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Friday, November 04, 2011

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———————-

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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.

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

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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.


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Fruit bakes better if it's a bit frozen!


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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.

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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!

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The raw sugar gives it a crusty crunchy top!


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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!


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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!

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Enjoy!!!

4 comments:

Kimberly said...

I may try this with Cactus Apples. I'll have to see if I have any that are still good.

Janet O. said...

I can smell it baking now!

regan said...

This sounds awesome, Bonnie! Thanks!

Pathway said...

Perfect cake..I have noticed through the years tht all your muffins and cakes are just perfect:) . can you make another post about Panettone cake?

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