Florida Is Skipping Fall, but My Baking Isn't

The first 21 years of my life, I had no idea what Autumn really looked like. In West Texas, one day, leaves had trees, the next, they did not. It was always 90 degrees most of October, and I distinctly remember wearing shorts to several Thanksgiving dinners. So when I moved to Michigan at age 22, imagine my surprise when I realized leaves were supposed to turn beautiful colors, not just fall down dead; gorgeous boots (not cowboy) and flannel everything could be worn in October; and dear sweet baby Jesus, apples. Apples everywhere. My mom always talked about going to a cider mill, but in my early 20s, I was just way too cool and still way too Texan for something that sounded so...Midwestern. I remember walking into Yates Cider Mill in Rochester Hills for the first time. I experienced a fundamental shift in my being--watching the cider press at work, smelling fresh apple cider donuts and streusel-topped apple pies...in that moment, I became a fall devotee. I had yet to learn to love pumpkin (give it time), but cider mills and Michigan will always hold a special place in my heart. While I can't get behind Michigan's lack of left turn lanes and freakish love of coney hot dogs, but it is really on to something with all those apples. I have lived a lot of places, but I'll be damned if any of them do fall justice more than Michigan. So here's my tribute: an apple cider cake with cinnamon chip ganache and apple cider cinnamon buttercream frosting.

Fall is for more than pumpkin spice, y'all.

It's still a real feel of 109 outside in Northwest Florida, so fall is happening exclusively indoors this year. When this cake was in the oven, I was magically transported back to my first cider mill trip (I was a lot sweatier than I remember, though). My house smelled like the inside of a box of Apple Cinnamon Cheerios; in fact, it still does an entire day later. Just try to bring me down, Florida! My entire being is wrapped up in cider-scented goodness with my indoor fall decor providing me enough fervor to fake it til I make it. I am definitely veering into feelings-eating territory, so it's a good thing this insanely moist, apple-cinnamon-y cake only runs 355 calories a slice. Whew. There's not a "loose flannel" season around here; in fact, we're moving into a house with a pool next month, and I figure I'll be using it until mid December at this rate.

While drinking *cold* cider...

Super simple ingredients, to boot! I am all about corner cutting because as both a lazy person and a person who hates being hot, I like when my oven is on for very short increments. To make this yummy ode to fall, gather:

• 1 box of vanilla cake mix
• 2 egg whites
• 10 ounces diet creme soda
• 5 packets sugar free instant cider mix
• 2 apples, peeled, chopped finely, and tossed in lemon juice (to keep from browning). I used Honeycrisps (Gala or Jazz apples would also work perfectly)

Preheat your oven to 350 and grease three 6-inch round pans, or two 8-inch pans, or one 9x13 pan. I will say the next time I make this, I will go the 9x13 pan route--the apples make this cake very moist, so cutting clean slices from a three-tiered cake is next to impossible because the structure just isn't dense enough. But even if it ends up in a sloppy pile on a plate, it is still the best cake I've eaten all year. And that's saying something because I eat like, a ridiculous amount of cake.

Mix together the cake mix, egg whites, soda, and cider packets for 2 minutes on medium high. Fold in the chopped apples by hand. Pour the batter evenly into your prepared pans (don't forget the bake-even strips!), using the back of the cake box to tell you how long to bake based on the size of your pan. I baked mine for 28 minutes in 6-inch pans.

Apple Heaveeennnnn.

When a toothpick comes out from the cake clean, it's done cooking. Let your cakes rest in the pan for 10 minutes before very gently turning out onto a cooling rack to cool off a bit. I recommend placing the cakes either on the cooling rack or wrapped in plastic wrap into the freezer for a few hours. The rounds are delicate because of all of the apples in them, so you want them slightly frozen so they won't rip or crumble while you're frosting and assembling later.

Everything's better with butter--including apples.

Once your cakes are firmed up in the freezer, start on your frosting. I passed time by sipping on a mug of mostly cooled off apple cider, but maybe you're fortunate enough to live somewhere where you can have hot apple cider in mid September without bursting into flame while you decorate your apple cider cake. Consider me jealous. For the cinnamon cider buttercream, you need:

• 1 cup of butter at room temp
• 2 cups of Swerve confectioners
• 2 cups of regular powdered sugar
• 1 heaping tsp of cinnamon
• 1 packet of sugar free instant cider mix prepared--you will use 3 tablespoons of prepared cider

Cream the butter until smooth, then add in the Swerve. Blend on low until mixed, then add in the powdered sugar, cinnamon, and three tablespoons of cider. Mix well.

