Guest Post: Jewish Apple Cake

This guest post is from my smart, athletic, and witty friend, Wendy.  Our group of friends is always excited when Wendy brings this cake to gatherings.  It is delicious.  I made it just this week with help from my mom and husband and it made the house even smell delicious.  Enjoy.




Dear Katie,

You asked that I share with you my recipe for Jewish apple cake.  I'm really excited to participate, so ... thanks for asking.

I make this apple cake every Thanksgiving for my boyfriend Dave and his family. I also tend to make an additional one that I can eat all by myself -- and sometimes share with my friends Katie and Brian.

It's a fairly simple recipe. The only trick is to pick the right kind of apples.  I usually start with at least two granny smith apples.  They're tart and firmer than many other types of apples, so they hold up well in baking and tend not to get too mushy throughout the cooking process. Fuji, Gala, and Rome apples are also excellent options.  Many times, I'll use two or more different types of apples in the cake to make a more interesting flavor.  In my opinion, the more apples, the more moist the cake and the more delicious the final product.  The recipe, for example, calls for 3 apples.  But I usually use four or four plus!

Here are the ingredients:

3 cups of all purpose flour

1/2 teaspoon of salt

2 1/2 teaspoons of baking powder

1 cup of vegetable oil

4 eggs

2 cups of white sugar

1/4 cup of orange juice

2 teaspoons of vanilla extract

3 (or 4 or maybe five!) apples, peeled, cored, and thinly sliced

2 teaspoons of ground cinnamon (I use a bit more than 2)

5 teaspoons of white sugar (go heavy on this, too -- it's sugar!!)

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees, and grease a 10 inch bundt cake pan. 

Combine the cinnamon and the sugar together.  This creates such a wonderful smell.  Just remember ... tigers love pepper.  Hate cinnamon. 

In a separate bowl, mix the slices of apple in most of the cinnamon sugar mixture, coating each slice in the mixture. Set aside.  Save a small bit of the mixture for later.

Beat the eggs in a separate bowl.

In a large bowl, combine the flour, salt, baking powder, and 2 cups of sugar. Stir in the vegetable oil, beaten eggs, orange juice, and vanilla.  Mix well.

Line the bundt pan with a layer of the cinnamon sugared apples, and then pour some of the batter on top of the apple layer.  Keep creating layers of apple slices and then pouring batter over it.  Make sure to keep some apple slices for the very top layer.  When the apple slices are gone, look in the bowl in which they were resting.  There should be some apple cinnamon-sugar juice in the bowl, which is a great addition to the cake.  Simply pour the sugary liquid on top of the cake.  

Bake the cake at 350 degrees for about 70 minutes.  The cake should be moist, but should not stick to a toothpick that is poked into it.  The toothpick should come out rather clean after poked into the cake.

The cake should slide out of the pan if you greased it properly.  Coat the cake with the remaining cinnamon sugar.  Or you can use powdered sugar.  Or you can use both.

This cake is a great fall treat, and a tradition for my new family.