I found a recipe in an issue of Southern Lady magazine (September 2015) for a pound cake using apple butter. Using Classic Country Foods’ Caramel Pecan Apple Butter really amped up the rich flavor!

Denise T. Hitchcock

1 cup Caramel Pecan Apple Butter (You will still have ½ the jar to enjoy on biscuits!)
1¼ cups packed light brown sugar
½ cup chopped pecans
1½ cups unsalted butter, softened
1 8oz package cream cheese, softened
2 cups sugar
1 ½ teaspoons kosher salt
5 large eggs, at room temperature
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
3 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
½ teaspoon baking powder
Glaze (recipe at the end)

NOTE – DO NOT PRE-HEAT OVEN

1. Grease and flour a Bundt pan. The baking spray with flour works nicely.
2. In a bowl stir together Caramel Pecan Apple Butter, brown sugar and chopped pecans. Set this aside to use as swirl filling.
3. In a mixing bowl, at medium high speed, beat butter and cream cheese for 3-4 minutes till smooth. Gradually add in sugar and salt. Continue mixing for 8 minutes till thoroughly incorporated, stopping occasionally to scrape sides of bowl. Then add eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition. Beat in vanilla, and then gradually add flour, cinnamon and baking powder until mixed throughout.
4. Spoon a third of the cake batter into the Bunt pan followed by half of the Caramel Pecan Apple Butter mixture. Top with another third of the cake batter, then the remainder of the Caramel Pecan Apple Butter mixture. The final layer will be the remainder of the cake batter. Finally take a knife and pull the blade back and forth through the batter to swirl the apple butter mixture through the cake mixture.
5. Place bunt pan in a cold oven and then adjust to 300• for about an 1 hour and 20 minutes or until toothpick comes out clean. Once removed from the oven let the cake cool in the pan for 10 minutes. Then invert the pan over a wire rack to remove cake. Let it cool completely on the rack before drizzling with the caramel glaze (recipe below)

Glaze

½ cup unsalted butter
1 cup packed light brown sugar
2/3 cup heavy cream
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
¼ teaspoon kosher salt
1 ½ cups confectioners’ sugar, sifted

In a medium saucepan, combine butter, brown sugar, cream, vanilla extract, and salt. Bring to a boil over medium-high heat, stirring constantly, for approximately 3 minutes or until sugar is dissolved. Remove from heat, and let cool for 10 minutes. Whisk in confectioners’ sugar.

Denise T. Hitchcock