients, and add the eggs, oil, applesauce, and vanilla.  Stir just until all ingredients are moistened.  Stir in the apples and pecans.

Grease and flour a 14-cup Bundt pan.  Spoon half the batter into the pan.  Make a trough in the apple cake batter, and spoon the cream cheese mixture into the trough.  Swirl the filling through the apple cake batter using a paring knife.  Spoon the remaining apple cake batter over the cream cheese filling.  Bake at 350F° for 1 hour to 1 hour 15 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.  Cool cake in pan for 15 minutes. Remove from pan and cool on wire rack until cooled completely (about 2 hours).

Prepare the Frosting:  Bring ½ cup of brown sugar, ¼ cup butter and 3 Tablespoons milk to a boil in a saucepan over medium heat.  Whisk constantly.  Boil mixture of 1 minute.  Remove from heat and stir in the vanilla.  Gradually whisk in powdered sugar until smooth.  Stir the mixture gently for 3 to 5 minutes, or until frosting begins to cool and thickens slightly.  Pour frosting immediately over cooled cake.