Um, yeah. This one’s a winner.
After last night’s challah and honey & apples and honey & gefilte fish & matzoh ball soup & brisket & kasha varnishkes & honeyed carrots, dessert wasn’t exactly necessary, but I couldn’t leave my folks’ without a wee taste of the Apple Cake Harry and I had baked. Yowza, that’s one fantastic recipe.
As you can see in the picture, it’s roughly equal parts apple & cake (the lighter parts are the apple chunks). The apples keep the whole thing moist, ridiculously moist, while the cake adds a nearly toffee flavor to the enterprise. I can’t explain that, since there’s no butter and I definitely think of toffee as having buttery undertones; there must be magic in Melanie’s recipe. The edges take on a delicate crunch, and the crumbs have a light, lacy quality. It’s a good thing I only brought home a smallish chunk, because I could easily eat this entire cake over the course of a day.
Someone asked in yesterday’s comments whether I thought this would be good for a B&B breakfast, and now that I’ve tasted it my answer is a definite YES. I’d serve this with coffee, I’d serve it for dessert, I’d serve it for afternoon snack, I’d serve it to myself with my bare fingers and lick them after each bite… Seriously, if you like apples, you’ve gotta try this.
My Mississippi Delta born mum was quite amused to be helping out with a Rosh Hashanah menu up north. She says she hopes you enjoyed it. Obviously, you did.
I agree with you – I think it would be a knock-out B&B recipe. Especially since it tastes a lot richer than it actually is.
I wanted to try this yesterday for our dinner, however, I ran out of time.
Your description today…mouth watering. I wanted to dig through the fridge and make it up in time for a bedtime snack….
Mmmmm, yum. I a definitely making this one.
My mom just called to tell me that my dad liked this cake so much he actually hid the leftovers from my brother!
Made this yesterday and it was deeelish. Chopped up the apples into teeny tiny pieces and added cinnamon. Still tasted great this morning! Thanks!
Made this with my 3 year old tonight – it is still in the oven. Obstacles/"help" in my house included a repeated offer to "cut the apples with his teeth" (he would then bite off pieces to show me how effective this method is – yes, I managed to keep these out of the batter), a 1 year old who bumped her head while I measuring the oil causing me to lose track of my measuring, and said 3 year old insisting on mixing the batter "all day and all night." Hope this is a batter than can take a lot of mixing. I'll let you know how it turns out under these conditions – it sounds *amazing*.
Verdict: delicious. Not sure I can make it to bed without a second piece! (And I forgot, I even made it with 1/3 wheat flour … I have an uncontrollable urge to make things with wheat flour …)
So glad it came out well, Jess & Amy! And Amy, I tip my hat to you, baking with two sous chefs like that. I have my hands full with just one.
Leave it to the Jew to bring a Rosh Hashannah apple cake to Christmas dinner. I served it with "ridiculously easy butterscotch sauce" from smittenkitchen.com and fresh whipped cream – it was a big hit, but still plenty leftover, being that the dessert table was (happily) over-represented.
NOTE…I cut the oil in half, substituting 3/4 cup of the oil with unsweetened applesauce, and I'm telling you, it did NOT suffer from lack of richness or moisture. Also, I used one cup (not firmly packed) brown sugar and one cup white sugar instead of two cups white sugar – just because I can't resist using brown sugar whenever I have an opportunity.
It is now 3.5 days old and still amazing. LOVE IT!