Eggnog Layer Cake with Apricot Filling

Tis the season! The season to cozy up with some coffee or tea and watch Christmas movies, the season to listen to Christmas music aaaaall day long and of course the season to bake. And, the season for Christmas sweets, mulled wine and eggnog! My family in Germany is pretty big on all those things. We actually used to make eggnog ourselves (maybe I should post that recipe here, if I can find it?). So this year I decided to make this Eggnog Layer Cake with Apricot Filling. Although we never made eggnog cake for Christmas growing up, this still very much reminds me of my childhood Christmases. And reminiscing about the good old Christmas days back in Germany, what better and more appropriate filling for this cake than HERO apricot fruit spread.

Established in Switzerland over 130 years ago, this European brand simply makes the best and most authentic fruit spreads, which, again, throw me back to the homemade jams my grandma used to make. HERO Fruit Spreads are the preferred fruit spreads by chefs around the globe because it is made with all natural ingredients – no fillers, artificial flavors or colors, and no high fructose corn syrup and preservatives (yuck) – and packed with fruits, more fruit than most other spreads. While they are packed with fruits, they are not overly sweet. In fact, they taste less sweet than most American brand jams and have less added sugar (which I love!).

They also come in a variety of flavors such as blackberry, black cherry, bitter orange, and even red currant and black currant! Those last two might be my favorite, I don’t think I even ever found those flavors in the jam isle of any American grocery store. Another thing I discovered is that they do not contain huge fruit chunk are very smooth and easily spreadable. Which came in super handy especially when I made this cake. I’ve used jams in between cake layers before and they don’t all spread as easily.

HERO’s tagline is ‘Spread the Goodness’ which could not be more fitting, especially for the holiday season! Hope you will spread some goodness for your friends and family this Christmas season. You can find HERO fruit spreads in the jam isle of most local grocery stores (see list below), or visit this link to find a retailer near you.

Find HERO fruit spreads in the jam aisle at Shop Rite, Stop & Shop, ACME, Key Food, Kings, Balducci’s, Market Basket, Price Chopper, Ralph’s, HEB, Harris Teeter, Giant, Eagle and more.

Eggnog Layer Cake with Apricot Filling

 

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Prep time

1 hour 30 mins

Cook time

40 mins

Total time

2 hours 10 mins

 

Author: Melina Thompson

Serves: 12

INGREDIENTS

FOR CAKE:

• 2 cups sugar
• 4 eggs
• 2.5 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 cup eggnog
• 1.5 sticks butter, melted
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• ½ teaspoon cinnamon
• ½ teaspoon nutmeg

FOR BUTTERCREAM AND FILLING:

• 1 jar HERO Apricot fruit spread
• 6 sticks butter, room temperature
• 4 cups powdered sugar
• ⅛ cup milk

INSTRUCTIONS

MAKE CAKE:

1. Preheat oven to 350 F and grease two 6-inch round cake pans.
2. In a large mixing bowl, with an electric mixer, beat sugar and eggs together until slightly thickened, about 1 minute.
3. Add flour, eggnog, melted butter, baking powder, and spices and mix for another minute, just until the batter is smooth and creamy. Don't overbeat.
4. Pour batter into the prepared baking pans.
5. Bake for 30 to 40 minutes or until the tops are golden and a toothpick poked into the center of the layer comes out clean.
6. Loosen the sides of the cake from the pan with a thin knife, then turn out onto a rack and peel off the paper.
7. Let cool completely before assembling.

MAKE BUTTERCREAM:

1. Add the butter to a stand mixer fitted with the whisk or paddle attachement.
2. Beat butter at medium speed until creamy, smooth, and lightened in color, about 2 minutes.
3. Add milk and then powdered sugar and mix at low speed until somewhat incorporated.
4. Increase the speed to high and mix until buttercream is smooth and fluffy, about 5 minutes, or more.

ASSEMBLE:

1. Cut the tops off the cakes and place on a revolving cake stand.
2. Pour HERO apricot fruit spread in a bowl, add 2 tablespoons of water and stir until smooth.
3. Fill about 1 cup of buttercream in a piping bag fitted with a large round tip.
4. Pipe some buttercream on the edge of each cake layer and fill the middle of each cake layer with HERO apricot fruit spread.
5. Layer and frost the cake and decorate the top with buttercream, white chocolate or macarons.

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