apple cake!
Oct. 29th, 2016 08:34 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
kindkitIf it's autumn where you live, this is a great seasonal cake. I brought one to a work potluck last week and it was a big hit. It's easy, though a bit time-consuming because of peeling, coring, and chopping the apples, and it freezes fantastically well.
The recipe comes from Susan G. Purdy's Pie in the Sky, a helpful book of baking recipes adjusted for various altitudes. I'm giving the sea level version under the cut, since it's likely to be the most generally useful, but if you'd like to know the adjustments for 3000, 5000, 7000, or 10,000 feet of altitude, just let me know.
Apple, Raisin, and Walnut Cake (aka Aspen Apple Cake in Purdy's cookbook)
Place rack in center of oven and preheat to 350 degrees Fahrenheit.
3 cups (12.75 ounces) sifted all-purpose flour (sift first, then gently spoon into measuring cup)
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon grated nutmeg
1 1/2 cups canola oil [SEE NOTE BELOW]
2 cups granulated sugar
3 large eggs at room temperature
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
3 tablespoons whole milk
3 large apples, about 6.5 oz each in their whole state (I like roughly equal quantities of Granny Smith and Golden Delicious)
1 cup (6 oz) raisins
1 cup (4 oz) walnuts, chopped into smallish pieces
Generously grease and flour a 9-10 inch (22-25 cm) tube pan. I prefer to line the pan with parchment paper rather than flour it, but it's up to you.
Whisk together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, and nutmeg.
In another bowl, beat the oil, sugar, eggs, vanilla extract, and milk until well combined. The recipe calls for a stand mixer; I use a handheld mixer and I'm sure it could be done by hand perfectly well.
Peel, core, and chop the apples into 1/4 to 1/2 inch dice. In yet another bowl, stir them together with the raisins and chopped walnuts. Add a couple of tablespoons of the flour mixture and stir well.
Add the flour mixture gradually to the oil and sugar mixture, on the lowest speed if you're using a mixer. Stir in the apple mixture until well blended. The batter will be fairly stiff.
Add the batter to the prepared tube pan and smooth the top.
Bake at 350 F for 60 to 75 minutes. When the cake is done it will feel springy and a cake tester will come out clean.
Let the cake cool in the pan for at least 20 minutes (I'd give it at least 30) before turning out onto a plate.
The recipe calls for dusting the cake with powdered sugar (i.e. icing sugar) but I think it's unnecessary. If you want to gild the lily, though, a moderate amount of cream cheese frosting (cream cheese beaten with icing sugar and a little vanilla) is tasty, but the cake is so moist that I usually eat it as is. I have sometimes eaten it for breakfast.
This makes an absolutely enormous cake. The recipe says it serves 10-12, but I think it could pretty easily serve 16. It keeps well at room temp for several days, and as I said above, it freezes brilliantly.
NOTE ABOUT OIL: The first time I made this cake, I thought it was delicious but too oily-tasting. So the second time, I replaced 1/2 cup of the oil with unsweetened applesauce, and the result seemed just right to me.
In other food news, the supermarket where I shop seems to be experiencing a bounty of very good late-harvest heirloom tomatoes. They're been selling them (organic ones at that) for $1.99 a pound, so I've been eating all the raw-tomato dishes I was craving earlier in the summer. This paradise cannot last--on my most recent shopping trip, most of the tomatoes were obviously under-matured--but I'm enjoying it.
Also, comice pears continue to be amazingly good. I was eating one earlier, while reading, and when I reached out for another wedge only to discover that I had already eaten the entire pear, I made a small but audible cry of disappointment.
I've read that comice pears are excellent with blue cheese, though it's hard to imagine them being better. But I want to give it a try.
The recipe comes from Susan G. Purdy's Pie in the Sky, a helpful book of baking recipes adjusted for various altitudes. I'm giving the sea level version under the cut, since it's likely to be the most generally useful, but if you'd like to know the adjustments for 3000, 5000, 7000, or 10,000 feet of altitude, just let me know.
Apple, Raisin, and Walnut Cake (aka Aspen Apple Cake in Purdy's cookbook)
Place rack in center of oven and preheat to 350 degrees Fahrenheit.
3 cups (12.75 ounces) sifted all-purpose flour (sift first, then gently spoon into measuring cup)
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon grated nutmeg
1 1/2 cups canola oil [SEE NOTE BELOW]
2 cups granulated sugar
3 large eggs at room temperature
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
3 tablespoons whole milk
3 large apples, about 6.5 oz each in their whole state (I like roughly equal quantities of Granny Smith and Golden Delicious)
1 cup (6 oz) raisins
1 cup (4 oz) walnuts, chopped into smallish pieces
Generously grease and flour a 9-10 inch (22-25 cm) tube pan. I prefer to line the pan with parchment paper rather than flour it, but it's up to you.
Whisk together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, and nutmeg.
In another bowl, beat the oil, sugar, eggs, vanilla extract, and milk until well combined. The recipe calls for a stand mixer; I use a handheld mixer and I'm sure it could be done by hand perfectly well.
Peel, core, and chop the apples into 1/4 to 1/2 inch dice. In yet another bowl, stir them together with the raisins and chopped walnuts. Add a couple of tablespoons of the flour mixture and stir well.
Add the flour mixture gradually to the oil and sugar mixture, on the lowest speed if you're using a mixer. Stir in the apple mixture until well blended. The batter will be fairly stiff.
Add the batter to the prepared tube pan and smooth the top.
Bake at 350 F for 60 to 75 minutes. When the cake is done it will feel springy and a cake tester will come out clean.
Let the cake cool in the pan for at least 20 minutes (I'd give it at least 30) before turning out onto a plate.
The recipe calls for dusting the cake with powdered sugar (i.e. icing sugar) but I think it's unnecessary. If you want to gild the lily, though, a moderate amount of cream cheese frosting (cream cheese beaten with icing sugar and a little vanilla) is tasty, but the cake is so moist that I usually eat it as is. I have sometimes eaten it for breakfast.
This makes an absolutely enormous cake. The recipe says it serves 10-12, but I think it could pretty easily serve 16. It keeps well at room temp for several days, and as I said above, it freezes brilliantly.
NOTE ABOUT OIL: The first time I made this cake, I thought it was delicious but too oily-tasting. So the second time, I replaced 1/2 cup of the oil with unsweetened applesauce, and the result seemed just right to me.
In other food news, the supermarket where I shop seems to be experiencing a bounty of very good late-harvest heirloom tomatoes. They're been selling them (organic ones at that) for $1.99 a pound, so I've been eating all the raw-tomato dishes I was craving earlier in the summer. This paradise cannot last--on my most recent shopping trip, most of the tomatoes were obviously under-matured--but I'm enjoying it.
Also, comice pears continue to be amazingly good. I was eating one earlier, while reading, and when I reached out for another wedge only to discover that I had already eaten the entire pear, I made a small but audible cry of disappointment.
I've read that comice pears are excellent with blue cheese, though it's hard to imagine them being better. But I want to give it a try.
no subject
Date: 2016-10-30 07:11 am (UTC)We sometimes make a blue cheese, pear and walnut pizza - super delicious, and highly recommended if you have good pears right now. And you must be getting all our tomato weather - they're still pale and wintery here due to a very cool, very wet Spring, but at least they're not mealy anymore.
no subject
Date: 2016-10-30 09:37 pm (UTC)That pear pizza is intriguing. Comice pears are so soft and juicy that they're uncookable, but I might give it a try with a different pear variety.
Hmm, maybe I'll bake something today, since I'm on edge a bit and can't relax into a book.