Now grab those cakes!

 Place your first layer of cake on a cake board, then slather on a nice layer of frosting. I use a piping bag fitted with a #12 round tip to pipe a circle of frosting on the cake top, then smooth out with an angled spatula.

Twice as nice.

 Add the next layer, slather with more frosting, and then get ready for the final layer.

Thrice as nice isn't as catchy, but more cake is always a winner.

 Put a large amount of frosting on the top of the cake, smoothing out and pushing the excess off and down the sides of the cake. Remember to use a soft touch when spreading frosting all over the rest of the cake. These babies are fra-gee-lay (it must be Italian!).

You're getting hunnngrryyy....

 Once a decent layer of frosting was slathered on my cake, I took my angled spatula, pressed it flush horizontally to the sides of my cake, and turned my cake table around, gently dragging my spatula as I went, creating a swirl all around the side of the cake. I started in the center of the top of my cake and swirled outward, keeping the tip of my spatula horizontal while spinning my cake table slowly. It created a pretty nifty swirl pattern I've always wanted to try out. Honestly, I was going to make this a naked cake, but I knew it would be too delicate to scrape the sides, so I did my least favorite thing ever and improvised! Seriously, I sketched out this cake before I made it. I leave nothing to chance, so having a last minute decor change threw me so far outside of my comfort zone I may as well have been lost in an IKEA (same feeling of hopeless despair, but without the Swedish meatballs).

Literally the hardest ingredient to find.

 Put your full frosted cake back into the freezer for about 30-45 minutes. You want your frosting crusted in order to handle the hot ganache. Once ready, dump 1/2 a cup of cinnamon chips (seriously, I can only ever find them on Amazon) and two tablespoons of skim milk in a medium bowl. Heat for 1 minute on 50% power in the microwave, whisk, and repeat heating one last time. Whisk until completely smooth, then transfer to a small liquid measuring cup. Let this sit for 10 minutes to thicken.

Then pour some sugar on cake...

Drizzle ganache over the top of the cake evenly, then use an angled spatula to push the ganache over the top so it can gently drip down the sides. Put your cake back in to the freezer (for the final time, I swear).

Pictured: winging it!

 I was also going to pipe mums on my cake for optimal fall decorum, but my frosting wasn't thick enough. Winging it once more all for the sake of cake (I would do anything for cake, including inciting my very own panic attack), I took the remainder of my frosting, dyed it a light peach shade, and put it into a piping bag with a #21 open star tip. Starting in the middle, I made small rosettes by swirling out and around my center starting point.

I continued all the way around my cake.

 I could've stopped here, but I was mad with misdirection and...freedom? from my original plans, so I found my fall sprinkles. Nothing is ever done if it hasn't been topped with sprinkles or sparkles (except maybe your taxes. Don't top those with glitter unless you like your chances of passing an audit).

But, these are really cute sprinkles.

 I bought these off Amazon last year (they're Wilton brand fall sprinkles). I wasn't sure if I'd have the chance to use them this year, but lucky me, my original plans falling apart entirely! I placed one sprinkle in the center of each rosette, and decided to pipe a shell border at the bottom of my cake...sheerly because I had an insane amount of frosting leftover. I may have cried a little throwing away about 1/3 of my frosting leftovers. It was that or eat it all in one sitting, soooo...

I pressed leaves into the front of the shell border to finish my cake:

It wasn't what I planned, but it still looks like Autumn!

...which kinda works. I didn't plan on becoming obsessed with fall the day I walked into Yates Cider Mill, but fresh apple cider donuts will make you a believer, man. I mean, if I could spend all day eating cider donuts and then napping on alternate hours, I'd be living my dream. Sadly, this is neither good for my health or conducive to supporting my dogs, so instead I'm baking the best tribute to fall I've ever come up with in my crazy brain while sharing my intense love of the season with all of you. Every forkful brings something to the table--cider flavor, cinnamon bursts, and sweet chunks of apple. I'm going to look into how difficult it might be to petition to make this cake the new Thanksgiving dessert regular--move over pumpkin pie. It's that good, people. But never fear, I'm sure I'll come up with something pumpkin-spiced to heaven soon so that I can live up to my full Basic White Girl™ potential. I promised my husband I wouldn't go near pumpkin spice until the actual equinox, so I've got six days (not counting or anything) to make that happen. 'Til next time, my fellow eaters!

This apple dream boat will keep me happy for now!