It’s November, and that means that we’ve undeniably entered the holiday season. In my world that means lots of family, lot of parties and eating a ridiculous, almost painful amount of food. Cocktail parties. Tacky Christmas sweater parties. Surprise guests and…. my oh my… is it too early to be this excited?
Despite all of my (possibly premature) excitement, I’ll admit that I’m sometimes at a loss when it comes to a holiday night out. If I’m not fussing over what I’m going to wear, I’m getting nit picky about the dessert that I’m going to bring. It’s enough to drive myself crazy and send me straight to the egg nog bowl when I hit the party. The egg nog is always such a nice thought, but the actual introduction of egg nog into my system is a very, very bad idea.
This weekend I picked up a few party dresses and tights- festive and hip but not over the top. I also baked up the perfect all purpose holiday cake. It’s a winner because you can throw it together with virtually anything and everything you have in your pantry.
Let’s discuss…
Here’s how this simple cake is going to rock your holiday party life just as hard as I’m going to rock my fierce new black dress and silver heels:
-Bundt pans equal instant pretty whether dusted with powdered sugar or dripping with glaze.
-If you have apples, you have a cake.
-No mixer necessary! All you’ll need is two bowls and a wooden spoon.
-Your house will smell like warm apples and cinnamon. Winner!
-Rum or Bourbon or orange juice- choose your adventure.
-This cake stays moist for days and even tastes better the second day!
-Some of the variations I thought of are all included in the ingredient list.
Bring on the holidays. Bring on the parties. I’ve got the goods. I’ve got the heels. I’ve got the cake. I’m ready to go.
Incidentally, you may need to remind me of my early enthusiasm sometime in early December. I’m not very good at pacing myself.
All Purpose Holiday Cake or Apple Cranberry Bourbon Cake
3 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 1/2 cups vegetable oil
3 large eggs
1 1/2 cups granulated sugar
1/2 cup lightly packed brown sugar
1 Tablespoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg
1 Tablespoon dark Rum (or Bourbon or orange juice)
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
3 Cortland or Empire or Granny Smith or Gala apples, peeled, cored and cut into a 1/4 inch dice (you can make the apple slices slightly bigger if you like a chunkier cake)
1/2 cup fresh cranberries, coarsely chopped (or raisins or dried cranberries or dried apricots diced or chopped walnuts maybe even chocolate chips)
Put a rack in middle of oven and preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Generously butter and flour a 12-cup Bundt pan, knocking out excess flour.
Sift together flour, baking soda, and salt into a bowl.
Whisk together oil, eggs, sugars, cinnamon, nutmeg, rum or bourbon and vanilla in a large bowl until just combined. Fold in flour mixture until just combined, then fold in apples and cranberries. The batter will feel thick and heavy. Spoon the batter into pan.
Bake until a wooden pick or skewer inserted in center of cake comes out clean, about 1 hour and 15 minutes. Cool cake in pan on a rack for 30 minutes, then turn out onto rack to cool completely. Dust with powdered sugar before serving.
Abigail Wenderson
Wow, amazing recipe. Can’t wait to try this. Adding this recipe to one of my favorites.
Babs
This is a great recipe. I made it back in 2008 for Thanksgiving. I just RSVP’d for our annual Thanksgiving and our hostess replied with, “Can’t wait to see you, please bring The Cake.” One of the commenters suggested dousing this with a whiskey-brown sugar glaze. Best suggestion ever.
Mimi Findlay
I would like to make these as small loaf cakes, with a glaze for gift giving this Christmas. Has anyone tried this and if so can you offer me any guidance?
Verena
I have made this countless times and for diverse audiences and it’s always a hit. It never fails me. Can put it together in a few minutes and have it ready while guests wait. Over the years, this cake has been a staple in my baking repertoire.
Den C.
hello, can i skip the alcohol in this cake? :D
Sarah
I made this last night and it was so delicious! The smell of the cake baking literally lured my friends into the kitchen. Then, we proceeded to eat half of the cake. Thank you for the recipe, I am sure to keep it in my holiday baking repertoire!
lovefeedingmyfamilyandtryingnewrecipes
I was making a ice cream roll up cake with chocolate ganache for Christmas day dessert, on Christmas Eve, and stumbled onto your site when I had a question about prepping the sheet pan. I put your site on favorites and could hardly wait to come back. Your sense of humor and enthusiasm are fantastic and warm my heart and I am just thrilled to “visit” someone who loves to bake, and is so darned good at it. I am inspired, and I laugh, and my family reaps the rewards! Win, win, thank you!
