Apple Spice Cake with Brown Sugar Glaze

The smell of this cake baking in the oven was AMAZING!  My entire house smelled like apples and cinnamon and all of the different spices.  This is a great recipe for Fall.  It made me want to carve a pumpkin or go for a hay ride!

INGREDIENTS:

Cake
3 cups all purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
3/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1/4 teaspoon ground cloves
1/4 teaspoon ground allspice
1 3/4 pounds Granny Smith apples, peeled, cored, coursely grated (2 cups grated)
1 1/2 cups (3 sticks) unsalted butter, room temperature
1 1/2 cups sugar
1/2 cup brown sugar
3 large eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 teaspoon fresh lemon juice
1 teaspoon grated lemon peel

Glaze
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/4 cup (1/2 stick) unsalted butter
1/4 cup heavy whipping cream
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/2 teaspoon fresh lemon juice
1/4 teaspoon salt

DIRECTIONS:

Preheat the oven to 325 degrees and place rack in the center.  Spray a Bundt pan with with nonstick cooking spray.  Sift flour, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, nutmeg, cloves, and allspice into a medium bowl.  Drain grated apples to remove excess moisture.

Beat butter, both sugars, and lemon peel in a large bowl until fluffy.  Beat in eggs one at a time.  Mix in vanilla and lemon juice.  Beat in flour mixture.  Mix in grated apples and transfer mixture to pan.  Bake the cake until tester inserted near center comes out clean, about 1 hour.  Cool on a wire rack for 20 minutes. 

While cake is cooling, prepare glaze.  Stir sugar, butter, cream, vanilla, lemon juice and salt in a nonstick skillet over medium-high heat.  Cook stiring frequently until sugar disolves and mixture is boiling.  Reduce heat to medium and whisk until glaze is smooth, about 1 minute.  Remove from heat. 

Invert cake onto a rack over a baking sheet.  Using a small skewer, pierce holes all over top of warm cake.  Pour hot glaze over top, allowing it to absorb before adding more.  Cool cake for 30 more minutes.  Serve warm or at room temperature.

Heavenly Cheesecake

This rich and creamy New York style cheesecake was undoubtedly triumphant!  Now, I will admit,  I poured my heart and soul  into this cheesecake (I also accidentally poured half a very large bottle of vanilla extract all over my kitchen...but thats another story).  Well, it all paid off in the end.
     One word of advice though...dont rush the cooling process! After 5 hours in the refrigerator my husband (fairly easily) convinced me to remove the cake from the spring form pan and give it a try.  While it was certainly tasty, it definitely was not fully set.  So the lesson for the day is: Good things come to those who wait!

INGREDIENTS:

Crust

• 2 packages Graham crackers
• 2 tbsp sugar
• 5 tbsp unsalted butter

Filling

• 2 pounds cream cheese, softened
• 1 1/3 cup granulated sugar
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 2 tsp vanilla
• 4 large eggs
• 2/3 cup sour cream
• 2/3 cup heavy cream

DIRECTIONS:
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees and place the oven rack in the bottom third of oven.  Gently wrap the bottom of a 9 inch spring form pan with two layers of heavy duty, 18 inch aluminum foil.  Be very careful when wrapping the pan not to tear any holes in the foil.  Gently crimp the foil around the outer edge of the pan. 

Use a food processor to grind the Graham crackers into course crumbs.  Put in a bowl and stir in sugar and salt.  Stir in the melted butter.  Make a crust in the spring form pan by firmly pressing cracker crumbs evenly throughout bottom of pan only. Bake in oven for 10 minutes.  Remove crust and let cool.  Reduce oven heat to 325 degrees.

Cut the cream cheese into several pieces and place in large bowl.  Use an electric mixture to mix on medium setting for 4 minutes.  Add the sugar and beat for 4 more minutes.  Add the salt and vanilla and beat until combines.  Add each egg one at a time and beat mixture for 1 minute after each addition.  Add the sour cream, beat until combined.  Add the heavy cream, beat until combined.

Place the spring form pan into a high sided roasting pan. Boil two quarts of water.  Pour creamy mixture over the crust.  Smooth top with a spatula. Set in oven on lower rack and fill with boiling water until 1/2 way up side of  spring form pan.  Bake for 1 1/2 hours.

Turn oven off and crack the oven door about 1 inch.  Allow cake to cool in oven for about 1 hour.  This will prevent the top of the cheesecake from cracking.  Take cheesecake out of oven and allow to cool completely.  Cover with aluminum foil and refrigerate over night.

Remove the cake from the refrigerator and take off the aluminum foil.  Run the blunt side of a knife around the edge of the pan to loose.  Remove the spring form pan and serve.