Cooking the apples in the cider, essentially making your own applesauce, may seem fussy, however you’ll be rewarded with a sweetly texture apple cake with a distinctive punch from the cider. Topping it off with a cinnamon sugar sprinkle makes this like an apple cider donut in breakfast bread form. Because of the extra step of cooking down the apples, I decided to skip the usual process of creaming the butter and sugar and using a stand mixer, and instead melt the butter directly in the pot with the apples, then continuing to make the rest of the cake in the same pot. The process could not be simpler.
Apple Cider Breakfast Bread
Cooking the apples in the cider, essentially making your own applesauce, may seem fussy, however you’ll be rewarded with a sweetly texture apple cake with a distinctive punch from the cider. Topping it off with a cinnamon sugar sprinkle makes this like an apple cider donut in breakfast bread form. Because of the extra step of cooking down the apples, I decided to skip the usual process of creaming the butter and sugar and using a stand mixer, and instead melt the butter directly in the pot with the apples, then continuing to make the rest of the cake in the same pot. The process could not be simpler.
Ingredients
For the apples:
- 1 cup apple cider
- 2 large apples, about 1 pound, such as Fuji or Honeycrisp, peeled and cut into cubes
- ½ cup dark brown sugar
- 2 cinnamon sticks, or use 1 teaspoon cinnamon
For the cake:
- 8 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted
- ¾ cup 150 grams sugar
- 2 large eggs, at room temperature
- ⅓ cup sour cream, or use whole milk plain yogurt
- 1 tablespoon pure vanilla extract
- 2 cups (240 grams) all purpose flour
- 1 ½ teaspoons baking powder
- ½ teaspoon baking soda
- ¼ teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg
- ½ teaspoon fine sea salt
For topping:
- 2 tablespoons sugar mixed with ½ teaspoon ground cinnamon
- 1 tablespoon melted butter
Instructions
- Butter a 9 x 5” loaf pan. Line the pan with parchment paper, then set it aside.
- Place the cider, apples, brown sugar, cinnamon and vanilla in a medium saucepan. Bring it to a simmer and cook for 20 minutes, until the apples become softened. Use a potato masher to break down the apples into the liquid. It should be the texture of chunky applesauce. If it is still too liquidy, continue to cook until more of the moisture has evaporated, then set it aside to cool while you make the batter.
- Preheat your oven to 350 F.
- Whisk the melted butter and sugar together in a mixing bowl. Add the eggs, then whisk in the sour cream and vanilla. Whisk in the flour, followed by the baking powder, baking soda and salt. Finally, stir in the apple mixture.
- Pour the batter into your prepared pan, then place in your preheated oven. Bake the apple bread for 60-70 minutes. It should pull just slightly away from the edged, and feel firm to the touch on the top. Let it cool in the pan on a rack for 10 minutes, then remove it from the pan and let it cool completely.
- Brush the melted butter on top of the cake, then sprinkle it with the cinnamon sugar mixture. The cake will keep, well wrapped, at room temperature for 2 days.
Tried this recipe?Let us know how it was!
