Caramel Apple Brioche Cake–for Thanksgiving Breakfast

Caramel Apple Brioche Cake for Thanksgiving Breakfast | Artisan Bread in 5 Minutes a Day

There are so many good things about Thanksgiving dinner. There’s the table piled with comfort food, the house full of family and friends, the first evening of holiday music playing, and a day to consider all the good things the year has brought.

But there’s something to be said about Thanksgiving breakfast. It’s always overlooked, and often skipped while one focuses on cleaning house, peeling potatoes, and setting the table. But what better way to start a day of feasting, really. This cake is one big roll, stuffed with apples and topped with caramel sauce and toasted pecans. It’s perfect to have on hand for overnight guests and bribing kids to pitch in Thursday morning. It also just may remind one to pause with gratitude; this treat is still bread underneath. Breaking it with a loved one first thing in the morning is a sweet sort of communion, a unique way to stop and give thanks.

Yeast and Dough | Artisan Bread in 5 Minutes a Day

Caramel Apple Brioche Cake (and many more from our library of Thanksgiving recipes at the end…)

1 1/2 pounds brioche doughI used Red Star Platinum yeast, but the Active Dry or Quick Rise versions work too
3/4 cup unsalted butter, melted
1 1/4 cup brown sugar, well packed
1/3 cup honey
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon nutmeg
1/2 teaspoon salt
pinch of black pepper
1 cup whole toasted pecans
1 apple, peeled, and grated or chopped into small pieces (I used a Gala apple, but Granny Smith would work nice, too)

Mix together the butter, brown sugar, honey, cinnamon, nutmeg, salt, and pepper. Grease an 8-inch cake pan with butter, then spread half the caramel mixture evenly over the bottom. Scatter the pecans over the caramel mixture and set aside.

Dough with Apples and Cinnamon | Artisan Bread in 5 Minutes a Day

Dust the surface of the refrigerated dough with flour and cut off a 1 1/2 pound piece. Dust the piece with more flour and quickly shape it into a ball. Roll out the dough to an 1/8-inch thick rectangle. Spread the remaining caramel mixture evenly over the rolled out dough, then scatter the apple over the caramel.

Rolling Caramel Apple Brioche Cake | Artisan Bread in 5 Minutes a Day

Starting with the long side, roll the dough into a log and pinch the seam closed.

Caramel Apple Brioche Dough Rolled Up | Artisan Bread in Five Minutes a Day

Roll the log into a turban shape.

Caramel Apple Brioche Cake for Thanksgiving Breakfast | Artisan Bread in Five Minutes a Day

Place the dough top side down into the cake pan. Allow the cake to rest for 1 hour.

Preheat the oven to 350. Place the cake on a baking sheet in case the caramel bubbles over, and bake about 40 minutes, or until golden brown and cooked through. While still hot, run a knife around the outer edge of the pan to release the cake, and invert immediately onto a serving dish for Thanksgiving breakfast.

Caramel Apple Brioche Cake for Thanksgiving Breakfast | Artisan Bread in Five Minutes a Day

More Thanksgiving posts from years past:

Thanksgiving Cranberry Cornbread from wheat dough

Thanksgiving rolls/buns

Thanksgiving Caramel Apple Brioche Cake

Kurbiskornbrot on Thanksgiving

Thanksgiving Leftovers Torta

Thanksgiving Pumpkin Brioche Swirl Buns With Chocolate Ganache and Whole Wheat

Soft Thanksgiving Pull-Apart Buns

Thanksgiving Cranberry Cornbread

Thanksgiving Stuffing

Pumpkin Pie Brioche

Thanksgiving Buns and Helpful Hints

21 thoughts to “Caramel Apple Brioche Cake–for Thanksgiving Breakfast”

  1. If I use a Chicago Metallic black baking round should I as I usually do reduce the time by 10% and the temp by 25 degrees??

    1. I often hear that black baking surfaces brown more aggressively so yes, you should probably be cautious. Not sure you need to reduce the temp though, just check earlier? On the other hand, if your experience with this pan is “better safe than sorry”– be safe!

  2. This looks sensational! Would this work using the slow-cooker treatment like the cinnamon bun recipe you posted recently? I’d assume the caramel topping would spread all over the bottom, but could be scraped out after the bread was done baking (unless you think the topping would burn?).

    1. It should work, but we haven’t tried it… I’d be more worried about the bottom burning, but that all depends on the temp of your slow-cooker.

  3. I am writing about soft dinner rolls (pp 88-89) in the New Artisan Bread (revised edition). Why do you heat up the stone if you are going to cook the rolls on a baking sheet. I assume you put the baking sheet directly on the stone, but won’t the sheet block the transmission of heat and prevent formation of a good crust on the bottom?

    1. If the stone is fully preheated (in some ovens, that’s 40 min), then no– just the opposite–the stone very rapidly transfers to the baking sheet. Not so much if it’s not up to temp.

      But still, you have a point. Especially if you’re using a high-quality baking sheet like the Chicago Metallic in our Amazon widget at left, you don’t need the stone and omitting it shortens the preheat to 10 minutes or whatever your oven needs.

  4. Made this for Thanksgiving morning. It seems that there is too much butter in the brown sugar mixture. When I mixed up the brown sugar mixture it did not look like the picture. It did not set up. Tasted really good.

      1. I made this (using the whole wheat and wheat germ challah dough from the HBin5 book)and the amount of butter seemed to work fine with the brown sugar. It was easy to spread out in the bottom of the pan and on the rolled out dough. I used a 9″ round pan (rather than 8″) and was glad I did. Anyway, it came out beautiful and was super delicious!

  5. We awoke without power Thanksgiving morning and I had the sticky bun recipe in mind for breakfast (Healthy Bi5, p.292. I made up the dough and let it rise in the car for the hour we drove across NH to the home with power – texting them ahead of time to pre-heat the oven. We popped the pan in the oven and by the time we emptied the car, the buns were perfect!
    Thanks for a new Thanksgiving tradition!

    1. We haven’t specifically tried the overnight shaping with this, so not certain–maybe a dense one to try that with. It’d be something of an experiment.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.