I REALLY wish I could post emojis, just bear with me here…I’d have 5 cheesy grin emojis posted! LOL My birthday just passed on Tuesday, October 25th, and I couldn’t just have a birthday and not share it with y’all! Don’t worry about my age, LOL, just focus on me being grateful to God for blessing me with another year of growth and an opportunity to complete His will for my life. Anyway, I wanted to make myself a special birthday cake that would tie into National Apple Month, hence the Crown Royal Apple Pecan Cake with Chai Spiced Buttercream Frosting.
If you haven’t figured it out by now I absolutely love cooking and baking with alcohol. The flavor alcohol imparts in foods is sometimes indescribable. I had a brand new bottle of Crown Royal Apple and I’d never forgive myself if I didn’t use at least the first shot in my birthday cake! I did a little research by scouring for apple cake recipes to decide how I wanted to approach this cake. I decided to go with Cookie Dough and Oven Mitt’s recipe that used grated apples instead of diced apples. Oh, I used Honeycrisp apples because they are one of my favorite varieties to bake with! I adapted her recipe to use coconut oil because I do not like baking with vegetable oil for certain reasons that I will link here. I also love to bake with organic white whole wheat flour so I needed to adjust the proportions of the ingredients a little bit.
Background of Crown Royal Apple Pecan Cake
Now you guys know I have to add a little texture to this cake to round out all of the senses! Enter pecans, please. I needed some slight crunch to balance this intensely moist cake that has a super tender crumb. As you can see in the pictures I also decided to add chopped pecans to the sides of the cake for the same crunchiness factor. In all honesty, I wasn’t planning on decorating the cake that way, but I ran out of frosting to do a design and I was too lazy to make more frosting so pecans saved the day! LOL And you guys don’t even want to know about my butter story! SMH I had to end up making frosting twice because I ran out of butter when I was making the first batch for the crumb coat. So I had to take a trip to Sam’s and purchase more butter to be able to finish frosting the cake. I go through butter so fast because I’m constantly using it in orders for my online bakery or for cooking meals.
I baked the cake the day before my birthday and didn’t finish frosting the cake until the day after my birthday. So I never actually had the birthday song and candles on my birthday. Oh well! I’m sure I’ll still get my birthday wish. 😉 LOL The reason I couldn’t finish the cake on my birthday was because my cousin was sweet enough to take me out to dinner to one of my favorite restaurants, Cajun Kitchen! If you are ever in Houston near Chinatown (it’s off of Wilcrest and Bellaire) you should totally check it out. They have some of the BEST Viet-Cajun boiled seafood I have ever had in my life! I’ve been to quite a few seafood boil restaurants and they beat them all. From the fried seafood baskets, to the numerous flavored wings, to the turkey necks (OMG those things will have you in disbelief at how much flavor they possess), to the fried rice, you really can’t go wrong with anything on their menu. I honestly need to write a full review on them for you guys.
Back to this cake! If you love carrot cake you will love this cake because the texture is very similar. There’s a good dose of Crown Royal Apple in the cake and in the frosting! I went with a chai spiced buttercream because, in the past, I have had apple Masala chai that knocked my socks off! Masala chai is an Indian version of black tea that is heavily spiced with spices like cinnamon, cardamom, ginger, clove, peppercorn, nutmeg, star anise, etc. I had a strong feeling that adding chai spices to the buttercream frosting would perfectly complement the apples in the cake and I was correct! Now, if you don’t like a lot of strong chai flavor I suggest altering my proportions to fit your taste buds. The spices are like perked up pumpkin spice so you can already imagine how great it tasted in the buttercream frosting. I can guarantee that if you bring this Crown Royal Apple cake to the next family or friend shindig you will be everyone’s favorite and I’m sure they will hook you up with an extra to-go plate!
I am going to go ahead and shut up now because I think I’ve enticed you guys enough to go and get in that kitchen and bake this cake for your family…or for yourself. Eat the whole cake, Hun, nobody’s judging! 😉 Do you plan on giving this recipe a try for the holidays or for your next birthday? Let me know down below in the comment section or on social media by following me at these accounts: : Bloglovin’,Facebook , Instagram , Twitter and Snapchat (@merci_britte) to stay up-to-date. Also please subscribe to my YouTube channel because I will be adding more recipe and chat videos soon! Don’t forget to share this recipe by using the share buttons at the side, top, and bottom of this post!
Items I used for this recipe:
- 2 cups grated apples
- 1 cup organic evaporated cane juice
- 1 cup organic brown sugar packed
- 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- 1/4 teaspoon freshly ground nutmeg
- 1/2 teaspoon ground cardamom
- 1 1/4 cups organic coconut oil
- 4 organic brown eggs
- 4 tablespoons Crown Royal Apple
- 3 3/4 cups minus 3 tablespoons organic whole white wheat flour
- 2 teaspoons baking soda
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 3/4 cup chopped pecans
- 4 sticks softened butter
- 9 cups organic powdered sugar
- 1 ounce + 2 teaspoons Crown Royal Apple
- 1/2 teaspoon ground cloves
- 1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
- 1/2 teaspoon ground cardamom
- 1/4 teaspoon freshly ground nutmeg
- 1 1/4 teaspoons ground cinnamon
- 3 pinches ground black pepper
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Cake: Preheat oven to 350° F. Spray 2 9-inch round pans with non-stick baking spray.
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Grate about 6 or 7 apples, or enough to reach 2 cups of grated apples. Do not drain off the liquid.
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In a stand mixer bowl, mix on low speed the evaporated cane juice, brown sugar, cinnamon, nutmeg, and cardamom until combined.
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Add in the coconut oil and mix on medium speed until combined and slightly creamy.
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Next, add in the Crown Royal Apple and mix on low speed to combine. Add one egg at a time, mixing on low speed until each egg is fully combined in the mixture.
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Slowly add in the flour, baking soda, baking powder, and salt. Mix on low speed until it’s combined.
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Next, add in the grated apples and chopped pecans and mix on low speed just until it’s combined. Do not overmix. Allow the whole wheat flour to sit at least 10 minutes to hydrate before baking.
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Divide the batter evenly between the 2 pans. Place the pans in the preheated oven and bake for 28-30 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the center of the cake comes out with slightly moist crumbs or clean.
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Remove the cakes from the oven and allow the cakes to cool in the pan for 5 minutes, then invert the cakes onto a cooling rack to cool completely. Frosting:
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In a stand mixer bowl, add in the softened butter and mix on low speed until it’s creamy.
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Next, alternate the powdered sugar one cup at a time and the Crown Royal Apple until it’s thoroughly combined.
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Next, add in all of the spices and mix on medium speed until it’s all incorporated evenly.
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Cut your 2 cakes in half vertically (torte) and begin to layer your cake with the frosting. Start with a layer of cake, then a layer of frosting, then a layer of cake, and so on. You can crumb coat the cake if desired and refrigerate for 20 minutes, then proceed to ice the cake, or you can go ahead and ice the cake completely.
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After the cake has been iced, gently press the chopped pecans into the sides of the cake. Cut and serve.
Note: If you do not have organic evaporated cane juice just use regular granulated sugar. If you don’t have organic white whole wheat flour just use 3 ¾ cups of all-purpose flour.
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