I love changing up traditional recipes to use more fresh produce. And I love going apple picking at the local orchard. Taking a spin on the normal apple pie, I love to make fruit cakes too. Not the yucky ones you think of at Christmas time. These are fluffy and delicious. Try changing up dessert with my Apple Cake with Butter Coffee Icing.
Why Add Fruit To Cake?
Typically when you think of fruit as a dessert you think pie. Well, at least I do. It seems like a no brainer when apple season starts to make tons of apple pie. Which I also do. (I have too. My Dad loves my mom’s Dutch Apple Pie, so I always make sure he gets one.)
But fruit in cake is not as normal. Mostly we think of carrot cake when this comes up in conversation. While I love carrot cake, I love the idea of more non-standard cakes.
Adding fruit to dessert is also good for the kiddos. They are getting just a smidge of the nutritional value from the fruit. And who knows, maybe they’ll learn to love fruit when they’re older if we are sneaky about it.
Local Apple Sourcing
Unfortunately, I do not have apple trees. I would love to have them, and we have the remnants of one in the yard as my husband’s uncle had one years ago. Apparently, they were not well cared for, and all have died over the years.
So instead, I wait for the local apple orchard to open. They are lovely, as you can buy already picked apples if you are in a rush, or you can make a day of it and go out and pick your own. Lawrence Orchard is one of my favorite places to visit on a lazy Saturday in the summer.
Apple Cake
The key to a great apple cake is the variety of apples you choose to bake with. My favorite local varies to bake with are Golden Delicious and Gold Rush. These are sweeter varies, and denser, so they stand up to baking wonderfully. Other great choices are Jonathan and Empire.
Grating the apples as you would potatoes for hash browns is pretty simple. I like to use a box grater to do mine, as it gives me better control over watching for bad spots as I grate. Make sure that before grating you peel and core your apples. No one wants a seed in their piece of cake!
Butter Coffee Icing
This is an old fashioned recipe that I learned long ago from a wonderful old family friend. She said she used to make a lot of things to use up leftover percolated coffee. I don’t know if you have ever had percolated coffee instead of regular brewed coffee, but to me it was always more bitter that way. My Grandma and Grandpa lived by theirs.
Using up some leftover coffee is a great use of it. Or make some just because you want to make some icing. I’m all about my coffee addiction, so anything involving coffee makes me happy.
And what could be better for dessert than apple cake with butter coffee icing and a piping hot cup of joe? Seems like absolute heaven to me.
Apple Cake with Butter Coffee Icing
Apple Cake with Butter Coffee Icing
Ingredients
- 3 c grated apples
- 4 large eggs
- 2 c sugar
- 1 c canola or vegetable oil
- 2 tsp baking soda
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 2 c flour
- 1 tsp cinnamon
- 1 tsp vanilla
- 1 c pecans chopped
Butter Coffee Icing
- 1/3 c butter softened
- 2 tbsp lemon juice
- 3 c powdered sugar
- 2 tbsp cold coffee
Instructions
- Combine apples, eggs, sugar, and oil.
- Beat until ingredients are just combined.
- Add remaining ingredients and mix well.
- Spoon into a greased bundt cake pan.
- Bake at 350F for 40-45 min. or until a toothpick inserted comes out clean.
- Allow to cool before frosting.
For Coffee Butter Icing
- Cream together butter and sugar.
- Beat in remaining ingredients until smooth.
Looking for more dessert recipes? Find them all here.
I love the sound of the butter coffee icing with the apple cake. Can’t wait to try it. Thanks for sharing at Fiesta Friday party!
The icing would be a very different and surprising flavor to this cake. Pinned this to try it out. Thanks so much for visiting with us again and sharing your posts. #HomeMattersParty
The icing sounds interesting and this is a delicious cake to have with coffee.