Christmas Mincemeat Spice Cake w/ Apples

What the heck is mincemeat anyway?

It is an English thing for sure....the real stuff is made from apples, raisins, currants, candied citrus peel and beef suet.

Next up. What is suet?

su·et
/ˈso͞oət/
noun
the hard white fat on the kidneys and loins of cattle, sheep, and other animals, used to make foods including puddings, pastry, and mincemeat.

Pretty disgusting, if you ask me.

When I was a kid, I had real mincemeat pie from a British granny and I have to say I liked it, but today, since I rarely eat meat, I will skip the suet thing.

You can find plenty of vegetarian versions of UK mincemeat in jars, or you can make your own.
I love it, because I love raisins, but if this is not your cup of tea, skip to the next recipe.

I made this cake for Thanksgiving, and it was delicious.
Everyone loved it, and it got better each day.

It's dense, moist and pretty easy to make.
I used a Simax glass bundt mold, which bakes up a little bit quicker than a typical standard bundt.

I was feeling so festive, I even made the wreath with the greenery from my trees.

Ho ho ho.

Christmas Mincemeat Spice Cake w/ Apples:

(2 sticks) butter softened
1 + 2/3 cup light brown sugar
finely grated zest of 1 large orange
4 medium eggs
3 cups plain flour
2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp allspice
1/2 tsp salt
1 cup buttermilk
3 apples, peeled and cut into chunks
2 cups jarred mincemeat

glaze:
2 cups confectioners sugar
1 tbsp plus or fresh orange juice (as much needed to make icing)

Grease a 10 cup bundt mold very well with butter and cooking spray.

Preheat oven to 325F.

Whisk together the butter and sugar with an electric mixer until pale and fluffy; Whisk in the eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition.

In a separate bowl, sift together the flour, baking powder, spices and salt.

Fold 1/3 of the flour mixture into the butter mixture, followed by 1/2 the buttermilk then another 1/3 of flour, then the remaining buttermilk and flour.

Mix through the mincemeat and apples then pour the batter into the prepared tin and smooth the top.

Bake for about 1 hour (yours might take up to 75 minutes, so keep checking) until a skewer inserted into the center comes out clean and the cake is starting to pull away from the sides.

Let rest in the cake mold for 15 minutes then cool completely on a rack.

Mix the icing sugar and orange juice w/ a fork until you have a nice consistency.
Once the cake has cooled, drizzle the icing over the cake and let harden.

Best made at least 1 day ahead.

Happy Merry!