Caramel Apple Spice Cake with Mexican Hot Chocolate Buttercream

This cake was born out of a dream that I had. A dream about a cake. I don’t remember anything else about that dream, but I woke up thinking about this cake. I thought about this cake for days until I finally broke down and set out to make the literal cake of my dreams.

To say this cake is rich is an understatement. One of the greatest parts is the caramel from the apple filling seeping into the surrounding cake layers. The base of the cake is a pretty standard apple spice cake. The apple filling is based around my Gran’s summer apples recipe (the apples on their own are amazing with a porkchop and some bitter greens) that I grew up having as the most dessert-y side dish imaginable. The buttercream is based around an American quick buttercream. You can add more chocolate to the frosting if you want a deeper chocolate flavor, but I prefer the mix.

To make the cake in one swoop, make it in this order. Start with the cake and once it’s out and cooling, cook the apples. Put the apples in the fridge to set a little and make the buttercream. By the time you’re done with the buttercream, your cake should be cooled and ready to assemble.

The Cake

Ingredients:

Instructions:

1. Pre-heat the oven to 350 Degrees. Line the bottoms of 2 9-inch cake pans with parchment cut to size and grease the sides of the pan if necessary. Set aside.
2. Peel, core, and chop the apples into small ¼ inch pieces. Set aside.
3. In the bowl of a stand mixer, whisk together flour, sugar, brown sugar, baking soda, cinnamon, nutmeg, and salt until combined. 
4. Turn the mixer on low speed and add eggs, vegetable oil, applesauce, and vanilla. Mix on low until smooth. Scrape the bowl as needed to incorporate. 
5. Remove the bowl from the mixer and fold in the diced apples until well incorporated into the cake base.
6. Split the batter evenly between the two prepared 9-inch pans.
7. Bake on the middle rack position for 35 minutes and begin checking for doneness. This is a very moist cake, so you should be looking for a toothpick to come out mostly clean – though it may have a little piece of something on it. You should also be able to hear the cake bubble if you are a cake listener (yes, it’s a thing). 
8. When done, remove the cakes from the oven and allow to come down in temperature in the pans before removing. About 15 minutes.
9. Clear the edges of the pans with a butter knife and turn the cakes out onto cooling racks. You want to cool the entire cake before assembling. At least 1 hour.

The Filling

Ingredients:

Instructions:

1. Peel, core, and chop the apples into small ¼ inch pieces.
2. Add the apple, butter, sugar, cinnamon, and salt to a large pan. Heat the pan over medium-high heat, stirring occasionally, until the mixture begins to bubble. Reduce head to medium-low.
3. In a small bowl, combine water and cornstarch, and whisk into a slurry with a fork. Pour this over the apple mixture.
4. Stir mixture to incorporate slurry into the apples and simmer on low for 5-10 minutes, stirring occasionally, just until the apples are soft. 
5. Transfer the apples and juices to an airtight container and refrigerate for at least 30 minutes to cool and set. Apples can be made ahead and will store in the refrigerator for up to 1 week. Any leftovers from the cake make a delicious oatmeal stir-in.

The Frosting:

Ingredients:

1-½ Cups (3 Sticks) Unsalted Butter, soft (room-temp softened)

4.5 Cups Powdered Sugar

5 Tbsp Unsweetened Cacao Powder (Like Trader Joe’s)

1 Tbsp Vanilla Extract

¼ Tsp Crushed Sea Salt

2 Tsp Ground Cinnamon

¼ Tsp Ground Cayenne

2 Tbsp Heavy Whipping Cream (room-temp)

Instructions:

1. In the bowl of a stand mixer, beat the softened butter on high until smooth – 30s to a minute
2. Lower the speed of the mixer and slowly add the powdered sugar in batches, gradually increasing the speed of the mixer to fully incorporate a batch before dropping it again to add more sugar. Scrape the bowl once all sugar is incorporated and then beat on high for 1 minute.
3. Lower the speed of the mixer to medium-low and add the cacao, cinnamon, and cayenne. Beat until smooth. At this point you can taste and add more of any of the spices to adjust. If the frosting tastes too bitter from the cacao, add a tablespoon of powdered sugar to adjust.
4. Add Vanilla and Salt to mixture, beat on medium until smooth and incorporated (about 30 seconds).
5. Add Heavy Cream and beat on medium for 30 seconds before increasing speed to high and beating for 3 minutes. Scrape down the bowl and beat on high for an additional 2 minutes. 
6. Frosting can be used immediately or stored in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to 2 weeks – just make sure to let the frosting come to room temperature before using. You can speed this process up by putting in the microwave for 30 seconds and stirring.  

Assembling the Cake

You’ll Need:

1. Something to put your cake on – a cake stand, a plate, a cakeboard, anything will do
2. Piping bags and a large fluted tip – or a ziplock with the corner snipped off in a pinch.

Assembly:

1. Before starting assembly, ensure your cake has fully cooled to the touch. If you have cooled the frosting or apple mixture, bring these up to room temperature before starting assembly.
2. Place a small dollop of frosting on the bottom of whatever you will be using for the cake base and place one of the cake rounds onto the base. 
3. Place the large fluted tip into the piping bag and fill with some of the chocolate buttercream. Make a buttercream dam around the outside edge of the cake. This will be used to hold the apple filling inside. You want the dam to be about ½ of an inch tall and about ¾ of an inch thick.
4. Fill the well within the dam with the apple filling until the filling reaches the top edge of the dam. Save any leftovers you have.
5. Layer the second cake round on top to the apples and icing dam, rounded top up.
6. Ice the cake with the buttercream – use an angled spatula to flatten the outer rim of the central icing dam and fill in any gaps with more buttercream. Then, Start from the top of the cake and work the icing around and down the sides of the cake. Scraping and smoothing the spatula as you go.
7. Decorate as desired to cover any imperfections. 
8. The frosting for this cake is an American Style Quick Buttercream, so it may crust when exposed to air. This is perfectly normal. You can prevent some of this by storing the cake in a cake preserver.