Valerie was the first one to make this cake. She brought it to a family gathering a few weeks ago. Since then I have made it twice. We had an iron chef competition with my local neighborhood congregation as a Monday night activity. Our group's secret ingredient were apples. When I had made this cake a week before and a few people in my group had tried it, so when I suggested we make it, they all agreed it would win. We got the whole thing mixed up and baked in 45 minutes and everyone loved it. I have tried a few other apple cake recipes before and this is by far the best. It is moist, has the right level of spice, and the perfect crumb. The sauce is butter, cream, and sugar. Can you go wrong with that?
Cake
1 stick of butter, softened
1 cup sugar
2 teaspoons vanilla
2 cups white flour
2 teaspoons baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon nutmeg
4 cups grated apples (plus any accumulated juice)*
Beat sugar and butter together with an electric mixer until well combined. Add eggs and vanilla and mix until light and creamy.
In a separate bowl, mix together the dry ingredients (flour, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, and nutmeg). I'll explain why this is important at the bottom if you are interested.
Add the dry ingredients to the wet ones and mix until just combined.
Stir in grated apples with any accumulated juices and mix until combined. Do not over mix.
Spread the batter evenly into a greased 9x13 or two 9 inch cake pans.
Bake at 350 degrees until a toothpick inserted comes out clean, which is about 30 minutes if using a 9x13 or 25 minutes if it is in two pans.
*I can't remember what kind of apples I used, but I think they were fuji or gala apples. I left the skins on to make it slightly easier and healthier, Valerie peeled the apples when she made it. I didn't notice a difference in taste, but the cake did look la little nicer without the apple skins. So you choose convenience or appearance!
Vanilla Sauce
4 tablespoons butter
1/2 cup whipping cream
1/2 cup sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
While the cake is baking combine the butter, cream, and sugar in a small saucepan. Bring the mixture to a low simmer and stir until the sugar is dissolved and the mixture is combined. Simmer gently for 10-12 minutes, stirring often. Remove from heat, stir in the vanilla and keep warm until ready to serve.
Cut the cake into pieces and drizzle with the warm cream sauce. The sauce is what really make the cake!
Notes: So, for those of you who are interested in the science behind mixing the wet and dry ingredients separately, here it is. I used to think it was just so the baking soda, salt, etc were evenly distributed. This is only a small part of the reason. When flour comes into contact with the wet ingredients it starts to activate the gluten. The more it is mixed, the more it becomes like bread, hence all the kneading when you make bread. We are going for the small, delicate crumb that we all love in baked goods. Also, when baking powder/ baking soda gets wet it starts to make things rise. If it is mixed too much, all of its rising power kind of fizzes out and the cake won't rise enough and will be on the denser side. Moral of the story, if you like tough, dry, dense cake, mix away!
Slightly adapted from Mel's Kitchen Cafe.
No comments:
Post a Comment