Apple Pound Cake
Barbara Speer, one of my mother’s closest friends, is a gem of a lady who always has a smile on her face and warm words to share. Barbara is also a wonderful supporter of Desserts Required. She posts comments on the blog (which I LOVE) and she emails me, as well.
Last week, Barbara popped me an email and at the end of it commented that she was looking forward to my Rosh Hashanah recipes. I would not call my immediate reaction one of ‘panic;’ but it did dawn on me that it was most definitely time to focus on the holiday.
Around the same time that Barbara sent me the email, Liz Balmaseda, the Food Editor of the Palm Beach Post, contacted me about baking a recipe for a story she was working on for the holidays. We opted for Cookie Baked Apple Pie, because it is both unusual and incredibly delicious.
As I was sautéing the apples over the stove for the Cookie Baked Apple Pie, I thought that these would also be a fabulous way to incorporate apples into other desserts. Apples are typically dipped in honey at Rosh Hashanah to symbolize the sweetness of the New Year. I am not a lover of honey, as a main dessert ingredient, so the apples would have to shine alone.
Well, not exactly alone, but rather with some other ingredients to pull a dessert together. I decided that a sour cream cake with baked apples mixed in would be divine. I first tried to incorporate 2/3’s of the apples into the batter and have a ‘surprise’ layer of apples in the middle of the cake. This failed, because the cake pretty much came apart at the middle seam.
Not to be dissuaded by a line around the cake that resembled the fault line of an earthquake, I dusted the top with confectioners sugar and served it at a luncheon. Everyone loved the taste. I knew I was on to something.
The second round brought me to the realization that 5 apples were just too many for one cake to incorporate. Given that the flavor was so good, I decided to give the cake a third try. Just as Goldilocks discovered in her world, my cake was just right.
Apple Pound Cake is bursting with cinnamon flavored baked apples that are mixed into the sour cream cake base before being transferred to the pan. The aroma permeating the kitchen while it bakes is heavenly. Additionally, the moistness from the apples and sour cream will keep you coming back for one more slice.
To Barbara and all of my family and friends observing Rosh Hashanah, L’Shana Tova Tikatevu – “May you be inscribed (in the Book of Life) for a good year.”
| Apple Pound Cake | | Print |
- Apples:
- 2¼ tablespoons unsalted butter
- 3½ golden delicious apples
- 6 tablespoons sugar
- Juice of ¼ of a lemon
- ¾ teaspoon ground cinnamon
- Cake:
- 2¾ cups all purpose flour
- ½ teaspoon baking soda
- 14 tablespoons unsalted butter, softened
- 2½ cups sugar
- 5 large eggs
- 1 cup sour cream
- 1½ teaspoons vanilla extract
- confectioners sugar
- For the apples:
- Melt the butter in a large sauté pan. Peel and core the apples and slice in large wedges (there will be about 8 wedges per apple). Cut each wedge in half and add to the pan. Sauté the apples, sugar, lemon juice and cinnamon over medium heat, covered, for 10 minutes, stirring periodically. Uncover and continue to cook the apples until they are soft and the juices in the pan have evaporated. Cool completely.
- For the cake:
- Preheat the oven to 325˚. Set aside a 14 cup bundt pan.
- Whisk flour and baking soda together in a small mixing bowl. Set aside.
- Cream the butter and sugar until light and fluffy, about 3 minutes, scraping the bowl down as needed. Add the eggs, one at a time, until combined. Add in vanilla.
- On low speed, mix in one-half of the dry ingredients then add the sour cream. Add the remaining dry ingredients, scraping the bowl down in between additions. Gently fold the cooled apples into the cake batter.
- Grease the bundt pan (I prefer Baker’s Joy® for this cake) with non-stick cooking spray. Pour the batter into the pan. Bake at 325˚ for 1 hour and 15 minutes. Cool in the pan for 10 minutes before inverting onto a cooling rack.
- Dust with confectioners sugar once the cake cools.
- Betsy's tidbit:
- Apple Pound Cake freezes beautifully.
