It's October, and even here in the sunny, hot Southland, we can actually say that autumn has arrived. And what goes hand in hand with cool weather? Baked goods with apples, of course! This week's assignment for the Tuesdays With Dorie baking group is Apple Nut Muffin Cake, a very timely selection.
n.o.e.'s notes:
- This week's recipe was chosen by Katrina of Baking and Boys - click over to her post to find the recipe.
- Anything baked with apples is likely to be popular at my house, so I made an extra-big batch of this cake: 1.5 recipe in 4 muffin-sized loaf pans and one larger square pan. I bought this pan a year ago when I was in London - I love the very square corners and the removable bottom, which makes releasing the cake from the pan an absolute breeze.
- The recipe does have lots of ingredients, but it's not a difficult cake, since the preparation consists mostly in measuring. The method is simple and uses two bowls, a whisk and a spatula to combine the ingredients to make the cake batter.
- I had every intention of following the recipe - really I did - but as I went along, I made a few changes here and there. To start with, I used freshly ground whole wheat flour for 1/3 of the flour.
- To reduce the glycemic load, I cut the sugar by 1/3, and used palm sugar rather than white granulated sugar.
- The recipe calls for apple cider or apple juice. I used a mixture of King Arthur boiled cider and apple juice.
- I used chopped walnuts for the nuts, and to amplify the walnut flavor I substituted walnut oil for 1/3 of the oil in the recipe.
- I added a bit more salt, but next time I would increase the salt even a bit more.
- I'm not sure what kind of apples went into my cake - they were an unidentified variety from my farm box. I cut a bit more than the recipe specified.
the verdict:
Warm from the oven, the cake's texture was soft and the flavors blended beautifully. The pieces of chopped apple provided bursts of flavor. I would add a touch of nutmeg next time.
We enjoyed this cake for breakfast with salted butter. In fact, this cake was on the breakfast menu for a week, and it only improved with time.
6 comments:
Love those cake pans! And your cake looks so good. Love all your healthy changes, too. Thanks for baking along with me!
Oh, pan love and envy here...those little ones are so cute and that London pan is very very nice, removable bottom in a pan like that I have never seen. Your cakes all look wonderful and inviting, would love to sit down to a slice of this on any given day. Btw, I'm not buying that comment one single bit how you were trying to make the recipe as written without tinkering this week...nope, not buying that for a second...LOL LOL LOL. All your tinkering is what we all live for...we learn! And we are all very appreciative of all that tinkering.
You're always so good about making the recipes a little healthier Nancy! Meanwhile I turned mine into muffins and added a streusel to make them even sweeter :) The loaves look great, love those minis.
Love your loafs! Sounds delicious with all your changes.
I can imagine how great your loaf was with all the tasty changes. I always think, "Now why didn't I think of that?" Which is why we depend on you to think for us!!!!
I thought about using some whole wheat flour, but didn't. Next time! I love that we're finally to the time of year when I'll use my boiled cider more (yes, some made it into my cake, too). I did go in a rather non-healthy direction and added streusel to the top of my cake. =) Oh, and I agree--needs more salt next time.
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