Stellar Apple Spice Cakes with Maple Glaze

These Apple Spice Cakes tasted a lot better than they look, I promise. I know I swore off apple desserts, but this time I found the recipe before collecting the apples so it's not like I was desperate to be rid of them! I stumbled on this recipe while flipping through Just a Bite, the same cookbook where I found the Fig Newtons. The Gale Gand calls these cakes stellar, and indeed the girls really enjoyed them, they thought them to be really delicious. I did omit nuts and fruit and I got less than the desired yield as well. I would also cut the apples in smaller pieces than just chunks so that they are more evenly distributed among the final cakes. Lastly, I would add some maple extract to the glaze because the maple syrup itself is just way too understated and it just gets lost. The girls weren't even sure what they were eating-- I hate that. Next time, more dominant maple flavor which I think would better enhance the spices.

Stellar Apple Spice Cakes with Maple Glaze
adapted from Just a Bite

Cakes:
3 eggs
1 1/2 cups sugar
1 cup oil
1 tsp vanilla
1 tsp salt
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp ground cloves
1/2 tsp ground allspice
2 cups peeled apple chunks, on the smallish side

Glaze:
1/2 cup maple syrup
1 1/2 cups powdered sugar
maple extract, to taste

Preheat your oven to 350 and liberally grease two muffin tins. Set aside.
Beat the eggs and sugar in a bowl with a mixer until fluffy. With the mixer running, slowly pour in the oil and vanilla. In a separate bowl, combine all of the dry ingredients. Mix it into the egg mixture. Fold in the apples.

My final, chunky batter.

Spoon into the prepared muffin tins,

and bake for around 35 minutes or until springy and dry in the center. Let cool for a few minutes in their pans and then turn them out onto wire racks to finish cooling completely. To make the glaze, combine all of the ingredients in a bowl.

Drizzle or spread on as you wish.