Day 18: Apple Coffee Cake

Another recipe found at Allrecipes.com. I had some apple pie filling in my cupboard, bought specifically for a cake like this, and today I finally got round to it. Mmmm… fruity cake….

The Recipe

• 1 (21 ounce) can apple pie filling
• 2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
• 3 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 cup white sugar
• 1 1/2 cups milk
• 1/2 cup butter, softened
• 3 teaspoons baking powder
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 3 eggs
• 1/4 cup packed brown sugar
• 1/4 cup chopped walnuts
• 2 tablespoons butter, melted
• 3/4 cup confectioners’ sugar
• 1 tablespoon butter, melted
• 3/4 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 2 1/2 teaspoons hot water

DIRECTIONS

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Grease a 9×13 pan.
2. Mix pie filling and cinnamon, set aside.
3. Beat flour, white sugar, milk, 1/2 cup softened butter, baking powder, salt and eggs in mixing bowl on low speed for 30 seconds. Beat on medium speed for 2 minutes.
4. Pour half of the batter into prepared pan. Spoon half of the pie filling over the batter. Spread remaining cake batter over pie filling, and top with the remaining half of the pie filling.
5. Mix brown sugar and nuts together and sprinkle over top of cake. Drizzle with 2 tablespoons melted butter.
6. Bake at 350 degrees F (175 degrees C) for 45 to 55 minutes. Allow cake to cool 20 minutes.
7. Combine confectioners sugar, 1 tablespoon butter, 3/4 teaspoon vanilla, 2 to 3 teaspoons hot water. Beat until smooth. Drizzle over cake.

My Alterations

I have to say, I’ve learned a thing or two from cake baking these past couple of weeks. When I saw the directions for mixing the batter, I decided to disregard them and make it the prescribed way. I combined the dry ingredients in a separate bowl, creamed the butter and sugar together, added the eggs one at a time to the butter/sugar mixture, and alternated adding the flour and milk. I also added 2 teaspoons of vanilla to the recipe, because I think a cake like this needs it. No electric mixer required.

I also used two cans of apple pie filling, but this was because (to my surprise) the UK tins were smaller than what the recipe stated. I think — translating solid grams to liquid ounces isn’t my forte. I didn’t mind if there was too much apple pie filling though!

I used twice as many nuts for the topping. This is mostly because I wanted to get them out of my cupboard.

I also skipped the confectioner’s sugar glaze bit. Didn’t see the point, really.

Quick tip: use a spatula to spread the pie filling onto the cake batter. Do it a little at a time, so the filling doesn’t sink to the bottom.

The Result

My biggest mistake with this cake was using the wrong cake pan. I used my tube pan, and when I tried to turn the cake out, it fell apart:

I really shouldn’t have been surprised; the cake wasn’t exactly solid in the middle, with that layer of pie filling in there.

It also took a bit longer to bake than stated in the recipe, but that is probably down to my cake pan choice. If I had used a large rectangular pan, it would have baked faster.

The Verdict

In spite of half the cake falling apart, I am very happy with this recipe. It was almost like eating an apple danish in cake form, and how can that NOT be good?

Next time, I will make this in a square pan. They may also work well as chunky muffins, but with less filling in the middle. Oh, they would be a great gift!

The Rating

5/5

Delicious! Very easy recipe with fantastic results. The brown sugar melted into a lovely caramelized glaze during baking, and if the cake hadn’t fallen apart, it would have been very pretty to look at. Better to eat, though.

Bonus: fruit in the cake makes it seem like a breakfast food!

Day 10: Aunt Nettie’s Orange-Nut Cake

This recipe was requested by Mitch in comments of my recipe requests post. It comes with an interesting article about old fashioned cakes, and some amazing information about this recipe in particular.

This dense cake, adapted from “Bundt Cake Bliss,” by Susanna Short, has truly old-fashioned credentials: The recipe is from Short’s great-great aunt, born in 1867, and was passed down to her grandmother, who gave it to her. As odd as the direction is, yes, you process the entire orange, peel and all — Short’s grandmother used a hand-cranked grinder to do the job. The orange peel creates an intense flavor; feel free to add less if you like.

According to my calculations, this recipe is quite possibly over 200 years old. I was really taken with that idea, and looked forward to baking the cake.

The Recipe

Preparation time: 30 minutes
Cooking time: 40 minutes
Yield: 12 servings

If you only have a 9-cup Bundt pan, fill it about two-thirds full with batter, and use the rest for cupcakes; you should have enough for four.

Ingredients

1 unpeeled orange, washed, coarsely chopped
1 cup raisins or dried cranberries
1/4 cup hot water
1 1/2 cups flour
1 tsp. baking soda
1/2 tsp. salt
1 1/2 cups granulated sugar
1 stick (1/2 cup) butter, softened
2 eggs
3/4 cup each: buttermilk, finely chopped nuts
Confectioners’ sugar

Directions

1. Heat the oven to 350 degrees. Combine the orange and raisins in a food processor; pulse until the mixture is finely ground. Pour 1/4 cup hot water over the mixture; set aside.

2. Combine the flour, baking soda and salt in a medium bowl; set aside. Combine the sugar and butter in a large bowl; beat with an electric mixer until light and fluffy. Add the eggs, one at a time, mixing well after each addition. Alternately add the flour mixture and buttermilk to the sugar-butter mixture, beating until smooth with each addition. Stir in the reserved orange-raisin mixture and the nuts. Pour batter into a greased and floured 12-cup Bundt pan.

3. Bake until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean, 40-50 minutes. Let cake cool in pan 10 minutes. Invert it onto a wire rack; cool completely. Dust with confectioners’ sugar.

My Alterations

I wanted to keep this cake as true to its original recipe as possible. I think the only real changes that I made was that I purposefully used a small-sized orange; I was concerned about having a cake that had too much orange rind. I used sultanas rather than raisins, but they are both dried grapes, right?

I followed the directions as closely as I could, considering I don’t have an electric mixer (yet).

The Results

This is the processed orange and sultana mixture. Looks tasty!

I’ve mentioned in the past that I don’t really like nuts in cakes. However, I really liked them in this cake. The flavours were very complex; I would say that this cake has a grown-up taste to it. My five year old and three year old didn’t really like it much, although strangely enough my one year old scoffed it down as fast as possible. I thought it tasted wonderful and ate plenty myself!

Unfortunately, the cake fell apart very easily. I tried to take a decent picture of the cake, but as you can see by the top picture, it didn’t work very well. Admittedly, I did take it out of the pan when it was warm, but even after it cooled, it wasn’t easy to cut.

The Verdict

This is a very delicious cake. There is a bit more prep work than I usually go for in a cake, but it’s worth the effort. I love the idea of baking a cake from a recipe that has been enjoyed for hundreds of years.

The Rating

5/5

The taste totally wins out on this cake, even though it easily fell apart. I’ll take taste before beauty any day! It might work better as muffins.