November is to apples what black is to bananas, i.e. nature’s alarm clock telling you it’s time to use ’em or toss ’em. As that siren grew louder, I spied my pile of ever-softening honey crisp apples with despair. Decisive action was necessary. Taking to my trusty recipe network, I found Old Fashioned Apple Cake on King Arthur and got to work. Unlike my signature “Best Apple Cake in the World” which takes lots of time, prep and requires three major kitchen appliances to complete, this was going to be a walk in the park.
Aside from the ingredients already in my pantry (Apples, Flour, 9 x 13 pan), I noted in the comments section of the recipe where people had successfully added carrots and raisins to the cake and cream cheese and boiled cider to the icing. (Boiled cider is on my list of ingredients that I pine for and will likely never have, because I never successfully get to the check out at King Arthur).
My inventory check revealed I had all those things, and I knew I needed to use them. Shockingly,the one thing I was missing was regular orange carrots. I had only baby carrots and a collection of strange colored carrots (white, red and dark red) that are fun to use in salads but have a distinctly different taste, and ergo not right for this project. I usually have a lot of dried fruit on hand, but at the time the only raisins I had were little boxes that I used to throw in my kids’ lunch. (They in turn, were likely hurled at their enemies, but never eaten). I had pecans, which I toasted to a nutty perfection but then did not include BECAUSE I AM NOT GOING TO COOK NUTS TWICE so don’t ask me to do it. They stayed in a bowl and were eaten by passers by who continued to inquire what I was making, and more importantly, when it would be ready. I used roasted, but untoasted pecans in the cake.
King Arthur advises you to “frost the cake while the frosting is still warm,” but I regarded that as Voodoo that results in runny frosting and ruined cake, so I opted for the “chill first” method. The comments in the recipe noted that cooling the frosting allows you to get a better handle on how sweet it will taste, and this is true– the first night the frosting tasted only a little sweet—despite being made almost entirely of two kinds of sugar. As the days wore on, the frosting did start to seem like it was too sweet, and perhaps we would have been better glazing the cake instead of a full, pile-on frosting.
Frosted or not, this is a nice little cake that thanks to the ginger and nutmeg has a great fall taste profile and is a worthy of use of apples that have been rejected due to softness or lack of crisp appearance. And remember, nature wants you to make cake. Why else would she turn bananas black or the calendar to November?
Old Fashioned Apple Cake
- 2 1/3 cups King Arthur Unbleached All-Purpose Flour
- 1 2/3 cups granulated sugar
- 2 teaspoons baking soda
- 3/4 teaspoon salt
- 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- 1/4 teaspoon ground ginger
- 1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
- 2 large eggs
- 2 tsp or 1 tblsp vanilla
- 1/2 cup (8 tablespoons) unsalted butter, softened
- 3 large apples (this was about 4+ cups)
- 1 large carrot or 4 baby carrots, shredded
- ~1/2 cup raisins, craisins, currants or dried fruit of your choice
- 1/2 cup diced pecans
Frosting
- 7 tablespoons unsalted butter
- 2/3 cup brown sugar
- 1 oz cream cheese
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 1/4 cup milk
- 2 1/2 cups confectioners’ sugar
- 1 tbsp vanilla extract
Preheat the oven to 325°F. Prepare a 9″ x 13″ pan. I used parchment paper and PAM. You can grease and flour if you like.
1) Mix the dry ingredients (except the sugar) in one bowl. Mix the sugar, butter and eggs and vanilla (in that order) in a stand mixer until satiny.
2) Add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients. Just combine (don’t OVERMIX). Then add the apples and carrots. Just combine (don’t OVERMIX!). Chop and add nuts.
3) Spread the batter in the prepared pan.
4) Bake for 45 minutes, or until a toothpick comes out clean.
5) Remove the cake from the oven and cool completely; don’t remove the cake from the pan.
To make the frosting:
1) Melt the butter in a small pan over medium heat. Stir in the brown sugar and salt and cook, stirring, until the sugar melts.
2) Add the milk, bring to a boil, and pour into a mixing bowl to cool for 10 minutes.
3) After 10 minutes, stir in the cream cheese, confectioners’ sugar and vanilla. Taste and add salt. Beat on high; if the mixture appears liquidy, add more confectioners’ sugar. If too crumbly, you can add more milk or vanilla. Chill frosting in mixing bowl. This will give the frosting a chance to cool as well as the cake. This is good for everyone.
4) Frost the cake. Keep a light touch; the frosting is very sweet.
Master of Low Arts 