I don’t really like cake. There, I’ve said it. I don’t often speak about my odd cake aversion in public because, well, what kind of weirdo doesn’t like cake? It’s socially unacceptable. It’s the same as not liking dogs; it makes a person seem cold-hearted and essentially untrustworthy.
But my actual opinion is that cake is often too dry or too sweet or there’s too much frosting. Same goes for cupcakes — the cake-to-frosting ratio is way off, and you end up eating a tablespoon of frosting for every bite of cake. I just don’t want that much frosting. I’m already sweet enough, although some may beg to differ on that point.
There are some cakes that I like well enough, but I usually prefer other things for dessert, including (but not limited to) pie, cobbler, ice cream, chocolate mousse, crème brulee, cheesecake, pudding and Fudgsicles. I would take any of those over cake, with a few exceptions. The exceptions are: I am being offered cake and none of those other things are available.
Occasionally I’ll get a craving for a wedge of triple-decker chocolate cake or a tender carrot cake with pineapple and raisins and tangy cream cheese frosting. I’m genuinely enthusiastic about lemon poke cake. It’s an irresistible combination of tart and sweet, and the pudding in the batter makes it so moist that it doesn’t need any frosting. I also like rhubarb coffee cake because it’s full of rhubarb and has a sugary streusel topping. Basically, I prefer cake that’s not too cakey.
Apple Vanilla Cake
2 large apples, peeled, cored and diced
¼ teaspoon salt
½ cup (1 stick) butter, softened
1 cup flour
⅔ cup sugar plus 2 tablespoons for sprinkling
2 eggs
2 teaspoons vanilla
1 teaspoon orange zest (optional)
¼ teaspoon almond extract (optional)
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Peel, core and dice two large apples. Cream together one stick of softened butter and 2/3 cup granulated sugar. Add 2 eggs and 2 teaspoons of vanilla and beat until smooth. Sift together 1 cup flour, 1 teaspoon baking powder and ¼ teaspoon salt. Add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients and mix until evenly moistened. Fold in the apple chunks and stir until incorporated. Spoon the batter into a greased and floured 12-inch cake pan. Sprinkle 1 or 2 tablespoons of granulated sugar generously over the top of the batter. Pop the whole thing in the preheated oven and set the timer for 40 minutes. Allow the cake cool to nearly room temperature and then dust it with a generous amount of powdered sugar before serving.
That’s why I adore this Apple Vanilla Cake. It’s not a very puffy cake — it’s only an inch or two thick, more like pie — and it has no frosting, just a sprinkle of sugar. But mostly I like it because there are so many juicy apple chunks. It’s not apple-flavored cake with an occasional bit of apple; there’s an apple in every mouthful, exactly as much apple as there is cake. What’s more, it’s easy to whip up and doesn’t need any complicated culinary know-how or call for unusual ingredients like Sumatran vanilla pods or twice-distilled crabapple essence or candied lark’s beak from Dangle-upon-Blobsmere in Outer Yorkshire. It’s just plain vanilla cake with a whole lot of apples. So let’s get applin’!
Preheat your oven to 350 degrees. Peel, core and dice two large apples. I had a Honeycrisp and a Gala in my crisper, so that’s what I used, but I imagine that tart baking apples like Granny Smith would be delicious and pink Hidden Rose apples would be so pretty nestled in the yellow cake. I diced them into small-to-medium chunks, about 1/2-inch square.
Next, cream together one stick of butter and 2/3 cup granulated sugar. Add 2 eggs and 2 teaspoons of vanilla and beat until smooth. I also added 1 teaspoon of dried orange zest because I happened to have some on hand from a recent article about how to use orange peel. You could add fresh orange zest or omit it altogether. I nearly added a teaspoon of fresh ginger but the fact is that I add ginger to practically everything and my poor ginger-afflicted family gets tired of it. In the end, my burst of creativity was limited to 1/4 teaspoon almond extract. On balance, I don’t think the cake needs anything except the vanilla.
Sift together 1 cup flour, 1 teaspoon baking powder and ¼ teaspoon salt. Add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients and mix until evenly moistened. Fold in the apple chunks and stir until incorporated. Spoon the batter into a greased and floured 12-inch cake pan. I don’t have a true cake pan (that tells you how much I like cake, doesn’t it?), but I do have a springform pan that I got for a wedding present almost 30 years ago and it works just fine. In fact, it might even be better for this cake since the apples can get stuck to the sides of the pan.
The batter will just about cover the bottom of the pan. It’s kind of a thin cake, so don’t think you’ve made a mistake and should have more batter. It’s fine. Now take a handful of granulated sugar — 1 or 2 tablespoons — and sprinkle it generously over the top of the batter. Pop the whole thing in the preheated oven and set the timer for 40 minutes. Sit back and make yourself a cup of coffee and enjoy the rich smell of apples and vanilla, filling your whole house the most delicious fragrance. When the buzzer dings, pull out your beautiful golden cake dotted with soft apple chunks and let your mouthwatering commence. Allow the cake cool to nearly room temperature and then dust it with a generous amount of powdered sugar. Pour yourself another cup of coffee and enjoy a big, warm wedge. It’s so delicious, it doesn’t even need any lark’s beak.
Monika Spykerman, 360-735-4556, monika.spykerman@colubmian.com, @monikasplayfulpantry