Charity
I made this last night and it turned out so yummy! I halved the recipe and got 16 muffins. I did use 3/4 cup chopped cranberries and shredded the apples with the peels still on them. (So much easier using the food processor than all that slice and dicing.) I also added 1/8 teaspoon of cardamom since I love it. So delicious. Will be making again soon though I might dial down the white sugar by about 1/4 cup.
Dagmar
Just made the cake ….. It smells, looks and tastes divine :))))))) Thank you and greetings from Germany !!!!!
NIcole @ The Dirty Oven
BAMMM…got my Christmas eve dessert! Thank you mucho!!!! Thanks :)
Angela
I made this a few hours ago, and it is gone :( but it was oh so good.
Kathy
Could you add a little bit of shredded coconut to this and maybe some pineapple??
Cat
Just to update, I pulled one of the muffins today that I baked back on April 24, and after a few minutes thawing in the microwave at 20% power, I’m thrilled to report that it tastes exactly as the freshly-made ones did. These are absolutely phenomenal as jumbo muffins. The next time I make them, I’m going to substitute shredded carrot for half of the apples. No doubt, they’re going to be just as superb.
Cat
BTW, just to clarify, I meant that I replaced half the total sugar in the recipe, or one cup (2 cups total:- 1-1/2 cups white, 1/2 cup brown) with an equal amount (1 cup) of Splenda. Often when Splenda is eaten warm in a baked product, it tastes fakey. Not in these. It’s fabulous, and I just saved a bundle of calories and carbs. Makes me want to eat another…
Cat
I made these today as jumbo muffins, and they’re unreal! Couldn’t even wait until they cooled to try. I made with 1/2 Splenda in place of a cup of the white sugar. You truly can’t tell. That nice little burst of tart from the cranberries is a great foil for the juicy, sweet apple pieces. A coffee shop could make a killing with these! It made a dozen of the huge size muffins. Baking them for 30 minutes was just right. With half of them, I filled the muffin cup 1/2 full, spooned on 2 Tb of a mixture made from 4 oz cream cheese, 1/4 cup brown sugar, 1 egg yolk stirred together to blend, (but not beaten until soupy!) then filled the muffin cup the rest of the way. OMG – Muffin NIRVANA!!! Thank you for a wonderful recipe that I’m sure I’ll make over and over. Going to throw the rest of them in the freezer so I don’t eat them all right here and now!
Alana
I baked this cake last night and had a slice for breakfast. Couldn’t resist! It was absolutely delicious. Thank you for a great recipe.
Sam
My mom is just BEGGING me to make something for Thanksgiving this year… and besides the usual pie, this sounds PERFECT! (:
Dan in Dallas
Want to make this wonderful cake even better?
When the cake is cool, completely brush it with a brown sugar/whiskey glaze.
Boil a cup of brown sugar, 1/2 stick butter and 1/4 cup milk for several minutes. When removed from the burner, stir in 1/4 cup of Jack Daniels Whiskey. All your cake will be devoured!
April
I made your delicious cake for New Year’s Eve and it was a huge hit. Better still, I used a cake pan my sister gave me for Christmas in the shape of Texas. I used cranberries to mark the major Texas cities which made for a great geography lesson for our friends here in California. I will be coming back to this recipe again and again, much like I keep going back to the refrigerator for another slice. It’s maybe even tastier cold?!
Thanks again!
April
Emily
I made this last night, and it’s fabulous!! I have to admit, that I went ahead and added bittersweet chocolate to the fresh cranberries and apples, and upped the dark rum to 2 tab, and the vanilla by an addt’l 1/2 tsp. It’s like crack. My ass thanks you!! ;)
Sarah
Looks delicious. I’m wondering if it would work in miniature bundt pans, what with those chunks of fruit and all. But I’d like to make a couple dozen of these cakes in miniature for my coworkers.
Linda
This is rocking my world! I have to give this a try during the holidays!
