Using up leftovers is a mitzvah (good deed) in this house. I hate to see food go to waste. So I felt good as I set out to make a glazed apple cider loaf cake with dried apple slices I had received as a gift, leftover apple cider I bought for recent party, and walnuts from an impulse purchase gigantic bag that seemed never-ending (Costco, you will be my downfall).
At first, I planned to throw those ingredients into a pan with flour and eggs, add vanilla, and call it a day. But then I found an Ina Garten lemon cake recipe. That started me down a garden path…
No step was difficult and each one led inexorably to the next. My original plan had not included a cider syrup to moisten the cake after baking and a glaze to finish it off. No matter. When we cut into this glazed apple cider loaf cake, I was awed. It was moist, subtly flavored, and not overly sweet. By the end of the first piece, I knew I wouldn’t be able to resist. Two of us polished off the entire loaf in record time.
Tips for making Apple Cider Loaf Cake
- Use dried apples, not fresh. The ratio of liquid to solids assumes that the apples are dried. Plus, the dried ones have a concentrated “appley” taste.
- Make sure the butter is room temperature. Then, cream the butter and sugar well. Advice from someone who should know better: take the butter out of the refrigerator and let it come to room temperature on the counter. Using a microwave to speed up the process, even at a low setting,is a chancy proposition. All too often, it turns the butter into glop or a melted mess. The combination of room temperature butter, creamed with sugar gives the cake its airy texture and helps it to rise. (Eggs for baking should always be at room temperature. If you take them straight from the refrigerator, put the eggs in a bowl of warm water for several minutes. Leave them there until the outside of the eggs feel warm.)
- Follow the directions for alternating dry and wet ingredients – don’t take a short-cut and dump them in all at once.
- Use parchment paper to form a cradle for lifting out the cake from the pan. The overhang on the longer sides of the pan become handles. Use them to lift the cake out of the pan. That way, you don’t turn it upside down and pieces do not stick to the bottom.
- If the top of the cake browns before the inside is fully baked, lightly cover it with foil. That prevents the top from burning as it bakes.
- Add the cider syrup while the cake is still warm. Then, wait until it cools before adding the glaze. The syrup needs warmth to sink into the cake. However, if you add glaze before you fully cool the cake, the glaze will melt. That doesn’t look pretty.
An incredibly moist and delicately flavored loaf cake, perfect for brunch, holiday parties, and snacks.
| Prep Time | 30 minutes |
| Cook Time | 60 minutes |
| Servings |
Ingredients
Cake
- 1 1/2 cups all purpose flour
- 1/4 teaspoon baking powder
- 1/4 teaspoon baking soda
- 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
- 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
- 1/2 cup apple cider heated
- 3/4 cup tightly packed dried apple cut into bits (1 ounce)
- 1/2 teaspoon vanilla
- 1/4 cup yogurt (2.5 ounces)
- 1 stick unsalted butter at room temperature
- 1 cup sugar
- 2 large eggs at room temperature
- 1/2 cup lightly tasted chopped walnuts
Syrup
- 2 tablespoons sugar
- 2 tablespoons apple cider heated
Glaze
- 1/2 cup confectioners sugar
- 2 teaspoons apple cider
- pinch of grated fresh or ground nutmeg
Ingredients Cake
Syrup
Glaze
| |
Instructions
- Pre-heat the oven to 350 degrees F.
- Oil or butter a loaf pan, dust it with flour, and then insert a piece of parchment overhanging the longer sides.
- Whisk the flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, and cinnamon together in a small bowl and set them aside.
- Combine the heated apple cider and the bits of dried apple and set them aside, so that the dried apple soaks up some of the cider while you are working with the butter and sugar.
- Mix the yogurt and vanilla in a medium-sized bowl or two-cup measuring cup and set them aside.
- Cream the butter and sugar together with a hand or stand mixer for about five minutes, starting at low speed and going up to medium-high speed. They should be light yellow and fluffy when you're done.
- With the mixer at low speed, add the eggs one at a time to the creamed butter and sugar mixture.
- Strain the apple bits out of the apple cider and add the cider to the yogurt and vanilla.
- Add the dry mixture and the yogurt/cider/vanilla mixture alternately to the butter/sugar/egg mixture, mixing or folding them in only until they are combined. Begin and end the additions with the dry ingredients. Once those three mixtures are fully combined, add in the cider-soaked apple bits and the chopped walnuts.
- Spoon the batter into the loaf pan, smooth out the top, and bake it for 45 minutes to one hour, until the top has risen and a toothpick inserted in the middle comes out clean.
- Let the baked cake sit in the pan for 10 minutes, then gently lift it out, using the parchment "handles." Place the cake on a wire rack, platter, or baking sheet, with the parchment remaining below. (Without the pan as structure, the parchment falls down and the cake sits on it.)
- Heat the two tablespoons of cider and add the sugar, mix them to form a syrup, and spoon it over the cake a few teaspoons at a time. Let the syrup soak into the cake. It won't be totally even, but do try to move along the length of the cake while spooning the syrup over it.
- Leave the cake (with the parchment underneath) to fully cool. Once it is totally cool, add the two teaspoons of apple cider and the nutmeg to the confectioners sugar, mix it up to form a glaze, and drizzle it over the top of the cooled cake. Wait until the glaze is set before slicing the cake.
Recipe Notes
Although the pan is parchment-lined, it needs to be oiled and floured because the parchment does not go up the short sides of the pan.
If the top begins to brown before the cake is finished baking, place a piece of aluminum foil loosely over the top to prevent the top from burning.
Share this Recipe
Kristen @ A Mind Full Mom says
Laura, I am with you–I hate to leave anything go to waste! This apple loaf is a great recipe that no one would suspect is made with leftovers!
Laura says
Kristen, I am pleased when a recipe uses leftovers but comes out looking (and tasting) so good. Thanks for stopping by.
Sherri @ Watch Learn Eat says
This looks delicious! I love the idea of adding dried apple slices! The gift led to a great recipe!
Laura says
Thanks Sherri. I do smile now when I think of how long I had those apple slices in the pantry with no idea how I was going to use them. Luckily I finally did figure it out:)
Karla says
I have one word to say after seeing all your gorgeous photos: DROOL!
I am the baker in the family and take a lot of pleasure in recreating traditional recipes.
Love this one and we’ll try to do it. Yum yum 🙂
Laura says
Karla, You are so sweet – and I must say (after eating another piece of this cake that I had frozen from the second loaf I made for these photos) that it’s definitely a keeper.
Terri Smith says
Recipe definitely needs additional work. Red flag should have been the 1/2 cup of “lightly tasted walnuts.” Typos not withstanding, the real problem is that true bakers would work with weights, not volume. Specifically, I’m referring to the 3/4 cup dried apples. Here we are actually given a weight of 1 oz. This is bogus. The bag of dry apples weighed in at 2.8 oz. or 80 grams and the manufacturer indicated that this would be 1/2 cup. I used them all and, yes, I weighed them at 2.8 oz. Also, it is helpful to indicate the measurements of a loaf pan instead of calling for just “a loaf pan.” They come in many different sizes. Also, why not just line the whole loaf pan with parchment? I truly wish more time had been taken perfecting this recipe as it has potential.
Laura says
Terri, I do try to use weights not measurements now, but I haven’t gone back to older recipes yet to update them with that information. And yes, loaf pans come in many sizes, so in the ideal world, when I get back to this recipe, I’ll add that information too.