Harry’s preschool is closed on Friday for Rosh Hashanah, so I’m left with an entire day to fill with my preschooler. I’m not a SAHM, I’m a WAHM, so a whole, unstructured day tends to fill me with a mixture of excitement, dread, and fear. Times like this, I often turn to baking. Lucky me, then, that we’re going to my parents’ for Rosh on Friday night, and dessert is a must at holiday gatherings, so… I volunteered our baking services to make an apple cake.
Problem is, I’ve never made an apple cake before. Applesauce Muffins, yes. Baked Apple Compote, even. But not cake.
Soooo, what’s your favorite recipe? It needs to be dairy-free, since my family’s kosher and you can’t follow a meat meal with a dairy dessert. I’ve got what looks like a delicious recipe, called Jewish Apple Cake, from Joan Nathan’s The Jewish Holiday Kitchen: 250 Recipes from Around the World to Make Your Celebrations Special.
Here's my favorite Debbie!!
Ingredients
4 large eggs
2 cups sugar
¼ cup orange juice
2 ½ teaspoons vanilla extract
1 cup corn oil
3 cups of flour
3 teaspoons Baking Powder
½ teaspoon salt
For the apples
5 thinly sliced apples (peeled)
6 teaspoons sugar
3 teaspoons cinnamon
Preheat oven to 350 degrees
Mix the apples, 6 teaspoons of sugar, 3 teaspoons cinnamon, and 2 teaspoons of the orange juice in a separate bowl and set aside
Then in order from top to bottom mix the ingredients for the batter with your electric mixer. The batter is supposed to be thick. Then take a greased and floured pan and pour a layer of the batter and then lay some of the apple mixture and do layers until the batter is used. Don’t forget to save some apples for the top.
Bake for 1 hour 15 minutes.
My son just insisted that he doesn't like apples! I can't wait to read more recipes so I can try one (he doesn't have to eat it) but I've never made apple cake, only apple bread.
Thanks, Leah! That looks like another iteration of the same recipe I have. Is there really only one apple cake recipe in the world? Whoa.
Here's a recipe from my mom–I've eaten it and it's goood:
Holiday Apple Cake (Pareve)
Serves 12-15
Filling:
6 medium apples (preferably Spy, but Cortland will also do), peeled, cored and coarsely grated
2 Tbsp.brown sugar
1 tsp. cinnamon
½ tsp. nutmeg (optional)
½ cup golden raisins (optional)
2 Tbsp. Minute tapioca
Batter:
3 ¼ cups flour plus 2 Tbsp
4 ½ tsp. baking powder
¾ tsp. salt
1 cup plus 1 Tbsp. sugar
4½ eggs (or equivalent egg substitute)
1 cup plus 2 tbsp. Canola oil
4 ½ Tbsp. orange juice
1 ½ tsp. vanilla
1 ½ tsp. grated orange rind
1 ½ tsp. grated lemon rind
Topping
½ cup brown sugar
2 tsp. cinnamon
½ cup flour
8 Tbsp. margarine
Preheat oven to 350° F.
Mix all filling ingredients together and set aside.
Make the batter:
Grease and flour (or use Pam) a 9”x 12” baking pan. Mix flour with baking powder and salt. Beat eggs until light. Add sugar gradually; beat until light and lemon colored. Add oil, orange juice, vanilla and rinds. Beat until smooth. Add dry ingredients, mixing just until flour is incorporated. Pour half of the batter ( I put the batter into a measuring cup so that it will be evenly divided, and then pour.) into prepared pan. Arrange apple mixture over batter. Cover with remaining batter.
Make topping:
Cut margarine into dry ingredients to make crumbs. Rub together till combined. Sprinkle all over top of cake.
Bake for 55 to 60 min., or until cake tests done.
Want an explosion of fresh apple? My mum's recipe will do it. With 3 cups of apple to 3 cups of flour, it only JUST holds together, but the tast is so divine, you won't mind the crumble.
Patricia's Awesome Apple Cake
2 cups sugar
1 1/2 cups oil of your choice
2 tsp vanilla extract
2 well baten eggs
Juice of 1/2 lemon
1 tsp salt
3 cups flour
1 1/4 tsp baking soda
3 cups peel and chopped fresh apple (I prefer Granny Smith for this recipe)
1 1/2 – 2 cups pecans (delicious, but optional)
Combine sugar, oil, vanilla extract, eggs, lemon juice and salt in a large mixing bowl. Beat well. Mix flour and baking soda then add to the first mixture and beat well. Add apples and pecans, mix well. Bake in a greased and dusted tube pan at 325 F (160 C) for 1 1/2 hours.
Oh, do I love this cake. It's called "Hanukkah Cake" but I make it for no reason at all (except, of course, for a most delicious and impressive dessert!) Here's the link to the recipe from Cooking Light (Oct. 1997): http://find.myrecipes.com/recipes/recipefinder.dyn?action=displayRecipe&recipe_id=222502
I must say that all the others posted look delicious as well…
Kiwi, that looks wonderful–love the pecans!
And Sheryl, oh my lord that's tempting. But the cream cheese takes it out of the running for my kosher family. I'll be trying that another time, though, for sure.
I can't remember what my favorite apple cake recipe is – it's been so long since I've gone gluten free. If you find a lovely GF apple cake recipe, please share. 🙂
Browsing through the internet today, I found this:
http://glutenfreegoddess.blogspot.com/2007/03/flourless-apple-cake.html
I may have to try it.
That does sound good, Stephanie! Let me know how it turns out.