Apple Cider Honey Cake Recipe (2024)

Alcohol does NOT completely burn off: "A study conducted by the US Dept. of Agriculture’s Nutrient Data Lab calculated % of alcohol remaining in a dish. % of Alcohol Retained in baked or simmered dishes WITH ALCOHOL STIRRED INTO the mixture:
•15 mins = 40%; •30 mins = 35%; •1 hr = 25%; •1.5 hrs = 20%; •2 hrs = 10%; •2.5 hrs = 5%.
Some alcohol remaining could be of significant concern to recovering alcoholics, parents & others who have ethical or religious reasons for avoiding alcohol.

I would omit the "Cider" from the title of this recipe as it hardly even factors as an ingredient. I used a variety of windfall apples of varying sweetness and tartness and ended up with more than 3 cups of apple butter so technically no need of the cider. I followed the rest of the recipe to the letter and it came out perfectly. Dense, moist and earthy, closer to banana bread in crumb. If I make it again, I'll try Calvados (apple brandy) instead of the whiskey and add walnuts.

Made this cake two days ago. It was a total success. I only needed a few tablespoons of cider to equal the three cups of apple mixture. Used a hand whisk. Buttered the bundt pan very liberally with melted butter. Served the following day. Over night the cake became more dense and the flavors more complex. Everyone enjoyed it.

What's all the fuss about in the comments?! We followed the recipe exactly, except we cooked the apples for much longer to get them especially soft and refrigerated the butter overnight. This cake is awesome! It came out rich, soft, and moist, and everyone over for Rosh Hashanah loved it. Don't let the haters dissuade you!

I was also disappointed in this cake the first time I made it. The whiskey completely overwhelmed the other flavors--I couldn't taste the apple at all and it was too dense and almost gooey, even for a honey cake. But the granny smith apple butter was just too good to give up on so I remade it the next week without the booze, substituting a tsp of vanilla. I cut the honey down, replacing it with a bit of white sugar and apple cider and added flour to balance. The result was really good.

I used 2 cups of already prepared apple butter and a cup of boiled apple cider (from King Arthur) for the apple cider butter---saved a bit of time --also baked it in two loaf pans. It was delicious.

I'm interested in this question as well, because I am making this cake as part of a Halal meal and no alcohol can be used, even if it burns off. I am going to try a combination of coffee and vanilla.

This is not a tasty cake. I followed the recipe exactly. I needed very little apple cider to get 3 cups of the apple butter, and used buckwheat honey and olive oil. The cake texture was very light, almost pudding like, and not really appealing. Sadly, it also lacked flavor and sweetness. I won't make this again.

I baked this today. A slice of the cake is dense and very moist - not at all like a layer cake - in fact, it reminds me of a plum pudding in its moisture. It's delicious - but not what I usually expect when baking a cake. Is what I describe a successful apple cider honey cake?

Delicious - tender and moist, yet dense and buttery. I used a strongly-flavored honey, so it would stand up against the flavor of the apples. Definitely something to make again.

Recipe as written above has way too much liquid - I used half (1 1/2 c) of the apple cider butter, and 2 T of bourbon, added 1/2 c light brown sugar to the cake, as well as nutmeg and cardomom, and it resulted in a lovely, delicious, moist but not pudding-y cake. I also added a honey glaze (sugar, buttermilk, honey) on the top.

This cake has a delicious flavor, but like other commenters, I needed very little apple cider. Maybe 1/4 cup. But I don't think it detracted at all from the cake. The cake is quite moist, and I'd definitely weigh ingredients if you can. But mine was amazingly done within the baking time - I was dubious at first due to how liquidy it seemed. I made no changes to the recipe, and the balance of flavors is heavenly. We found that the whiskey accentuated the honey flavor nicely.

I was a little skeptical about this recipe after reading some comments. I agree I only had to use a little bit of apple cider to make the 3 cups of what was essentially apple sauce. I took a chance and used only about 2 cups of it when making the cake part and the consistency while dense was more cake like. I think that if i made this recipe again, I would also choose to use less whiskey or none at all.

Can this be made the day before serving?

I cooked it as written using the suggestion of oil instead of butter. It makes a very moist puddingy cake. I would make this again with the following changes. I would use butter instead of the oils. I would leave out the brown sugar in apple cider butter (I used 2 lbs of Arkansas Black apples and needed only about 1 tablespoon of cider to make the three cups). I used honey from my bees which is very floral and would have been sufficient sweetness for the cake. Served with creme fraiche.

I made this with GF flour and was very pleased with the results! Other than subbing GF flour for regular flour, I followed the recipe.

Can the whiskey be substituted with another liquid without altering the taste too much?

Absolutely delicious! Everyone asked for seconds. I increased the amount of apples to 2 1/2 pounds so that I wouldn’t have to add apple cider and mashed until chunky, added the alcohol to the cooking apples, and reduced the amount of honey to 1/2 cup. Will be making this again soon.

This beautiful cake is intended for Rosh Hashanah - the Jewish New Year-not Passover. Apples and honey for a sweet new year!

If you grease the bundt pan liberally with ghee, the cake glides out nice as you please. Been doing this for years; hasn’t failed me yet.

I added the cider to the first step to help with simmering 6 apples. Then when I puréed the mixture I scooped out the apples from most of the liquid. That was more than 3 cups as others pointed out. Folded this with the wet ingredients to the dry but didn’t add the reserved apple cider back in. The consistency looked like a thick batter so I left it there. Cooked for 50 minutes and the birthday boys were pleased with the result!

Fantastic recipe, worked perfectly as written. I did not need to use any apple cider for the 3 cups apple butter when using 5-6 medium apples. Note - don’t eat this cake within a few hours of baking it unless you want to get slapped in the face with the taste of whiskey. By the next morning the flavors had melded and this truly became an apple cake with a hint of whiskey instead of a whiskey cake with a hint of apple. Will be a regular cake in this house knowing my husband.

Agree with the comments about the cider....I used 2 lbs of apples and that came to 3 cups exactly. I would call it apple butter cake.

Super moist (and easy) with a big apple flavor! I skipped the 3/4 cup of brown sugar in the apple sauce for a couple of brown agave squirts, I also used a potato masher instead of blender, leaving tender apple chunks throughout cake. No Bundt on hand so I baked in a 9” springform for and hour. Gorgeous level cake.

I forgot to mention, I also skipped the whiskey. Added extra apple cider.

More than 3 cups of apple butter so technically no need of cider. Followed rest of recipe to the letter & it came out perfectly. Dense, moist, earthy, closer to banana bread in crumb. I'll try Calvados (apple brandy) instead of whiskey & add walnuts.

Well, I made a lot of changes to this recipe just because of the ingredients I had on hand. For the applesauce, I used homemade apple butter from last year‘s harvest, then I added some fresh chopped apples, and then instead of butter and sugar are used 2/3 of a cup of caramel sauce that I had made for a different dessert. I mix them all together, it came to about 3 cups and I use that for the liquid portion of the recipe. It came out fabulous, but think there is too much leavening.

While my husband devoured this cake, I found it too moist. I’m thinking there was too much honey. I also used about a quarter cup or less of boiled cider over apple cider.