A tender and delicious cake that has the subtle taste of an apple cider donut, complete with cinnamon sugar on top!
Peel, core, and chop your apples. Combine with apple cider in a saucepan. Bring to a boil, then simmer over medium heat for 10-12 minutes, until apples are tender. The mixture will foam up when it boils. Cool for 5 minutes, then puree, preferably with an immersion blender, although a blender or food processor will do. (This process took me about 35 minutes, from starting chopping, to pureeing. Your puree will be liquidy.)
Combine 1 cup (about 236 grams) of apple mixture with milk; this allows the milk to curdle, like buttermilk. (I had about ⅔ cup of apple puree left. Eat later with oatmeal or in smoothies, or simply drink it as apple cider.)
Combine flour, baking powder and soda, salt, and nutmeg in a mixing bowl. Set aside.
Cream butter with sugar and brown sugar in stand mixer on medium speed using the paddle attachment for 3 minutes, until light and fluffy. Add eggs, one by one. Add oil and vanilla, and mix for another minute, until well incorporated.
Alternate adding the flour and apple mixtures in batches, beginning and ending with the flour mixture. Scrape the bottom of the mixer bowl to make sure butter and sugar isn’t stuck there (like it was in mine). Mix for 10 more seconds to make sure everything is airy and light.
Cool cake in the pan for 10 minutes, then invert onto cake platter. I had a piece stick to my cake pan the first time I made it, so be sure you’ve greased it really well.
Combine sugar, cinnamon, nutmeg, and salt. Coat cake with cinnamon sugar. I sprayed my cake gently with oil, section by section, to help the cinnamon sugar stick. This is optional; cinnamon sugar will stick well on top without oil. Cool completely (or at least 45 minutes, as I did) before cutting.
The apple flavor in this cake is mild, although certainly there. You can try reducing the cider more for additional flavor. Choose the most flavorful apples you can find. I peeled mine for this, as I didn't want the texture of the peel in this cake, but you can try leaving the peels on if desired.
Use freshly grated nutmeg if at all possible. Its flavor is much better than preground nutmeg.
Mixing the batter for this long beats a lot of air into the batter and makes the cake incredibly fluffy.
The high butter and oil content in this cake makes it very tender.
adapted from Serious Eats