Then I got a little burnt out of apples. I have this thing where I can't bite into an apple, (I don't know, my mouth is shaped weird or something. Whatever.) so I got a little tired of cutting the apples to take them to class every day and I sort of phased out of buying them.
A couple weeks ago, my friend and I went and helped my aunt and uncle make and can some homemade applesauce. Wow, that stuff is so addicting. Seriously. And there's no sugar added, so I feel completely guilt-free about eating it like ice cream. So I've been trying to find new ways to cook apples in stuff so I can use that wonderful applesauce in basically everything.
But, I'm poor, because college, so my options have been limited to the ingredients I already have in my house.
Yesterday I was craving cake real bad. I googled all kind of cake recipes, and the cravings intensified, so that didn't help much. I didn't really need cake, so I got this idea that maybe if I made apple cake it would be healthier. It was a good idea....but I found all these great apple cake recipes, and they weren't exactly healthy...
So after reading a ton of recipes, I threw some stuff together and created this fabulous and totally not healthy apple cake, and even worked in some homemade applesauce. If you don't have homemade applesauce, that is totally fine. Regular old applesauce will do, or even shortening, or vegetable oil, or butter, you choose.
I used Jonagold apples because that's what I had. Feel free to mix it up and substitute some of your favorites. That's the best part of cooking - making it into your own thing, you know?
Okay you're probably drooling just waiting for the recipe after that whole story, so here goes.
(one more comment. Well I'll probably have lots more comments, but one more comment for now. I only cook for one. Sometimes two. So the portions of this are kind of little. Make it bigger if you have more people.)
Start by mixing together all the dry ingredients. It's best if you dump them all in the bowl first, and then mix them around, so the soda and the salt get well blended. The brown sugar needs a bit of smooshing, and that's normal. You can use a whisk if you're picky, but a wooden spoon worked fine for me.
Chop up your apples. I made the pieces kind of little, smaller than I would for a salad, because I wanted them to be well spread out in the cake. I also left the peels on, but if that bothers you, peel em. Make a little well in the middle of your dry ingredients, and pour your applesauce in. Crack the eggs on the applesauce, pour in the vanilla, and stir it all up. As it all gets moistened, stir in the apples, then the nuts. I used almonds slices because I have this thing for homemade granola, and so I always have sliced almonds on hand. If you have other nuts, they'll work fine.
Pour the batter into a greased pan. You can use a 9x9 square pan, but I really wanted it to look like a cake, since that's what I was craving, so I used my nice round pan. (I have these really nice Calaphon pans I got for free when some people were moving. You might not care, but these are nice pans guys. The cake slides out so smoothly...)
Now for that wonderful crumble. This is my go-to brown sugar crumble for everything I can put it on - coffee cake, muffins, donuts, etc. The flour is an essential ingredient here because it makes it more crumbly and less grainy. The mixing process is also really important to the texture of the crumble. So melt the butter in a small bowl in the microwave. Stir in the flour and brown sugar with a fork immediately until it's all moist. Add the spices. I honestly didn't measure them exactly, I just shook some in until it was good, but if you're the measuring type, I put some measures on there for ya. Use your fingers to pinch up some crumble and crumble it all over the cake. There's plenty enough of crumble to coat the whole thing so don't be shy. Get all the edges and stuff.
Now bake it! When there are a few minutes left on the timer, you'll make the drizzle. This is a basic brown sugar glaze, but it was perfect. You can be fancy and brown the butter first, and then stir in the sugar, but the taste is fine if you don't want to do that. I just put all the ingredients in the pan, and put it on medium high heat. For my stove that was a 7, but you know your stove better than I do. Bring it to a rapid boil, stirring constantly. Keep it boiling for 3 minutes, and keep stirring. By that time, the cake should be done, so take that baby out and slip it onto your serving dish pronto. Drizzle the drizzle everywhere. It'll start absorbing, and sliding onto the side. I lifted up the bottom of the cake and let it slide down there too. Whatever you like.
You can eat it hot, you can eat it with ice cream, you can eat it with your hands, doesn't matter. It's too good to let it sit there. We saved it for breakfast, but ours was gone by this afternoon. As you can see, I didn't even wait to take the photo before we ate a few slices. This is a truly excellent cake.
Whew! That was a lot! Who knew I had so much to say about cake! Maybe another time I'll have pictures of the process, but this time I just have pictures of the product, sorry. Enjoy! (And please, if you share this, give me some credit :) Just link to my page instead of copying and pasting the recipe).
Buttery Apple Cake
CAKE:
1 1/2 cups flour
1/2 cup white sugar
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp baking soda
1 tsp vanilla extract
3/4 cup applesauce (if you change this to oil or shortening, I would suggest using only 1/2 cup)
2 eggs
1 large apple, diced
1/2 cup sliced almonds (or walnuts, or pecans, all are good here)
CRUMBLE:
2 TBSP shortening (or butter)
2 TBSP flour
1/4 cup brown sugar
1 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp ginger
DRIZZLE:
2 TBSP shortening (or butter)
6 tsp almond milk (other kinds of milk will work here too)
5 TBSP brown sugar
Mix dry ingredients. Make a well in the middle, and put the eggs, the applesauce, the vanilla, and the apple in the well. Mix it all up. It will be the texture of cake batter with apple chunks in it. Stir in the almonds. Pour it into a 9in round cake pan.
In a small bowl, melt the shortening for the crumble. Stir in the sugar, and flour until it's all coated in the shortening. Add a lot of cinnamon, like heaping measurements because cinnamon is a wonderful pair for apples. Also add the rest of the spices. Generously crumble it with your fingers to sprinkle it around the entire cake.
Bake the cake at 350 for 40 minutes. When there are 5 minutes left, make the drizzle on the stove. Put everything into a sauce pan, and bring it to a boil, stirring continuously. Let boil for 3 minutes, constantly stirring. Take the cake out, put it on the serving dish of your choice, and drizzle the drizzle across the entire thing. Eat warm, or let cool.
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