The Best Ever Apple Cake
The Best Ever Apple CakeThis fluffy cake tastes like pie crust and is jam packed with apples! Plus more to kick off baking season
Keep scrolling for this week’s recipe: A fluffy and buttery apple cake that tastes like a giant soft cinnamon graham cracker, featuring a special trick for no soggy apples!
Working in food media means living 3 months ahead of everyone else. I have to be on top of all the holidays and seasons well before they arrive because by the time Christmas rolls around, I want to make sure you’ve already got my recipes to count on. I’ve been thinking about candy canes for months. Which is why, even though it’s 80 degrees in New York and the tomatoes have just peaked, I’ve been knee-deep in fall, which according to every romcom ever set in New York, is the actual most wonderful time of the year. Sure, leaves are great, but the main reason I’m obsessed is that it’s officially baking season. Forget about how you look in a swimsuit and eat all the good things warm from the oven. So I set out to develop the perfect recipe to kick off baking season, ready and waiting for you whenever you’re ready for fall to happen, and immediately got stuck. There are so many iconic fall flavors: caramel apple, maple pecan, are we still pretending to hate pumpkin spice lattes? Nothing gets me unstuck like an Instagram poll (anyone remember when together we made the greatest stuffed shells of all time?), so I asked you what you wanted. It was a tight race between apple and carrot cake, which shocked me because I always filed carrot cake under spring, since we all know the Easter bunny lives off piped-icing carrots. But either way, one thing was unmistakable: you wanted a frosted cake. So here’s what I got (get ready, it’s freaking awesome). 
The apple cake you didn’t know you were waiting forWhen I’m developing a recipe, I first imagine what I want. The textures and flavors I’m aiming for, how it will look, and how difficult I want the final recipe to be. Once I’ve got a goal, I start cooking. I usually don’t check all those boxes but often get pretty close. Other times it’s a kick-off point to something else that I never could have imagined. This apple cake recipe swept the board, hitting every goal I was aiming for and then some. This cake tastes like a big soft cinnamon graham cracker, flavor brought to you by one of my new favorite ingredients, whole wheat flour. I’m freshly obsessed with fiber so I always have a stash of the stuff in my freezer for adding to pancakes and the best ever bran muffins. When deployed thoughtfully, it doesn’t taste like the rancid “healthy” bread my mom bought in the 90’s. It enhances the flavor of the butter and brown sugar, somehow making the cake taste like a well-baked pie crust. I didn’t add the whole wheat here for health. I’m in it for its magical toasty flavor.
Studding the buttery, fluffy, gently spiced cake are tender hunks of apple. Apple cakes can become dense and wet as the apples bake and release liquid into the batter, which, depending on the style of cake, you might want. I didn’t. So to avoid that, I macerate the apples in cinnamon sugar. This draws out some moisture, dissolving into a syrup with the sugar, which then mixes into the batter before baking, so it doesn’t sog out the cake during or after baking. As a bonus, the apples retain some bite, so they stay distinct in the cake. This cake is so flavorful and interesting on its own that it needs no frosting, but since so many of you asked, I couldn’t leave you hanging. I frost the cake with salty cream cheese icing, then top it with roasted salted peanuts for crunch. (Salt the icing to taste since every salt and cream cheese varies in saltiness.) Since I already had it around, I tested a batch of cake with cream cheese in the batter in place of sour cream or yogurt. The side-by-side results were stunning. Cream cheese made the cake so very extra plush and tender. Thank you for asking for frosting because it led me to this life-changing discovery. No hyperbole, because my life is cake. But like, it really doesn’t need the frosting. Ham actually prefers it without. My Favorite Tools for Baking
Oxo Digital Scale - Join me in the future, ditch those cups, and measure in grams! One cup of flour doesn’t equal one cup of flour, depending on how you measure and what the developer decides a cup should weigh. Why worry? Grams are the most accurate way to bake. But! For measurements under one tablespoon, I prefer volume because you need a gem scale to measure something that light accurately. Oven Thermometer - Baking is the time to pay attention to that thing because most home ovens are at least a little off. Twenty-five degrees in either direction can really harm a cookie. With an oven thermometer, you can make sure the temperature is exactly what the recipe calls for. Fat Daddio Cake Pans - Made of anodized aluminum, they are lightly colored and transfer heat quickly for the best rise. Go tall and opt for 3-inch-high pans, which allow for a better rise and less browning on top. Dark colored pans and glass dishes are the worst thing you can do to a cake. The best 9x13-inch pan I’ve ever owned - This is the one I’ve used in restaurants, for large catering orders, and even now as a home cook. The sharp corners mean a clean-looking cake with less to trim off. The folded edges make it easy to take in and out of the oven. And the quality construction means it’ll last. Nordic Ware Bundt Pans - Makes even the simplest cake look stunning. Don’t be scared of all the ridges; the pan is so well made that somehow nothing sticks. (But still don’t skip the pan prep—evenly grease with softened butter then coat with flour, sugar, or cocoa powder.) Sturdy yet flexible rubber spatula - I’ll preach about these spats until I die. They are the ones used in every