It’s snowing, and I have nowhere I must be. What to do? Bake!
Apple Cake
2 c chopped apples
1 c sugar (or a bit less if you’d like)
1 1/2 c flour
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp nutmeg
1/2 tsp allspice (I use cloves)
1 egg
1/2 c melted butter OR 1/2 c unsweetened applesauce
1/2 c raisins (not in my house, unfortunately)
1/2 c walnuts
Mix sugar and apples; let sit for 10 minutes.
Blend butter and egg and add to apples. Mix in dry ingredients
Spread in a 9×9 inch pan.
Bake at 350F for 50-55 minutes.
The applesauce substitution works extremely well in this recipe. If, that is, the open jar of applesauce in the fridge is still a food product. Mine wasn’t. I ended up using half the butter the recipe called for, and making up the difference with buttermilk.
The apples came from a local orchard, courtesy of a nice woman who donated them to last weekend’s weaving symposium. I ended up with the leftovers, a bag of mixed varieties.
On the one hand, if you wait for the apple cake to cool before eating, you won’t burn your tongue on an apple chunk.
On the other hand, if you’ve been smelling it baking for the last hour, there’s no way you can wait longer than thirty seconds before cutting into it.
Unless you’re some kind of superhuman freak.
The buttermilk substitution is yum! Adds a nice flavor to the cake, which is mostly a vehicle to hold the apples and spices together.
on Nov 23rd, 2008 at 4:59 pm
Phiala – do you know if I can use Splenda instead of sugar? Diagnosed as diabetic a year ago, and am still learning what I can and can’t eat. This sounds WONDERFUL….but I’d want to eat it. I can eat sugar, but try to cut down amounts when I can.
Maybe that’s it – less sugar, and more applesauce? (I know little about substituting in recipies, and you seem experienced…)
Thanks for sharing.
Siri
on Nov 23rd, 2008 at 5:05 pm
Hi Siri,
I don’t know _anything_ about baking Splenda;
you’ll have to ask Google about that one.
The unsweetened applesauce substitutes for the
fat, not for the sugar. The fiber in applesauce does
the same kind of textural thing as the butter would
do.
You can cut down the sugar by half without
affecting anything major – more apple flavor, less
sweet. I like it that way, not everyone does.