Since we’re about to leave on an extended trip, I won’t be able to do any cooking or baking at all. (I’m setting this up to post while we’re en route.) New crop fall apples are available now and when I saw the recipe for an apple cake, it just spoke to me. With four Granny Smith apples on hand, I whipped it together. The recipe is from the 10/2010 issue of Southern Living and the dozens of people who had already made it had written good reports. I’m learning – that when I make something from a magazine article (published within the last few years anyway) I should go online and see if other people have blogged about it, and if the magazine has an interactive site, to see if readers have left favorable comments. Generally, I do this BEFORE I make the dish. I should do it before I ever even decide to make it (like before I buy specific ingredients!).
You’d think there couldn’t be much of anything new about making an apple cake, but yes, there is. This cake is mostly apples, with just some batter to sort-of hold it together. I wasn’t at all sure when I mixed it up and plopped it (no pouring, just plopping) into a 9×13 pan. It was difficult, to say the least, to even MIX up the stuff. Mixing up the cake batter part was no problem, although it is on the thick side of cake batter. It was mixing in the sliced (not diced) apples and nuts that was the tough part. As I said, it’s mostly apples and no way would the batter even contact some of the apples.
Fall is my favorite time of year, I think. Not Indian Summer, because we have that every September and October here in So. California. Really I mean from about mid-October on when night-time temps are cooler (in the 50’s) and daytime it’s in the 60’s or maybe low 70’s. My bellwether for Fall is really round ‘bout Halloween – it’s near that time when evenings are really cooling off and you begin to need a sweater in the house, even. So that’s when I start thinking about Fall cooking: pumpkin, winter squashes, Brussels sprouts, and apples of all shapes and varieties. And soups, probably my most favorite thing I cook. I’m trying to empty out my soup library, and I still have 3 packages of split pea soup with ham from last winter. Split pea soup just doesn’t appeal to me yet – that’s really a winter soup. Heavy and hearty. I found a soup package in there the other day that was 5 years old! Oh my goodness! But it tasted just fine. Amazing when you consider that most freezers do the automatic defrost every so often. But my foolproof method of freezing soups in plastic bags (click on the soup library link above to see) keeps all air out of the soup. No worries!
This year the weather has been different. Cooler. And we’ve had rain several times and it’s barely mid-October. That’s quite unusual for So. California. Really unusual. So my Fall cooking has started earlier than usual. We won’t be here for Halloween, and we’ll barely be home for Thanksgiving. So I’ve got to get my ducks in a row. Lists made. Plans noted and communicated. We do Thanksgiving at our house out in Palm Desert with some of our family present. I’ll have five days to get over jet lag before we head out there on the Sunday before turkey day. Usually whenever we travel, on our flight home I start making lists. This year it’ll have to be more structured than usual. We’ll be returning from a 16 or 18 hour time difference, and I suspect my body clock is going to be in serious jeopardy. Hence: lists.
So, back to apple cake. I snuck a little bite of it to see how it tasted (this prior to cutting into portions for serving). Mmmm. Delicious. The cinnamon in the batter gave the cake part a medium-dark color (there’s no brown sugar in it). I used walnuts instead of pecans just because to me they go better with an apple dessert. But you can use whatever nuts you prefer. But, I did decide after sampling it, that it was sweet enough already – I’d planned to make the browned butter frosting that was shown in the recipe, but I didn’t after all. I served it with a little scoop of vanilla ice cream. It needs the ice cream – or whipped cream – or pouring cream – to temper the sweetness. My DH lovvvved it. I mean he really, really loved it. I made it with half Splenda, half sugar and next time I’ll cut down on the sugar amount – probably reducing some. So I’ve adjusted the recipe below. It was too sweet – not that that stopped me from eating it, however! I would also cut each apple wedge in half crosswise. Left in a wedge shape, they are just too darned big and awkward to mix well enough. We did not get anywhere near 12-15 servings out of this. I’d say it would serve 8, or possibly 10. Max. I gave away a little bit of it. If I’d had it here I’d have nibbled on it too much. I liked pulling off some of the apple pieces on top.
Rustic Raw Apple Cake
Recipe By: Adapted from Southern Living 10/2010
Serving Size: 10
NOTES: The original recipe used pecans only; also it called for just 2 eggs and a full 2 cups of sugar. Use any kind of tart, firm apple – the kind that will hold its shape once baked. The original also called for a browned butter frosting, but I thought it was plenty sweet without, so just served it with vanilla ice cream. DO serve it with a topping of some kind (whipped cream, pouring cream or something). Next time I will cut the apple wedges in half crosswise to make for an easier handling batter.
1/2 cup chopped walnuts — or pecans
1/2 cup butter — melted
1 3/4 cups sugar — [I used half Splenda]
3 large eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 cups all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
2 1/2 pounds Granny Smith apples — peeled and cut into 1/4-inch-thick wedges (about 4 large)
1. Preheat oven to 350°. Bake walnuts in a single layer in a shallow pan 5 to 7 minutes or until lightly toasted and fragrant, stirring halfway through.
2. Stir together butter, sugar, eggs and vanilla in a large bowl until blended.
3. Combine flour with cinnamon, soda and salt; add to butter mixture, stirring until blended. Stir in apples and walnuts. (Batter will be very thick, similar to a cookie dough.) Spread batter into a lightly greased 13- x 9-inch pan. Spread it out to the corners.
4. Bake at 350° for 45 minutes or until a wooden pick inserted in center comes out clean. Cool completely in pan on a wire rack (about 45 minutes). Refrigerate leftovers, but bring them back to room temp to serve.
Per Serving (excluding unknown items): 417 Calories; 15g Fat (30.8% calories from fat); 6g Protein; 67g Carbohydrate; 3g Dietary Fiber; 88mg Cholesterol; 457mg Sodium.
A year ago: Tuna La Scala (tuna from a can made all fancy)
Two years ago: Soup Season
Three years ago: Butternut Squash Fries (oh, these are yummy)
Ronnie
said on October 22nd, 2010:
That cake looks wonderful! Does it keep without refrigeration? I’m thinking about putting it in a care package for my Freshman. It would be 2-3 days in the post, at ambient temperature from California to the North East.
It MIGHT be okay for that long. I did refrigerate it because the cake was quite moist/wet. Guess the only way to find out is try it! . . . carolyn T