Apple Cream Cheese Cake

For the cheesecake filling:
Beat the cream cheese, butter and sugar in the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment until smooth. Add the egg, flour and vanilla and beat until just blended.

For the cake:
Preheat the oven to 350ºF.

Put the pecans on a sheet pan and put it into the preheated oven for 8 minutes. Then remove them to a plate to cool.

In a large bowl whisk together all the dry ingredients (flour through allspice on the above list, including sugars). Set aside.

Combine the eggs, applesauce, oil and vanilla in another bowl. Add the wet ingredients into the dry, mixing until just combined.
Stir in the apples.

Spoon 2/3 of the batter into a buttered and floured bundt pan. Spoon the cream cheese filling on top, and use a paring knife to swirl it into the cake batter. Spoon the rest of the cake batter on top.

Bake at 350ºF for 1 hour to 1 hour 15 minutes. Test to make sure that a a cake tester inserted into the cake comes out clean. Remove cake from the oven and cool in the pan for 15 minutes. Then turn it out onto a rack to cool completely. (2 hours)

For the icing:
In a saucepan over medium heat, bring 1/2 cup brown sugar, 1/4 cup butter and 3 tablespoons milk to a boil. Whisk constantly. Boil for 2 minutes, then remove from heat and whisk in the vanilla and powdered sugar. Whisk constantly until smooth. Then stir with a spoon for 3-5 minutes waiting for the icing to cool and thicken.

Spoon icing over the cake and decorate with the roasted pecans. If the icing gets too thick to pour nicely, reheat it on the stove for a minute.

Recipe adapted from Southern Living Magazine.