Sacramento Digs Gardening Article
Your resource for Sacramento-area gardening news, tips and events

Articles Recipe Index Keyword Index Calendar Twitter Facebook Instagram About Us Contact Us

The flavors of apple pie, but a lot easier to make

Recipe: Baked in a tart pan, this cake can be breakfast or dessert

Sacramento Digs Gardening
BY Kathy Morrison PUBLISHED OCT 21, 2018

Apple pie-cake is a delicious fall dessert or brunch cake.
(Photos: Kathy Morrison)

Apple pie is one of my specialties, but even I don’t always want to spend the time to make one. Yet fall baking is all about apples, and there are myriad other ways to celebrate this wonderful fruit.

I went looking for something easy to put together, yet which has all the flavors of apple pie. The homey cake recipe here fits the bill pretty well. It could be served at brunch or for dessert, depending on how you dress it up. The crunchy top is a bonus.

Originally published in Food52’s “Baking” cookbook as Easy-As-Pie Apple Cake, this recipe was featured in the New York Times in 2015 in a roundup of new baking cookbooks.

NYT’s Cooking website is the only online site where I make a point to read the comments. The readers who subscribe are all types, of course, but they do actually cook the recipes they comment on. So when a majority of the 207 commenters on this recipe said “way too sweet,” I knew to cut back the sugar. What's listed here is half the original amount, and brown sugar is subbed for some of the granulated.

Just about any mildly tart to very tart apple will work. And it can be peeled or not, though the late-season apples with tougher skin (see Debbie’s post here ) should probably be peeled. I used Granny Smiths because I had them. (Thanks, Debbie!)

The spices here form a good balance with the apples, but if you like very spicy cake, up the cinnamon and/or the allspice by another ½ teaspoon total.

One word about nuts: My family is mostly nut-averse when it comes to baked goods, but this recipe would be excellent with toasted walnuts, almonds (blanched ones) or pecans. Adjust as you desire.

Apple pie-cake

Adapted from Food52’s “Baking” via the New York Times
Serves 8

Butter, sugars, spices and vanilla enhance the apple flavor

Ingredients:

4 tablespoons (½ stick) unsalted butter, room temperature, plus more for preparing the pan

1 cup all-purpose flour, plus more for preparing the pan

¼ teaspoon baking soda

¼ teaspoon kosher salt

¼ cup granulated sugar

¼ cup brown sugar, packed

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

½ teaspoon ground cinnamon

½ teaspoon ground allspice

¼ teaspoon nutmeg (freshly grated if available)

1 egg

2 cups diced apple (from about 2 large), peeled or unpeeled as desired

½ cup toasted nuts, such as pecans or walnuts, chopped (OPTIONAL)

Coarse sugar of your preference, for sprinkling (OPTIONAL)

Instructions:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Butter and flour a 9-inch tart pan or quiche pan with removable bottom. (A 9-inch round cake pan will also work.)

Stir the 1 cup of flour together with the baking soda and salt in a small bowl. Set aside.

In a larger bowl, cream the 4 tablespoons of butter with both sugars, the vanilla and spices. Add the egg and beat until smooth.

Add the flour mixture and mix again until smooth. The batter won’t look like much, and will be very thick, but that’s correct. With a flexible spatula, blend in the apples and (if using them) the chopped nuts.

Spread the batter in the prepared pan, smoothing the top. You might have to push it to the edges with the spatula.

If desired, sprinkle the coarse sugar over the surface of the cake. (I used not quite a tablespoon of demerara sugar.)

Bake cake in the center of the oven for 35-40 minutes, until it is a nice golden brown. A toothpick inserted in center should come out clean.

Let cool slightly. If the pan has a removable bottom, nudge the cake out carefully while it is still warm. If a cake pan was used, cool cake 10 minutes, then run a thin knife around the edge of the pan. Invert the cake carefully onto a wire rack, then invert again onto a plate so the crispy top is face-up.

Serve with whipped cream or ice cream, if desired.

Comments

0 comments have been posted.

RECIPE

A recipe for preparing delicious meals from the bounty of the garden.

Keywords:

apples baking recipes gardening Sacramento recipe fall fruit produce management farm to fork fall food

Newsletter Subscription

Sacramento Digs Gardening to your inbox.

Taste Spring! E-cookbook

Find our spring recipes here!

Local News

Thanks to our sponsor!

Sites We Like

Garden Checklist for week of April 21

This week there’s plenty to keep gardeners busy. With no rain in the immediate forecast, remember to irrigate any new transplants.

* Weed, weed, weed! Get them before they flower and go to seed.

* April is the last chance to plant citrus trees such as dwarf orange, lemon and kumquat. These trees also look good in landscaping and provide fresh fruit in winter.

* Smell orange blossoms? Feed citrus trees with a low dose of balanced fertilizer (such as 10-10-10) during bloom to help set fruit. Keep an eye out for ants.

* Apply slow-release fertilizer to the lawn.

* Thoroughly clean debris from the bottom of outdoor ponds or fountains.

* Spring brings a flush of rapid growth, and that means your garden is really hungry. Feed shrubs and trees with a slow-release fertilizer. Or mulch with a 1-inch layer of compost.

* Azaleas and camellias looking a little yellow? If leaves are turning yellow between the veins, give them a boost with chelated iron.

* Trim dead flowers but not leaves from spring-flowering bulbs such as daffodils and tulips. Those leaves gather energy to create next year's flowers. Also, give the bulbs a fertilizer boost after bloom.

* Pinch chrysanthemums back to 12 inches for fall flowers. Cut old stems to the ground.

* Mulch around plants to conserve moisture and control weeds.

* From seed, plant beans, beets, cantaloupes, carrots, corn, cucumbers, melons, radishes and squash.

* Plant onion sets.

* In the flower garden, plant seeds for asters, cosmos, celosia, marigolds, salvia, sunflowers and zinnias.

* Transplant petunias, zinnias, geraniums and other summer bloomers.

* Plant perennials and dahlia tubers for summer bloom.

* Mid to late April is about the last chance to plant summer bulbs, such as gladiolus and tuberous begonias.

* Transplant lettuce seedlings. Choose varieties that mature quickly such as loose leaf.

Taste Summer! E-cookbook

Find our summer recipes here!

Taste Fall! E-cookbook

Find our fall recipes here!

Taste Winter! E-cookbook

Find our winter recipes here!