Preheat oven to 325 degrees with rack in the middle. Line the bottom of a 9×5″ loaf pan with parchment paper with the paper hanging over the sides (this will be used to lift loaf out to put on rack), then spray it with nonstick cooking spray (the kind with flour) or grease and flour it.

Melt 8 tablespoons of butter (or margarine, if you’re dairy-free) in a small pan on low heat; set aside to cool in a small bowl. While it’s melting, reduce the cider.

Once it’s reduced, add 1/2 cup to a small bowl and set aside remaining 1/4 cup in another bowl or measuring cup.

While the cider is cooling down, prep the bowl with the dry ingredients.

FLOUR BOWL:

In a large bowl, sift together flour, cornstarch, soda, powder, salt, 1/2 tsp cinnamon and 1/4 teaspoon nutmeg (I ground nutmeg and didn’t even measure, because I love the flavor); set aside.

APPLE CIDER BOWL:

SUGAR BOWL:

In another bowl, add the 3/4 cup sugar and eggs. Whisk it together for a couple minutes until it’s frothy and pale. Whisk in the melted butter (or margarine or oil).

Now you’re going to combine the FLOUR BOWL ingredients and the APPLE CIDER BOWL ingredients into the SUGAR BOWL ingredients.

Start with the flour bowl ingredients. Begin adding the flour mixture in small portions into the sugar bowl mixture, stirring to combine and alternating with the apple cider mixture (it ends up being 3 portions of adding in the flour mixture and 2 of the apple cider/sour cream (or non-dairy Greek yogurt) mixture.

Stir it to combine well being sure to scrape the sides of the bowl.

Carefully pour the batter (it is a very liquid batter) into the prepared baking pan.

Bake for 50-60 minutes (mine took about 55 minutes), or until a toothpick inserted comes out clean.

Remove the pan from the oven and place on a wire rack. With that same toothpick you tested the cake, poke holes all over the top of the cake. Spoon on 3 tablespoons of the reserved apple cider on top of the cake. Let the cake cool for 10 minutes.

While the cake cools, melt the remaining 1 tablespoon of butter (or margarine). Add it into remaining 1 tablespoon spoon of reduced apple cider.

CINNAMON SUGAR TOPPING

In a small bowl, mix together 1/4 cup of sugar, a pinch of salt, 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon, 1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg (use more or less to your taste…I use more than what recipes usually call for).

Use the parchment paper hanging over sides to carefully lift the cake onto a baking rack or you could place it on a baking sheet.

With a pastry brush, brush the butter/cider mixture all over the cake. Sprinkle on the cinnamon sugar mixture. Good luck waiting for it to cool before slicing! Enjoy!