Ok, so it’s been almost a year since I have updated my blog… hopefully *some* of you are still out there! It’s been a crazy year for us… full of good, bad, and in between, but always busy!

I thought it would be appropriate to start back up here with a holiday treat I made tonight. Several weeks back, a friend from eGullet gave me a recipe for Cranberry Swirl Coffee Cake, which has been a hit the (several) times I have made it since. Today, after reading a request from another eGulletteer for a spiced apple “bread” made with those weird, bright green or red spiced apple rings you buy in a jar at the grocery store, I remembered a cake that someone in Memphis used to make with those apple things. So… I decided to adapt Merstar’s recipe to make what I have renamed Spiced Apple Swirl Cake! To be fair, I couldn’t find those bizarre apple rings at my local Kroger, so I bought a can of apple pie filling (shhh, don’t tell!) and doused it with green food coloring to make it look “authentic.”

I might add that in order to revert to Mer’s cranberry coffee cake, you need only substitute vanilla extract for the rum extract and 1 cup fresh cranberry sauce for the apples, then omit the spices. I was pressed for time, so I just bought apple pie filling; you could easily make your own, or try using the red or green apple rings (smooshed up.) I would highly recommend that you choose EITHER red OR green, however… mixing them together will net you something that will look like your cake is sporting a center of brain matter.

Either variation (except, perhaps, for the brain variation) is suitable for dessert, snack table for a meet-n-greet meeting, or even breakfast. Enjoy… and happy holidays!

Here’s the recipe…

• 1 stick salted butter (8 tbsp.), softened
• 1 cup sugar
• 2 eggs
• 2 tsp. rum extract
• 2 cups all purpose flour
• 1 tsp. baking powder
• 1 tsp. baking soda
• 1/4 tsp. ground ginger
• 1/2 tsp. ground cloves
• 1 tsp. cinnamon
• 1/2 tsp. kosher salt
• 1 cup sour cream
• 1 1/2 cups apple pie filling (bizarre coloring optional)

Preheat oven to 350°F. (I reduced it to 325°F since my bundt pan is dark in color, as specified in the original recipe.)

Cream butter & sugar until light & fluffy. Add the eggs, one at a time, then the rum extract, continuing to mix until well combined.

Sift flour, baking soda, baking powder, salt, and spices together. Add to butter mixture alternately with the sour cream, mixing until just combined. Spread evenly in greased (or nonstick) bundt pan. (I’ve also made this in an angel food pan, in a pinch.)

Spread apple pie filling around the top of the batter, then swirl with a fork to mix throughout the center of the batter. Alternately, you can spread 1/2 the batter, top with the apple pie filling, the finish with the remaining batter… this was also in the original recipe, but I found that there was too little to make it work right, so I just swirl it in with a fork. As you can see in the picture, it still winds up in the center of the cake!

Bake the cake for 50-55 minutes, until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean. Cool for a few minutes in the pan, then invert onto a serving platter. Cool a bit before slicing.