Apple Butter Cake with Vanilla Cinnamon Glaze

We finally did it! We walked to school as a family!! This is a huge accomplishment. The Geologist has every other Friday off (greatest schedule EVER) and we've tried 3 times to walk to school together, but always end up being late. When I woke up this morning and checked the clock, we were an hour late. School was starting!! We jumped out of bed, desperate not to be any later than we had to, but noticed that all of the other clocks said we were right on time! I think it's about time to retire that old bedside clock. Shame on it for scaring me like that. Walking together was lovely. A great start to the day.

I hope you all liked the Apple Butter recipe! I stirred some into my plain Greek yogurt and granola this morning, and added some raspberries, it was scrumptious!! And I would be remiss if I didn't show you at least one more use for that delicious concoction: Presenting, Apple Butter Cake! (PS-You've GOT to check out Baker's Royale. Wow. Her recipes and photography are just plain stunning!!)

Apple Butter Cake with Vanilla Cinnamon Glaze (adapted from Baker's Royale)

Printable Recipe

Filling:
12 oz. cream cheese
1 egg, plus 1 egg yolk
1/2 cup apple butter
1/2 cup sugar
2 teaspoons cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon nutmeg
1/8 teaspoon cloves
pinch salt

Apple Cake:
4 1/2 oz. apples, shredded (1 large apple, or 1 1/2 medium apples)
3 cups of flour
2 teaspoons cinnamon
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon nutmeg
1/2 teaspoon cloves
1 tsp ginger
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 cup of sour cream
1/2 cup of apple butter
1 cup of unsalted butter, softened
1 cup granulated sugar
1 cup light brown sugar
2 large eggs
2 tsp vanilla

Glaze:
1 cup powdered sugar
1 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp vanilla
2-3 Tb milk

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease or butter a bundt or tube pan. Core and skin apples. Shred apples against the large hole side of a cheese box grater. Set aside.

Beat cream cheese until smooth and fluffy. Add egg and egg yolk, and beat until smooth again. Add in remaining ingredients, beat until well combined and smooth one more time. Set aside.

Sift together flour, cinnamon, baking powder, baking soda, nutmeg and cloves. Set aside.

In a small bowl, whisk sour cream and apple butter together until well combined. Set aside. (So you have 3 extra bowls at this point!)

Beat butter until smooth. Add sugar and beat until light and fluffy. Add in eggs one at time, beating until well incorporated after each. Slowly add the dry mixture in three batches, starting with dry mixture and alternating with the sour cream and apple butter mixture. Fold in shredded in apples.

Pour half of cake batter into prepared pan (batter is pretty thick). Pour cheesecake filling on top of cake batter.

Dollop remaining cake batter onto cheesecake filling. Smooth together gently, don't worry that it may not cover the cheesecake batter completely.

Bake cake for 50-55 minutes or until inserted cake tester is clean of crumbs when removed. Let cool before icing.

(If you bake yours in a tube pan, like me, it may flatten a bit as it cools. No worries!!)

Whisk powdered sugar and cinnamon together. Add vanilla, and beat in the milk, 1 Tb at a time, until it reaches desired consistency. Drizzle over cake (You might want to make a double batch, and drizzle more over as you serve!!)

Ever since reading in another blog that the writer hated bundt pans, and loved the more rustic look of cakes baked in a tube pan instead, I have been going back and forth. Which do I like better? The cheesecake ribbon turned out thinner than pictured, is that because I used a tube pan?? I don't know. No decision made yet. But I like this cake. 

This cinnamon glaze is pretty AND yummy!! I mixed up another batch and added a bit of cream, to make it suitable for more drizzling. The spicy cinnamon is the perfect final note for this sweet, soft apple cake.

I like the shredded apples, giving it that fresh apple taste without big chunks, and they seem to melt right into the warmly spiced cake. 

Oh, and um, hello, don't forget the spiced cheesecake filling!! Too delicious. Just too, too delicious. Without the glaze, the cake is a bit less sweet than you may think, and this filling is the rich surprise in the middle. YUM!! I'm thinking spiced cheesecake for Thanksgiving... 

Spiced apple cheesecake, perhaps?

Shared at Strut Your Stuff Saturday, On the Menu Monday and Your Great Ideas