Apple Butter Cake with Dulce de Leche Buttercream loaded with walnuts and raisins, it is such a stunning, decadent and luxurious dessert to make this fall.
Coat three 8 x 2 inch cake pans with non-stick spray, line bottoms with parchment paper and spray paper with non-stick spray. Set aside.
In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder, salt and cinnamon. Set aside.
In the large bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the wire whisk attachment, beat butter with sugars on medium-high speed until well blended, fluffy and creamy, about 3 minutes.
On low speed, add the eggs one at a time and blend well after each addition, stopping from time to time to scrape the sides of the bowl with a spatula.
On low speed, beat in the flour mixture in 3 additions, alternating with apple butter in 3 additions, into the butter mix , whisk until just blended. Stop to scrape the sides and bottom of the bowl with a spatula.
With a spatula, manually stir in walnuts and raisins until well incorporated into the batter.
Divide batter between prepared pans, gently leveling the top.
Bake for 30 minutes or until a wooden pick inserted into the centers of the cakes comes out clean.
Remove pans from oven, let them cool on a wire rack for 10 minutes. Run a knife around the sides of cakes and invert cakes onto the rack. Remove and discard parchment paper.
Cool cakes completely before frosting.
Dulce de Leche Frosting:
In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the wire whisk, mix together sugar and butter on low speed until well blended.
Add vanilla extract and Dulce de Leche, mix until well combined, stopping a few times to scrape the sides and bottom of the bowl.
Increase speed to medium and beat for another 3 minutes, light and creamy.
If the frosting is too thin, add more powdered sugar 1/4 cup at a time.
If the frosting it too thick, add a little milk, a few tablespoon at a time.
Assembling the cake:
Place a cake layer onto a cake platter and spread with 3/4 cup frosting. Top with other cake layer and repeat. Add the third, top cake layer and spread with frosting. Use the remaining frosting to spread on the sides of the cake.
If desired cover cake in shredded coconut or toasted coconut for extra flavor.
Refrigerate cake.
Just before serving, drizzle some caramel sauce on the edges of the top cake layer, and decorate with a few cinnamon sticks and top with a fresh apple.