Honey Apple Bundt Cake

Producers:

Hawksview Honey (honey)
Howling Hound Farms (eggs)
Meleg’s Orchard (apples)

Ingredients:

• 1 cup chopped pecans divided
• 2 cups sugar
• 1 cup vegetable oil
• ¼ cup Hawksview honey
• 3 large local eggs from Howling Hound
• 3 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon Chalice Spices’ ground cinnamon
• ¼ teaspoon Chalice Spices’ ground nutmeg
• 1 teaspoon vanilla
• 3 cups Honeycrisp apples peeled & chopped from Meleg’s Orchard

Honey Caramel Sauce

• 1 cup light brown sugar
• ½ cup local butter
• ¼ cup Hawksview honey
• ¼ cup heavy cream or half and half

Making Honey Apple Bundt Cake

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Butter a 12- cup bundt pan {or spray liberally with non-stick cooking spray} and sprinkle bottom of pan with ¼ cup of chopped pecans.
2. In a medium bowl, beat sugar, oil and honey until combined. {Note: This batter is going to be thick so a hand mixer or stand mixer is the best bet here.}
3. Add eggs one at a time, making sure each is well incorporated after each addition.
4. In a large bowl, combine flour, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, and nutmeg. Gradually add to wet mixture until just incorporated. Like I said, it’s a super-thick batter, so make sure there are no pockets of flour hiding, but also try not to overmix.
5. Fold in vanilla, remaining ¾ cup chopped pecans and chopped apples — this part can be done by hand, but it’ll take some muscle!
6. Spoon mixture evenly over pecans in pan. Bake at 350° for 65-75 minutes. Note: This cake browns very quickly due to the high sugar content. If you notice that it’s looking like it might burn, loosely place a piece of foil on top to prevent over-browning.
7. Remove from oven and allow to cool for about 20-30 minutes before inverting onto a wire rack to remove from pan. When the cake is slightly cooled, pour ½ cup honey sauce over top.
8. Serve the remaining honey sauce with each slice of cake.

For sauce:

1. Bring sugar, butter and honey to a boil in a medium saucepan over medium-high heat, stirring constantly for about 3-4 minutes.
2. Remove from heat and carefully add cream {it will bubble quite a bit}, and stir until the mixture looks uniform and is slightly thickened. {For a thicker sauce, allow to cool before drizzling.}
3. Place the cooled cake on a cooling rack on top of a baking pan. Drizzle some of the sauce over bundt cake. Allow to set slightly before transferring cake to a serving dish or cake plate.

Variations:

• Swap pecans for walnuts.
• Try different types of apples such as Granny Smith, Fuji or Golden Delicious.
• Switch up the spices! Try adding a bit of ground cloves, allspice or cardamom for a different flavor.
• Don’t feel like making caramel? Try serving the cake with a sprinkle of powdered sugar instead.
• For Gluten Free Version: Try using cup-for-cup gluten free flour blend. (Note: I have not tried this specifically for this recipe, but I imagine it should work fairly well.)
• For Dairy-Free Version: This recipe is naturally dairy-free when served without the caramel sauce. You can also try making the caramel sauce with dairy-free creamer, coconut milk or serve with store-bought dairy free caramel.
• For Nut-free Version: Omit the pecans for a completely nut-free version.