Sarah
Just wanted to say THANKS! I made a low-fat version of this for Thanksgiving (egg beaters, sub applesause for most of the oil… I want my Dad around for awhile) and it was such a hit….in fact it was completetly gone by Saturday morning (we all suspect my younger brother). I am already anticipating a request for Christmas.
stacy di
fantastic recipe…can’t wait to try it! just finding your blog for the first time….bookmarking it right now!
Trixi
This will be my stress reliever this weekend! I can’t wait to get baking and I am sure that it will get the thumbs-up as Christmas dessert, which means that I don’t have o make trifle like his mother made it…. O the wonderful world of baking…
Mansi
btw, it would be great if you could send this in for my Vegetarian Thanksgiving recipe carnival! it would be such a perfect addition to the roundup:)
Mansi
I’d give anything for a fruity holiday cake like that! looks delicious!:)
Hillary
Great cake! Cranberries and apples are definitely fall/holiday-friendly ingredients and I love the addition of bourbon!
Jaina
How delicious! I need to get one of those pans…
Angela
Just baked this cake! It’s currently cooling and I can’t wait to have a slice with some milk before heading off to bed…:)
Angela
I made the all-purpose holiday cake last night, for my birthday party which is tonight. My boyfriend will probably buy me one of those grocery store bakery cakes (which I dislike, but its the thought that counts), but I wanted to have this cake too. When it was on the cooling rack, a loose apple chunk and a tiny piece of cake fell off together from the bottom. I ravenously ate them and then “accidentally” ate around the hole that got started by the fallen apple chunk, making it a few inches wide! It isn’t very deep though, and its on the bottom, so no one will notice. Normally this would be extremely shameful, but its my damn birthday cake and I can eat a secret squirrel hole into the bottom of it if I want to! Anyway, the part I ate so far was delicious and I can’t wait to have a civilized piece of it tonight! Thanks for a great recipe.
Iceni
I thought that feeling of impending dread was the thought of more boring holiday parties. But this will make things fun! I love the variations! At last, a choose-your-own-ending cake!
Diane
Great photos. It looks so good and moist.
And as if I didn’t have enough to do tomorrow now I have to find my bundt pan and make this cake. mmmmm.
Megan
Mmmmm that looks delish! I am going to have to try that this holiday season!
Lisa magicsprinkles
So moist and rich looking!
Rebecca
This looks fantastic, but I don’t have a bundt tin. Argh! Do you think I could do it in a long loaf pan instead?
fancypans
This looks wonderful — cannot wait to try it. After I vote, of course!
Miri
I love your writing, and the cake looks wonderful! Happy holidays season!
peabody
Looks like a festive Bundt.
cranberrylady
Since it has cranberries i’d like permission to post it on our website. I will definately try it.
Abby
I have a hard time getting excited about the holidays before November … but November is here! And I bought cranberries when they were first in the grocery store awhile back and froze them. Time to get them out!
Emily Rose
thanks so much for posting this- I have a beautiful bundt pan that I received as a wedding present almost a year and a half ago and have yet to use! This cake looks great- and I love that you can substitute different things in it to change it up!
Erin
This looks so beautiful and delicious! It would definitely be the perfect dessert for a holiday party.
cindy
i feel ya on the whole obseeing over what to bring…and wear to holiday parties. this cake sounds wondrous!
Shari
That looks so pretty! I love bundt cakes.
Maria
Everything in one. I love it!! Perfect for the holidays for sure!
Theresa
What a great holiday cake. I’m never going to shed any pounds!! I need to put this on my list. :)
Aimee
I’m already getting super excited too and have many menu plans running through my head. Like your idea of picking up a few items for your wardrobe, though. I’m always to busy fussing over a dessert for the party, that how I look comes second. Tisk-tisk.
Deanna
Oh man, my hubby is not going to be happy, he is trying to lose weight and I am not helping, or should I say, You aren’t helping with all your awesome recipes. Thanks so much for making the holidays that much better. Oh and I think its supposed to say 1 Tablespoon Dark Rum, not run?
My Sweet & Saucy
What a wonderful cake recipe!
Heather
Yum! Looks delicious. :)
snooky doodle
wow this looks so moist and nice. :-) ha and i thought i was the one who gets thinking about christmas so early. you really bet me at this :-) great recipe
joythebaker
Ha! Thanks for the correction Mona!
Mona
Oh my! This looks amazing! Thanks for sharing the recipe….and posting every day this month! :-)
PS – Glaze instead of “graze” maybe?? :-)