Gluten-Free Apple Pie Layer Cake
How to Bake
Estimated bake & assembly time: 4-6 hours
Serves: 12 people
Best eaten within 3-5 days
“Why choose between pie and cake when you have both!”
What’s in the box?
Brown Sugar
Vanilla
Gluten-Free Flour Mix
Apple Pie Spice Mix
Butterscotch Chips
Powdered Sugar
Offset Spatula
Ingredients you’ll need:
340g + 60g (1 3/4 cups) Unsalted butter
3 Eggs
224g (1 cup) Greek yogurt, at room temperature
120mL (1/2 cup) milk, at room temperature
4-6 med apples
3g (1/2 tsp) lemon juice
340ML (1 1/2 cups) Heavy cream
Equipment you’ll need:
Heat Safe Mixing Bowls
Saucepan
Measuring Utensils
Electric Mixer
Spatulas
Knife
Fruit peeler
(3) 8in cake pans
Parchment Paper
cooking spray
Plastic Wrap
Cooling Rack
piping bags (optional)
Squeeze bottle (optional)
Tips & Tricks
Browned Butter
1
While making the browned butter, you’ll want to keep a close eye on it. Once it starts to change color, it can easily go from the perfect rich brown color we’re looking for to burnt. View the color guide below to make sure your browned butter is the right color!
Cooling Cakes
2
Cool the cakes for a 10 minutes in the oven with the door cracked. This will help the cakes not cool too rapidly. Take the cakes out and put on a cooling rack to cool for another 30 minutes.
Cakes will need to be flipped out of the pan to cool the rest of the way. First you’ll want to gently run a butter knife around the edge of the cake pan. Next you’ll invert your cooling rack on top of the cake pan. While placing your hand on the bottom of the cake pan and on top of the rack, you’ll quickly flip the cake over onto the cooling rack. You might have to lightly tap the bottom of the cake pan to get the cake to come out. Repeat for the rest of the cakes and allow to cool to room temperature.
Butterscotch Ganache
3
If your butterscotch chips haven’t melted completely when pouring the hot cream over them, you can always put the bowl in the microwave for 5 second blasts until completely melted and smooth.
Finished cake
4
After you’ve built your cake, you can keep it in the fridge until serving. Before serving, you should let it sit at room temperature for 20-30 minutes.
Any left over cake should be wrapped or put in an airtight container and refrigerated.
Step-by-Step Instructions
Preheat Oven to 350° and Prepare cake pans
1
Preheat the oven to 350° and prepare your cake pans with cooking spray then parchment paper. This cookie recipe makes (3) 8” round cakes that will end up making 12 servings of your layer cake.
Make Browned Butter
2
340g (1 1/2 cups) Butter
Add cubed butter into saucepan over medium heat. Melt the butter and allow it to simmer, stirring frequently. Once butter is boiling, simmer until it starts to turn a velvety brown color. This is the fat solids caramelizing. It takes 10-15 minutes. The butter will reduce to about half. Once it’s a rich brown color, put in a bowl to cool to room temp. See tips and tricks for color guide.
Mix Wet ingredients together
3
Brown Sugar
180g (3/4 cup) Browned Butter, 3 Eggs,224g (1 cup) Greek yogurt, 120mL (1/2) milk
Vanilla
Once the butter is cooled, beat butter and brown sugar together using an electric mixer. Add in eggs one at a time then add vanilla, yogurt, and milk. Mix until well combined, but don’t over mix!
Add in Dry Ingredients
4
Gluten-Free Flour Mix
In a separate bowl, sift together gluten-free flour, baking soda, baking powder, cinnamon, and salt. Mix into wet ingredients until no clumps of flour are visible. Pour equal amounts of batter into cake pans. I like to use a portion scoop to make each cake pan as equal as possible.
Bake Cake
5
Bake cake for 30-35 minutes, or until golden brown. You can check for doneness with a toothpick. If it comes out clean then it is ready! Cool the cakes to room temperature.
See tips and tricks for cooling process.
Make the Apple Pie Filling
6
60g (4 tbsp) Unsalted butter, 393g (4-6) Apples, 3G (1/2 tsp) Lemon Juice
Apple Pie Spice Mix
Peel, dice, and core the apples. In a saucepan, melt butter. Add diced apples, lemon juice, and apple pie spice mix. Cook apples down for a 3-5 minutes, or until the apples have softened slightly.
Strain the liquid off of the apples and set the apples aside to cool.
Make the Butterscotch Ganache
7
340ML (1 1/2 cup) Heavy cream
Butterscotch Chips
Place butterscotch chips in a heat safe bowl and set aside. In a separate heat safe bowl or measuring cup, heat heavy cream in the microwave for 30-60 seconds. You want the cream to reach at least 110°.
Pour cream over the butterscotch chips and cover for 10 minutes, allowing it to melt thoroughly. Stir until smooth. Remove 3/4 - 1 cup of ganache and set aside.
Make the Butterscotch Frosting
8
Butterscotch Ganache
Powdered Sugar
Take the larger portion of cooled butterscotch ganache and place in a mixing bowl. Using an electric mixer, whip the ganache until it has thickened and lightened in color. About 5 minutes. Sift in powdered sugar a little at a time, making sure there are no clumps. Now it’s time to build the cake!
Build the Cake
9
On a piece of parchment paper, put a small bit of frosting down and then place 1 cake on top of it. This will “glue” the cake down to the parchment paper making it so it won’t move around while frosting it.
Next spread a thin even layer of frosting on top of the cake. I like to create a little bit of a ridge around the outer edge of the cake with a piping bag to hold in the next layer, half of the apples.
After the apples have been spread evenly, place another cake on top. Then you’ll repeat the last few steps. Frosting layer, then rest of the apples.
Add the last cake on top of the second layer of apples. Now you’ll use the rest of the frosting to create a “naked” cake look. I like to put most of the frosting on the top layer, and smooth the rest of the frosting around the sides of the cake.
Once frosted, refrigerate the cake for at least 30 minutes. After the frosting has set and dried, pour the remaining 3/4 cup - 1 cup of ganache that you saved over the top, allowing it to drip down the sides of the cake.
If you have any left over apples, you can decorate the top with them.
Enjoy!
