Apple Cake

Apple Cake

Adapted from Judy Rosenberg’s Baking Book by Blue Heron Kitchen

This cake recipe is for my son and his fabulous friends and colleagues at Oxford University. The apples, now available at the farmers market in Oxford and here, in the U.S., are peaking now. 

You can bake it in a tube pan, but it works as a loaf too. I’ve even made it in a fluted deep-dish quiche pan. Just be sure to bake it all the way. It’s moist and it freezes really well. It'll keep for weeks in the fridge, but it won't last long. It's far too good.

Use firm apples. 

Cheers!

Ingredients:

3 c. all-purpose flour (or 2 c. all-purpose and 1 c. whole wheat pastry flour)

1 tsp. baking soda

1 tsp. kosher salt

2 tsp. ground cinnamon

¼ tsp. mace (if the only kind of mace you keep is for self-defense, you can use some nutmeg.)

¼ tsp. allspice

8 oz. unsalted butter, room temperature (European style, 83% butterfat is best - try Plugra or Cabot brand.)

¼ c. vegetable oil (canola oil is good)

2 cups granulated sugar

1 Tbsp. pure vanilla extract

3 eggs, size large, room temperature

1.5# apples (4 cups), or about 3-4 large, peeled, cored and cut into ½-inch cubes

cinnamon-sugar or even better and simpler: plain Turbinado or "raw" sugar for topping (1 tsp. cinnamon, mixed with 1 Tbsp. sugar) (double this and use lots - and if you have leftover, use it on other things.)

Procedure:

1.         Lightly grease tube pan or ‘other’ pans with melted butter or vegetable oil. Preheat oven to 350º F.

2.         In a separate bowl, whisk together flour, spices, baking soda and salt. Set aside.

3.          In the bowl of an electric mixer, cream butter, oil, sugar and vanilla on medium speed until blended. Scrape down the bowl, as needed.

4.         Add the eggs, one at a time, and mix on medium speed after each addition, until blended and creamy. Scrape the bowl each time. Mix again for fun.

5.         Add ½ the dry ingredients and mix on low speed until just incorporated. Scrape down and add remaining dry ingredients until just incorporated. Don’t overbeat.

6.         Add the apples with a few turns of the mixer’s paddle, or by hand, folding them in with a wooden spoon.

7.         Spoon the batter into the prepared pan(s) and sprinkle generously with raw Turbinado or cinnamon sugar.

8.         Bake in center of pre-heated oven until the top of the cake is firm and golden and a tester (wooden toothpick or wooden skewer is best) comes out clean). For a tube pan – close to an hour, perhaps. But, this depends on your oven and your pan and the density of your apples and how you measure out your flour.

Recipe claims to serve 12-16 (portions are not my forté)

peace, love and hope to meet y'all for cheesy chips soon!

jane