Maple Bourbon Apple Gooey Butter Cake - addiction alert!

Addiction alert! I love this combination of flavors, I love baking with bourbon and any baked good with fruit in it qualifies as a breakfast item in my book. If you indulge in this with a cup of coffee - morning or afternoon - it will definitely pick you up off the floor and keep you in the fast lane. The title of the recipe tells you everything you need to know. Apart from the apples, this is not one of my normal healthy recipes. It's loaded with butter and sugar. It is decadent. But life is short and every season needs a dash of decadence. It IS loaded with local ingredients such as bourbon from Hewn Spirits, itself made from Castle Valley Mill grains. This cake is made in a small soup pot or medium sauce pan and I like stirring the ingredients together with a whisk - no stand mixers needed for this one. It is super easy to make and should be made slightly in advance or the day before to let the bourbon flavor properly mingle with the maple and apple flavors. If you have pecans in the fridge you wouldn't be wrong to add them.

Did you know that Pennsylvania produces our own maple syrup? While Canada and Vermont are way ahead of our production, PA produces plenty for us to enjoy. If you are a label reader it's not too hard to find pure Pennsylvania maple syrup, even in a grocery store. But let me stop talking now because you really need to go make this cake. Enjoy!

For the cake:

¾ cup butter (can be either salted or unsalted)

2 large apples, diced (DO NOT peel)

1 ½ cups packed brown sugar

½ cup pure Pennsylvania maple syrup

1 tablespoon Hewn bourbon

2 large Hershberger Heritage Farm eggs at room temperature

2 cups Castle Valley Mill bolted hard wheat

1 teaspoon baking powder

¼ teaspoon baking soda

½ teaspoon kosher salt

Cooking spray, tin foil

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line a 9x13 baking pan with tin foil, enough to go over the edges of the pan and spray with cooking spray. In a medium/large saucepan or small soup pot, melt 2 tablespoons of butter over medium heat and add diced apples. Cook for about 10 minutes or until tender, be sure to stir gently to not break up the apples. Remove from pot and set aside. Melt remaining butter in the same pan/pot over low heat. Remove pot from heat. Add sugar and maple syrup and stir with a whisk until combined and smooth. Gently whisk in bourbon and then the eggs until well combined. Whisk in the flour, powder, soda and salt. Stir in the cooked apples. Pour batter into the baking dish and spread evenly. Bake for 30 minutes or until evenly puffed and browned. Allow to cool completely in the pan before icing and cutting. The bourbon flavor develops over the course of a few hours so these are best made slightly ahead and allowed to sit for a few hours - or even overnight.

Option: You would not be wrong to add ½ cup of chopped pecans to the apples when you cook them in the butter or to garnish the iced cake with pecan halves.

For the icing:

2 ½ cups powdered sugar

2 tablespoons Hewn bourbon

2 tablespoons melted butter

¼ cup pure Pennsylvania maple syrup

In a small bowl stir ingredients together. Use the tin foil edges to lift the cooled cake out of the pan and spread icing evenly. Allow to set for about 15 minutes before slicing. Finely chopped pecans can also be added to the icing OR pecan halves can be used to garnish each slice of cake. Enjoy!

cake.

#fruit #apples #maple #dessert #bourbon #cake