Glorious Apple Cake

I've been wanting to try an apple cake for a very long time. I like the taste of apple pie but always find myself picking out the chunks of apple since I'm not a fan of cooked apples. Because you can't make apple pie without apples I thought that making an apple cake would be the next best thing for me to try.

With hundreds of recipes to choose from I settled on the Double Apple Cake from the book Baking: From My Home to Yours by Dorie Greenspan. I chose this recipe because Dorie Greenspan has a good reputation and also because it calls for grated apples instead of apple chunks. I have never come across apple butter here in South Africa so I made my own using a recipe that I found on the myrecipes website.

Although I found the cake rather pleasant I don't think that apple cake is something I would reach for very often - I'm a chocoholic can you blame me.

Double Apple Bundt Cake
Adapted from Baking: From My Home to Yours

2 cups all-purpose flour

2 teaspoons baking powder

½ teaspoon baking soda

½ teaspoon ground cinnamon

¼ teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg

¼ teaspoon ground ginger

¼ teaspoon salt

1 ¼ sticks (10 tablespoons) unsalted butter, at room temperature

1 ½ cup granulated sugar

2 large eggs1 cup store-bought apple butter – spiced or plain

2 medium apples, peeled, cored and grated

1 cup pecans chopped or walnuts

½ cup plump, moist golden or dark raisins

Confectioners’ sugar for dusting (optional)

Center a rack in the oven and preheat oven to 350º F. Butter and flour a 9-10 inch bundt pan. Don’t place pan on a baking sheet; you want the oven’s heat to circulate through the bundt’s inner tube.

Whisk together the dry ingredients, flour through salt.

Working with stand mixer fitted with paddle attachment, or hand mixer in a large bowl, beat the butter and sugar on medium speed, scraping the bowl as needed, for 3 minutes, or until the mixture is smooth, thick, and pale.

Add the eggs one at a time, beating for about 1 minute after each addition; you’ll have a light, fluffy batter.

Reduce the mixer speed to low and beat in the apple butter – don’t worry if it curdles the batter.

Still on low, add the grated apples and mix to completely blend.

Add the dry ingredients, mixing only until they disappear into the batter. Using a rubber spatula, fold in the nuts and raisins.

Turn the batter into the bundt pan and smooth the top of the batter with the spatula.

Bake for 50-55 minutes or until a thin knife inserted deep into the center of the cake comes out clean.

Transfer the cake to a rack to cool for 5 minutes. Unmould and cool to room temperature.

Allow the cake to stand overnight to improve the flavour of the cake. Wrap well in cling wrap and leave to stand at room temperature.

Dust with confectioners sugar or drizzle with glaze.

To make glaze:

½ confectioners sugar

Enough freshly squeezed lemon juice to make a smooth glaze.

Mix the confectioners sugar and lemon juice together in a small bowl. Add the juice a little at a time until the desired consistency is reached. Mix until smooth and satiny.

No Chocolate Please

I promised a few of my friends last week that I will put together a black forest cake. I love black forest cake but for some reason I've never made one before. I wasn't going to take any shortcuts with this one and was going to include every bit of goodness that a black forest cake is known for right down to kirsch soaked cherries. When I got home though it was another story. You see people have been complaining that everything thing I make is chocolate. Well can I help it....I'm so in love with chocolate.

I decided to go ahead and make something else which is not related to chocolate. I found myself lost since I wasn't really sure what other dessert I would possibly enjoy that doesn't include chocolate. Then I remembered a special treat that I used to enjoy with my boyfriend a few years ago (he doesn't care much for chocolate desserts or any other dessert for that matter), carrot and pecan nut muffins. So carrot cake it was.

I have yet to buy a good carrot cake. I'm not saying that nobody out there sells good carrot cake, I'm just saying that all the ones I've bought in the past were very disappointing. If they weren't dry then they didn't have carrots....I mean they probably used half a carrot for an entire cake. If it's go next to no carrots can you still call it carrot cake. So I decided that I will stick to buying carrot and pecan nut muffins from Woolies (Woolworths) cause they are utterly delicious.

A few years ago I made my first carrot cake and to my surprise it turned out quite good. I didn't enjoy grating the carrots though. I think this is the reason why I've always avoided making carrot cake. This time around I actually enjoyed grating the carrots because I knew that a lot of people were counting on me to give them good dessert.

I used a recipe that I found all those years ago when I made my first carrot cake. It's a lovely cake, moist and spicy, just the way I like carrot cake to be. If you enjoy carrot cake then you will enjoy this one. I got so many good compliments for this cake. I was even surprised when my neighbours little daughter came up to me and said, "Aunty Diane you are talented". I mean I didn't even think that kids enjoy carrot cake...I didn't. Well that been said I hope you enjoy it as much as we did.

This cake needs to be stored in the refrigerator in an airtight container because of the cream cheese. It tastes even better the next day if it will last that long.


Carrot Cake

Ingredients:

1 1/2 cups oil
2 cups sugar
4 eggs
2 cups flour
2 teaspoons baking soda
1 pinch salt
3 cups grated carrots (pack the carrots tightly into the cup when measuring)
2 teaspoons cinnamon
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 cup chopped walnuts or pecans (optional)


Icing:

113g (1/4 lb) butter
226g (8 ounces) cream cheese
450g (1 lb) powdered sugar

Directions:

1. Mix together the flour, sugar, baking soda, salt and cinnamon in a bowl.
   
2. Make a well in the dry ingredients and add the oil, eggs and vanilla. Using a wooden spoon, mix until all the ingredients are combined.
   
3. Mix in the carrots and chopped nuts
   
4. Pour into 3 23cm (9-inch) cake pans.
   
5. Bake in a preheated oven at 175°C (350°F) for 35 minutes.

Icing:

1. Mix butter and cream cheese together until smooth, then add sugar a little at a time.
   
2. Beat until smooth.

You can decorated the finished cake with chopped nuts if you like (use the same nuts that you used in the cake).