Apple Spice Coffee Cake!

Yes, I know, we are floating out here in the midst of a Caribbean sea in November, and you are at home in dropping temperatures and thinking of Thanksgiving around the corner!

When Carol was driving me from Portland Maine, up to Rangeley a couple weeks ago, we stopped at a little road side farmer’s market ---it’s apple season! They had people running the sorting belts in the back and the whole place had the smell of tart, sweet, crispness! I took this pic of the display there. MMMMMM!

In stacking posts for while I’m gone, I wanted to post a recipe or two for you to try. I love apple cake, and as soon as apple harvest starts, I am hankering for some of this! Nothing smells better baking than a spicy apple coffee cake baking when it is chilly out!

The ingredients are very simple….the only thing I didn’t have immediately on hand was the raw ((turbinado)) sugar.

Holiday Apple Coffee Cake

2 large eggs

1 Tablespoon veg oil

1/4 teaspoon vanilla

3/4 Cup sugar

1 Cup unbleached all purpose white flour

2 teaspoons baking powder

1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1/4 teaspoon ground allspice or nutmeg (note-I add lots of spices. I go for broke. Have fun with the spices, otherwise why bake?)

1/4 teaspoon salt

2 Cups peeled, cored & thinly sliced firm tart apples, put in the freezer til partially frozen.((Just believe me on this))

1 Tablespoon raw (turbinando) sugar for top of cake

——————- Instructions———————-

1) preheat oven to 350, grease & flour your pie plate. Use a big pie plate, as mixture rises while cooking. Also, I use a mix of whole wheat & white flour to line the pie plate, because it holds up better in baking. But you can use all white flour, no problem.

2) In a medium bowl, combine the eggs, oil, vanilla & sugar. Beat until thick, about 1 minute.

Add the flour, baking powder and outrageous spices of your choice into a second bowl. Don’t sweat it if your spices are a little different. Just think warm & homey & you’ll do fine. Beat until it’s got a crumble consistency, about another minute. You can use a sifter if you want to, but it isn’t necessary.

Fruit bakes better if it's a bit frozen!

This is how your wet mix should look before adding the apples.

Fold in the apples & keep folding until they are evenly coated with a nice smooth batter. There will be a lot of apples held together by very little batter.

3) GENTLY layer the batter into the prepared pan. -This is the hard part! DO NOT STIR! If you screw up the butter/flour coating on your pie pan, dump it back into the bowl & re-do your pie pan. Otherwise your cake WILL burn. Then sprinkle the unbaked top with raw bakers ((turbinado))sugar. Think smooth thoughts while baking!

The raw sugar gives it a crusty crunchy top!

4) Bake on center rack in oven -IMPORTANT- Check it at 30 minutes with a cake tester, or a toothpick. The tester should have a tiny bit of crumbs on it, but NOT wet batter. Most likely you’ll end up cooking the cake for another 10-15 minutes. Test again. DO NOT rely on the appearance of the cake, or the bounce-a-finger-on-the-top test to see if it’s done, or you’ll have a gooey inner-mess on your hands. Trust me on this! Think it's done? think again! TEST it!

5) When it’s done, let it cool (in the pan) for at least an hour. Then top with ice cream while still warm and watch it disappear!

Enjoy!!!