Apple Cider Pudding Cake

Alright folks, today starts a massive effort for me in catching up with posting my recipes. I have tried so many wonderful new recipes in the past couple months! I really would like to post them all here! I'm calling it my version of nesting (I'm not prone to the real kind, unfortunately. ;) )

What better way to start than with a glorious dessert from the ever-reliable My Kitchen Cafe! (By the way, check out her newly redesigned site. It's pretty slick!)

I made this on Valentine's Day as the finale to my lavish and over-the-top dinner that I prepared for Paul. I overdid things that night, that's for sure. Two people do NOT need three appetizers, FYI. ;)

This dessert was delicious, though! I know the season for apple desserts is pretty much over now, but if you ask my husband, he would say apple desserts are wonderful all year long! So, here it is.

Apple Cider Pudding Cake

(Please forgive the messy counter. Like I said, I did a LOT of cooking that night. And by the time I was dishing this out and taking pictures, I was SO ready to crawl into bed and go to sleep!)

Ingredients:

Cake:

1 c. flour

2 t. baking powder

1/4 t. salt

1/4 t. baking soda

1 t. cinnamon

1/2 t. ginger

1/4 t. nutmeg

1 egg

1 c. brown sugar

1/3 c. milk

2 T. butter, melted

1 t. vanilla

2 c. Granny Smith apples, chopped

Boiling mixture:

1 c. apple cider (apple juice works too, that's what I used)

1/2 t. cinnamon

1 t. vanilla

1/2 c. brown sugar

Streusel:

1/4 c. flour

1/4 c. brown sugar

2 T. butter (cold)

Directions:

Grease 8x8 pan and preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Prepare cake batter by whisking together the egg, brown sugar, milk, melted butter, and vanilla. Stir in the dry ingredients (flour, baking powder, salt, baking soda, cinnamon, ginger, and nutmeg) until just combined. You can combine the dry ingredients separately first like the original recipe calls for, but I rarely do. Gently fold in chopped apples, and spread into your prepared pan.

In a small saucepan, bring the apple cider, cinnamon, vanilla and brown sugar to a boil. Carefully pour boiling mixture over cake batter in prepared pan, and bake for 35 minutes.

Meanwhile, prepare streusel topping by combining the flour, brown sugar, and cold butter until the mixture resembles coarse crumbs. You can do this using a pastry cutter, two forks, two butter knives, a food processor, or--my preferred method--your hands. After the cake has baked for 35 minutes, sprinkle the streusel topping evenly over the cake and bake for 8-10 more minutes. The cake is done when a toothpick inserted into the top cake layer comes out clean or with a few moist crumbs attached.

Serve warm with vanilla ice cream! :)

The pudding layer gets somewhat absorbed into the cake layer as it cools, so this dessert is much better immediately after being cooked. Paul and I, of course, couldn't finish the whole thing by ourselves, so we had leftovers. It was still tasty, just not quite as good as the first day.

Here's a link to the original recipe: Apple Cider Pudding Cake.

Enjoy!