pro kitchen for a reason: sturdy enough to scrape up fond (the browned bits that stick to a pan when you’re cooking) but flexible enough to scrape every bit of batter from your paddle and mixing bowl. You are scraping, right? If you want to level up, get the KitchenAid Stand mixer - Not a must have, as there are so many bakes you can make without one, but it’ll open up endless possibilities… A little housekeepingA reminder from last week that paid subscriptions are back! ICYMI: I hit pause after my kid was born, partly because keeping a small human alive used up all available brainpower, and partly because my brain kept whispering fun things like “who would pay for this?” I’ve since decided that two decades of professional food overthinking is, in fact, worth something. Most of this newsletter stays free. Don’t think of a paid subscription as a paywall. It’s more like a tip jar with benefits, like subscriber-only issues, plus first crack at merch and events. Upgrade or don’t, either way, you’re here, and that’s the part I care about. Thank you! More Recipes to Kick Off Baking Season
Pumpkin Spice Latte Cheesecake - No water bath means this cheesecake is both easy and has the crunchiest crust. You can use pumpkin puree or roast your own squash if you’re feeling ambitious. Or just make the coffee caramel if you’re not. Choose your own fall baking adventure. Digestive Cookies - Cookies that you’ll feel good about having every day, even though it’s not holiday cookie season yet, because of fiber! The dough comes together easily in a food processor, but you can also make it by hand. Just rub the butter into the dry mixture with your fingers, then knead in the milk until it comes together. Feel free to swap the wheat germ with quick-cooking oats. My Go-To Vanilla Poundcake - Inspired by a cake that will always have my heart: the Sara Lee frozen poundcake. Super simple ingredients, so this one is all about technique. Make sure all the ingredients are at room temperature so the eggs get maximum fluff and everything emulsifies properly. Olive Oil Blondies with Salted Caramel - Chewy and sweet, with a salty, savory touch from the olive oil. The caramel can be a touch fussy to layer between the batter. For the cleanest blondies, after adding the first layer of batter, freeze slightly, then add the caramel and remaining batter. 🌈Cookbook Rainbow🌈
Understanding Baking: The Art & Science of Baking by Joseph Amendola & Nicole Rees - A baking textbook for anyone who likes their info as dense as a buttery poundcake. Want to know why your meringue is weeping or all the ways to flavor an Italian buttercream? This book has the answer. Momofuku Milk Bar by Christina Tosi - This book gave me permission to put pretzels and Froot Loops into my desserts, showed me how to use salt in sweets, and helped me view recipes in components. Tosi breaks down the book into dessert elements and encourages you to mix and match so you can be a pastry chef. Tartine: Revised Edition by Chad Robertson & Elizabeth Prueitt - Every pastry chef’s favorite pastry chefs. Even the most delicate tart or gorgeous cake feels achievable with the careful instruction and helpful kitchen notes. This book will make you believe you can bake anything. Baking at the 20th Century Cafe by Michelle Polzine - This book is a love letter to Eastern European baking with storytelling that reminds me of my days backpacking through Vienna eating my weight in cake. Packed with step-by-step photos to guide you through even the most complex recipe. Fluffy Apple-Packed Snacking Cakewith Salty Cream Cheese Frosting!
For the apples:
For the cake:
For the topping:
Cake is meant to be shared!Peel, core, and cut the apples into rough 1/2-inch pieces and transfer to a bowl, Tupperware, or zip-top bag. (You want around 450 grams of diced apples.) Add the brown sugar and cinnamon, then toss to coat the apples evenly. Let macerate at room temperature for at least 6 hours or in the fridge for up to 24 hours, tossing a couple of times as they sit. (Let the apples come to room temperature before folding into the batter.) Set a rack in the lower-middle position and heat the oven to 350°F. Grease and line an 8-inch or 9-inch square pan. In a medium bowl, thoroughly whisk together the whole wheat flour, all-purpose flour, and baking powder; set aside. In the bowl of a stand mixer (or large bowl if using a hand mixer), combine the butter, cream cheese, brown sugar, and salt. Use the paddle attachment to mix until fluffy and light, stopping once to scrape down the bowl and paddle with a spatula, about 5 minutes. Add one egg and the vanilla, mixing until fluffy and evenly incorporated, about 2 minutes. Stop and scrape. Repeat with the final egg. Add the flour and mix until mostly combined, then finish mixing by hand. Scrape in the apples and all the syrup that’s collected, then fold into the batter. (It will look like too many apples; it is not.) Scrape the batter into the prepared pan, spread evenly, and firmly tap the pan against the counter a few times to settle. Bake until dry and browned on top, and a wooden skewer inserted in the center comes out clean, about 45 minutes for a 9-inch pan or 50 minutes for an 8-inch pan. Cool fully before unmolding and frosting. To make the frosting (which is nice to have but it totally doesn’t need!): Cream together the cream cheese, butter, and vanilla, either with a hand mixer or in a stand mixer with the paddle attachment. Add the sugar a big spoonful at a time, beating until smooth and fluffy. Add salt, a big pinch at a time, beating to incorporate and tasting between pinches until it’s just the salty-sweet you want. Spread over the cake and shower with the peanuts. You're currently a free subscriber to Hot Dish with Sohla . For the full experience, upgrade your subscription.
|
Comments
Post a Comment