There’s no doubt about it, we’re really on a roll here with our apple cake sampling.
So far, we’ve waded right into the making of the Captain Whidbey Inn version and the apple cake with two toppings, not to mention the glazed, four-generation applesauce concoction with cranberries or raisins.
Well, yum and gobble, gobble, gobble. But we can’t quit yet, because I’m such a kitchen genie I’ve come up with a fourth that’s another must-try variation on the theme. This one has the requisite raw apples, is nicely spiced, studded with pecans, and even comes with you-choose options. It also comes from the other side of the country, courtesy of Carol Carey Godwin of the Colonial Williamsburg Foundation in Williamsburg, Va.
“This cake may be eaten as is – warm is great – with or without ice cream,” Godwin says. “Cream cheese icing can also be used as a topping. You may also top it with apricot glaze that has been thinned with apple cider (this is the way it is served at Chowning’s Tavern here in Williamsburg). The cake is also good with a streusel topping, so I have included that recipe too.”
Then, for those who want their apples, no ifs, ands or buts about it, except they prefer them in pie, not cake form, I’m rerunning an impossible recipe that readers raved about (and still do) the minute Lynnwood cook Bonnie Teeters shared it with us in a Sept. 2, 2002, Forum column.
Not only did this particular pie become an instant favorite, you Forum cooks continue to tell me that it’s the best, bar none, apple pie you’ve ever made or eaten. So good, in fact, that it never fails to generate compliments galore.
So, cake or pie? Take your pick:
Colonial Williamsburg apple-nut spice cake
4 apples, peeled, cored and chopped
2 cups sugar
2 eggs
1/2 pound (2 cubes) butter, melted
3 cups flour
2 teaspoons baking soda
2 teaspoons cinnamon
2 teaspoons allspice
2 teaspoons nutmeg
1 cup pecans, chopped
Ice cream or icing, glaze or streusel
Place apples in large bowl; pour sugar over them and let stand for 10 minutes to extract moisture from apples. Add eggs and butter and scrape the bowl. Stir in the flour, baking soda, cinnamon, allspice and nutmeg and scrape bowl well. Stir in pecans and pour batter into 2 greased and floured 9-inch cake pans, one 10-inch deep pan or a bundt pan. If desired, sprinkle streusel topping over batter now. Bake at 350 degrees about 30 minutes for 9-inch pans, longer for the 10-inch or bundt pan. Cake is done when a knife inserted in the center comes out clean.
Streusel topping
5 tablespoons butter
2cups flour
1/2 cup granulated sugar
Cinnamon and sugar
In mixing bowl, blend butter, flour and sugar together until crumbly. Spread evenly over batter, then lightly sprinkle with a mixture of cinnamon and sugar.
Impossible French apple pie
6cups sliced, pared tart apples
11/4 teaspoons ground cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
3/4 cup milk
2 tablespoons margarine or butter, softened
2 eggs
1 cup sugar
1/2 cup Bisquick baking mix
Streusel (recipe follows)
Heat oven to 325 degrees. Grease a 10-inch pie plate. Mix together the apples and spices; turn into greased pie plate. In mixing bowl, beat together the milk, margarine or butter, eggs, sugar and baking mix until mixture is smooth, 15 seconds in a blender on high or 1 minute with a hand beater. Pour over apple mixture. Sprinkle with streusel. Bake until a knife inserted in the center comes out clean, 55 to 65 minutes. Remove from oven and cool. Makes one 10-inch pie.
Streusel
1 cup Bisquick baking mix
1/2cup chopped nuts
1/3 cup brown sugar
3 tablespoons firm margarine or butter
In mixing bowl, mix together the baking mix, nuts, brown sugar and margarine or butter until crumbly.
The next Forum will appear in Friday’s Time Out section.
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