Apple Cake

RecipeDessert

Sep 22

Today marks the first day of Fall, and while many have pumpkins on the brain, I have apples. Let it be known that I have a strict no-pumpkin-purchase-policy until October 1st. The heat of the South cannot ensure that those pumpkins will stay fresh until Halloween, am I right? But let’s keep talking about apples. I love the versatility of apples: apples alone, apples with cheese, in a sandwich, on a salad, of course apple pie, and today, Apple Cake.

I discovered this Apple Cake in one of my recent preservation projects for the Miller Sisters, who are both originally from Georgia, but now live across the continent from each other; Helen in GA and Toni in CA. These sisters were so much fun to work with, but what brought me even greater joy was hearing how much they enjoyed reminiscing and talking through all of the recipes they wanted to include. Their book has some Southern classics, some lighter fare, and so many wonderful traditional Jewish recipes. I personally haven’t had the opportunity to cook any of these traditional dishes, but I am very much looking forward to exploring them.

With Rosh Hashana beginning at sundown this Sunday, I wanted to honor the Fall apple, the High Holiday, but most importantly, The Miller Sisters. Since my kitchen skills are best suited for baking I thought I would try my hand at Toni’s Apple Cake. This makes a great dessert for Rosh Hashanah (drizzle with a little honey, maybe), or any Fall night.

This cake contains ingredients that you will likely already have in your pantry or fridge: flour, sugar, oil (I used canola), eggs, salt, orange juice, vanilla extract, baking powder, apples, cinnamon and sugar.

First in a large mixing bowl, you’re going to combine flour, sugar, oil, eggs, salt, orange juice, vanilla extract, and baking powder. In that order, otherwise the batter gets tough to mix.

Next, thinly slice your apples, and, in a separate bowl, combine with cinnamon and sugar. As for apples, I used Gala apples because I had several on hand, but you could use Braeburn, Honey Crisp, Pink Lady, etc.

You’re going to preheat your oven to 350 degrees (I did this while slicing my apples), grease and flour a tube/bundt pan and then layer ingredients. Start with batter, then apples, and alternate always ending with apples. I ultimately had 3 layers of batter and 3 layers of apples.