There was a mishap. A mishap we shall not speak of. There might have been screaming. And yelling. Tears even. Because I am serious about bundt cakes, and especially this one, made to celebrate the 1 year anniversary of Bundtamonth (theme: fancy!) and made as dessert for a dinner that night with guests. So anyway we will not speak of it, except to say that the fallout from the mishap led to lousy photos of a cake with a chunk missing (and kids’ stuff in the background, because the guests were going to arrive at any moment and precious time was wasted venting my anger):
But people, do not let the missing chunk and kinda sad photos dissuade you. This was an amazing cake.
It is not the fanciest cake ever, but I have lousy (read: shaky) hands and am not one to prioritize looks over taste anyway, so for my “fancy” choice I went looking to challenge myself with a bundt cake outside of the normal bundt box. The minute I saw this one, with its layers of streusel, I knew I had found my winner. I added apples; to be honest I was using my mom’s apple pie as my inspiration. As far as I am concerned, ultimately all apple desserts should remind me of her pie if they cannot actually be her pie. And streusel and sour cream really complement apples, just as in her pie.
So about this Mom’s Apple Pie Emulating Cake… People it was so good. The streusel stayed perfectly in its layers–part of me was certain it would sink all through the cake, but no the striations are perfectly visible and all streusel. I recommend using a flatter topped bundt pan, as opposed to, for example, pans like the fairy tale cottage (seen here, in this pink peppercorn bundt) which have skinny spires that would trap the streusel. This heart topped one worked perfectly. I also recommend (and have written the recipe to reflect this) using a buttermilk glaze. I was out of fresh buttermilk (sour buttermilk is fine for baking but not for eating straight), so I kind of winged it with milk, sour cream and lemon juice. But buttermilk is what I was going for.
- 1 cup white whole wheat flour
- 1 cup light brown sugar firmly packed
- 1/2 t ground allspice
- 1/2 t ground ginger
- 1/4 t ground nutmeg
- 5 t Vietnamese cinnamon
- 1/2 cup (1 stick) butter cold, cubed
- 1 cup pecans chopped
- 2/3 cup (152g) butter softened
- 2 cups sugar
- 2/3 cup sour cream
- 4 eggs
- 1 T vanilla
- 2 cups flour
- 1/4 t baking soda
- 1/2 t fine sea salt
- 1 t ground ginger
- 1 1/2 cups apple chunks 1 1/2 large apples (I used locally grown Gingergold)
- 3 T well shaken buttermilk
- 1-1 1/2 cups powdered sugar more sugar will result in a more opaque glaze, but it will also be much sweeter
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Preheat the oven to 325°F.
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Make the streusel: in a medium bowl whisk together the flour, brown sugar and spices. Using your fingers (my preference) or a pastry cutter, rub or cut the cold cubed butter into the flour mixture. When it resembles coarse crumbs, mix in the chopped pecans. Set aside.
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Grease and flour a bundt pan. I used 1 mini loaf pan and a 10 cup bundt pan. Be sure to choose a bundt pan with a relatively flat top for the streusel to spread out in. Set the prepared pan aside.
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Whisk together the flour, baking soda, salt and ground ginger. Set aside.
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Using an electric mixer, beat the butter until creamy. Scrape down the sides and bottom of the bowl. Add the sugar in 3 installments, while beating and scraping as needed. Then beat on medium high speed until light and fluffy.
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Beat in the eggs one at a time, beating to incorporate each one. Scrape the sides and bottom of the bowl as needed. Beat in the vanilla.
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With the mixer on the lowest speed, add the flour mixture and sour cream, in 3 and 2 additions respectively, alternating, and beginning and ending with the flour mixture. When there are just a few streaks of flour remaining, add the apple chunks and gently fold until all flour is incorporated.
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Sprinkle half of the streusel mixture into the bottom of the pan (or pans if you are also using mini pans). Scrape half of the cake batter over the streusel and spread it out evenly. Sprinkle the remaining streusel over this batter, and then scrape the rest of the batter over that streusel.
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Bake for about 50 minutes for a smaller bundt pan and 65 minutes for a larger. Either way, you will know when the cake is done because it will brown, pull away from the sides of the pan, and a cake tester inserted into the center will come out clean.
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Let cool for 10-15 minutes in the pan, before inverting onto a cooling rack.
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While the cake is cooling, whisk the buttermilk and powdered sugar together. When the cake is cool, drizzle the glaze over the cake. Let set and then slice.
