Apple Cake with Maple-Walnut Cream Cheese Frosting

Hola lovelies! I'm back with a new recipe from The Cookbook! I decided to make the Apple Cake with Maple-Walnut Cream Cheese Frosting and to be honest it came out just okay. Don't get me wrong, the taste was great and I highly recommend that you try this recipe. However my cake sunk in the middle :( I'm a great froster so I was able to cleverly disguise it. The reason why it sank was because the currants and the walnuts went straight to the bottom of the pan while it was baking. I may not have used enough flour to coat the currants and I may have overfilled my pans a bit too. But like I said before this cake was amazing and my hubby who hates "stuff in cakes" couldn't even tell there were currant and walnuts in the cake and he loved it. No bias.... But on to the cake!

Isn't it beautiful lol? It has a slight lean to it because of my sinkage issues but a little extra frosting helped me to mask the majority of the lean. The recipe instructions say to use three 9-inch diameter pans but I only had 2 hence my cake only being two layers. *This also might be why my cake sank in the middle so take heed*

For the cake

1    lb. Golden Delicious apples (about 2 medium), peeled, cored, diced

¼   cup water

2½ cups plus 1 tablespoon all purpose flour

2    tsp baking soda

1½ tsp ground cinnamon

½   tsp salt

¼   tsp ground nutmeg

¼   tsp ground cloves

1    cup dried currants

1    cup walnuts toasted, chopped

2    cups sugar

1    cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, room temperature

1    tbsp brandy

1½ tsp vanilla extract

4    large eggs

For the frosting

1    cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, room temperature

1    cup (packed) dark brown sugar

2    8-ounce packages cream cheese, room temperature

½   cup pure maple syrup

¼   tsp maple flavoring

2    cups walnuts, toasted, chopped

1. Preheat oven to 350°F. Butter and flour three 9-inch-diameter cake pans with 1 1/2-inch-high sides. Combine apples and water in small saucepan. Cover; simmer over medium-low heat until apples are tender, about 20 minutes. Place in processor; purée until smooth. Cool purée. Sift 2 1/2 cups flour and next 5 ingredients into medium bowl. Toss currants with remaining 1 tablespoon flour in small bowl to coat; mix in walnuts.
2. Using electric mixer, beat sugar, butter, brandy and vanilla in large bowl until blended. Beat in eggs 1 at a time. Beat in half of flour mixture and 1 1/4 cups apple purée, then remaining flour mixture (re-serve any remaining puree for another use). Stir in currants and walnuts. Divide batter among prepared pans.
3. Bake cakes until tester inserted into center comes out clean, about 20 minutes. Cut around pan sides to loosen cakes; turn out onto racks and cool.
4. Using electric mixer, beat butter and sugar in large bowl until blended. Beat in cream cheese, then maple syrup and flavoring. Chill until beginning to firm, about 20 minutes.
5. Place 1 cake layer on platter. Spread with 3/4 cup frosting. Top with second layer; spread with 3/4 cup frosting. Top with third layer. Spread 1 cup frosting in thin layer over cake. Chill 15 minutes. Spread remaining frosting over cake. Press 2 cups walnuts halfway up sides of cake. Chill until frosting is set, at least 30 minutes. (Can be made 1 day ahead. Cover; keep chilled. Let stand at room temperature 1 hour before serving.)

Enjoy!

-DJ