Here’s how you can be a part of Bundt-a-Month:
- Simple rule: Bake us a fancy bundt
- Post it before September 30, 2013
- Use the #BundtaMonth hashtag in your title. (For ex: title could read – #BundtaMonth: Fancy Chocolate Bundt)
- Add your entry to the Linky tool below
- Link back to our announcement posts–and be sure to check out everyone else’s bundt cakes if you are looking for fancy inspiration:
- Banana-Caramel Bundt Cake by Felice at All That’s Left Are The Crumbs
- Caramel Latte Bundt Cake by Heather at Hezzi-D’s Books and Cooks
- Chocolate and Wine Bundt from Holly at A Baker’s House
- Cinnamon Chocolate Bundt Cake by Alice at Hip Foodie Mom
- Devil’s Food Bundt Cake with Caramel Glaze by Lora at Cake Duchess
- Lemon Frangipane Bundt Cake by Paula at Vintage Kitchen Notes
- Little Bundt Pound Cakes by Renee at Magnolia Days
- Oreo Stuffed Chocolate Bundt Cake by Anuradha at Baker Street
- Chocolate and Wine Bundt by Holly from A Baker’s House
- Red Velvet Chocolate Chip Bundt by Anita at Hungry Couple
- Rose Mini Bundt Cakes by Veronica at My Catholic Kitchen
- Simple Orange Bundt Cake by Kathya at Basic N Delicious
- Streusel Apple Bundt Cake by Laura at The Spiced Life
- Triple Chocolate Mini Bundts by Stacy at Food Lust People Love
- White Chocolate Bundt with White Chocolate Cream Cheese Frosting by Sandra at Sweet Sensations
Even more bundt fun! Follow Bundt-a-Month on Facebook where we feature all our gorgeous bundt cakes. Or head over to our Pinterest board for inspiration and choose from hundreds of Bundt cake recipes.
Looking for a collage to pin?
Love the shape, Laura! It’s really hard to pull of a streusel bundt but you did great! Here’s wishing you a happy anniversary too! Thank you for being a part of #bundtamonth! Cheers!
Your mom’s apple pie inspired cake looks absolutely scrumptious, Laura. I’m guessing the company you had for dinner were very happy with dessert =)
I hate it when accidents like that happen in times of stress..it’s never pleasant. But the bundt looks great anyway and with a chunk missing we got a good inside view of the layers!
This is wonderful! So sorry the impending arrival of guests prevented you from getting the pictures you wanted to get but this cake still looks wonderful. Love the streusel inside. Lovely!
You have me laughing as I read your post. I can only imagine the look on your face when you spotted the piece missing from the cake. I can see why though. It would be hard to let such a fantastic cake wait to be eaten.
I haven’t made streusel, i will give this a try soon.
Missing piece or not – this looks delicious!! I’d happily make another chunk of that disappear for you 😉
I have the trouble that cakes turn out wonderfully…unless company is due to arrive for dinner! Sorry to hear you had a mishap but the outcome looks and sounds delicious. I think an apple cake with streusel sounds great.
All I see is a beautiful streusel bundt cake that has me checking my cupboards to see if I have the ingredients to make it – note to self buy apples and make this ASAP. Since I know the story behind this I had to stop myself from laughing as the picture of how this all went down ran through my mind, but I shall not speak of it again 😉
What a great fall recipe. Apples and strudel are so yummy together!
I don’t know what the mishap was, Laura, but your cake is lovely with all its streusel layers. And that caramelized top! Cut my piece right off the top, please. I love the idea of an apple pie emulating cake. That’s what you should have called it! 🙂
Mishap? Was the mishap removing the cake from the pan or running out of time to take photos? Because it looks fabulous!! Seriosuly, this Streusel Apple Bundt Cake looks delicious!!!!! I am pinning this now!
That struesel looks incredible! Don’t worry about the missing piece…it happens to all of us. I often “glue” the missing piece back into the cake with royal icing…don’t tell anyone that though! 🙂
That looks moist and soft, I can just imagine the smell of it coming out of the oven
You know I never would have noticed any thing wrong with this gorgeous bundt, Laura. Inspired by your mom’s apple pie-now that is a cake I have got to try! The buttermilk and the streusel just tempting me so. Love this and so happy you’re a part of our group!
You really went all the way, adding apples! It is a hard task to have so much moisture in a bundt and you did an amazing job Laura! That streusel part looks so so so wonderful.
All I see is a cake that looks incredibly moist and with the streusel staying put. I can’t imagine that there was any left. If so, would you send me some?
as bundts go, i’m not sure any could ever top this idea. how delectable!
I think it looks very beautiful and the streusel layer looks amazing. Wonderful flavor combo, too!
Whatever happened to the cake, it still looks amazingly delicious. Love that gorgeous layer of the streusel. Definitely a winner in my book!
you honor me, honey. thank you and i want to eat this!
G’day! I think you did a terrific job Laura and Happy Anniversary!
Your photo has now inspired me!
Cheers! Joanne
Viewed as part of #bundtamonth
Mishap aside it’s a beauty – or is it that I love streusel so much that any bundt with streusel is beautiful in my eyes. Seriously, I love this post and the cake too.
Some things dont always look pretty that taste really lovely! Like Mushroom Soup? Always an unsightly grey color in pictures but wow, tastes amazing! 🙂
I waste precious time venting too *wink*