Sunday Baking Series: Apple Cake, or “The Best Homemade Dessert We’ve Ever Had”

Hubtastic has decided that he’d like to become The Baker of the family, while I remain The Cook.  I love that idea, because he’s a scientific-perfectionist and I’m much more about whimsical improvisation, which I hope is evident from the entire premise of this website.  To help him gain some confidence in his baking skills, we’ve decided to spend our Sunday afternoons taking on various baking projects as a team, as I have a few years’ experience as a baker for a tiny coffee shop.

Baking, though it requires some precision, is a wonderful way to help timid cooks become more comfortable in the kitchen.  Typically, the ingredients are fairly cheap, which means massive mistakes aren’t all that harrowing.  Also, baked goods usually aren’t the base of a meal, so if everything does go wrong, you still don’t have to scramble to figure out what else to eat (but you do miss out on a good treat).  The pressure is usually off in regards to timing, with the exception of short steps here and there, so the experience is less frantic.  Baking helps a fledgling cook get used to kitchen tools and the heat of the oven, and helps them hone sensory observation skills.  And the reward at the end is as appealing, if not far more appealing, than after cooking!

Our local farmstand has a massive selection of apples from all over Massachusetts, which inspired our project today.  Hubtastic doesn’t like pumpkin (I know, right?!?) which eliminates many Fall dishes, but apples are something we can both agree on.  Our original idea was apple bread, which I make frequently, but when we started looking for recipes, something far more sophisticated caught our eye:

French Apple Cake, which is actually about 60% apples, 30% custard, and 10% cake, appeared to be the perfect way to warm up our kitchen on a cold October afternoon.  This version in particular, from esteemed chef Dorie Greenspan, intentionally required four different kinds of apples, which was ideal for our apple-overload situation at the farmstand.  I was also particularly attracted to the description, which recounted how the originator baked the cake through instinct, not instructions- my kind of baker!

I bought four apples with diverse qualities, ranging from “mealy and good for applesauce” to “very tart with slow browning.”  The recipe recommended “large” apples, but when I cut them up, it appeared as though there were far too many.  In a strange twist from normality, Hubtastic wanted to diverge from the recipe and cut back a bit, but I insisted, since I had never made anything like this before, to follow the recipe and use all the apples.

While I peeled and cut the apples, Hubtastic practiced his ingredient-measuring and whisking techniques.  The process was deceptively simple, with just the flour, salt, and baking powder mixed in one bowl, and the eggs whisked with sugar, spiced rum, and vanilla in another.  Everything is combined in tandem with some melted butter to create a batter.

This recipe was a perfect opportunity to practice measuring skills without having to worry about over-mixing the batter, as it is meant to be dense and moist.  Watching the melted butter and flour mixture transform the batter from soupy to something reminiscent of texture of homemade icing made me want to faceplant right into the unbaked mix.

Even though we followed the recipe exactly, we still had to use some baker’s intuition to know when the cake was ready to be taken out of the oven, as the excess of apples caused it to bake a little slower. 

It did indeed seem, at the time, like Hubtastic was right and we should have cut back on the amount of apples, but only tasting would tell the truth.  I ultimately decided to take it out as the outer edge pulled away from the pan, even though there was still a little softness in the middle.

After a painful cooling period, during which we took a walk to our town square’s Harvest Fair, we finally got to dig in.  We paired the apple cake with a local beer and a football game.

Despite our hesitation about the excessive apples, the cake came out rustic and completely charming.  The variety of apples truly emerged in various bites- some tart and crisp, and others practically dissolved.  The use of spiced rum, rather than dark rum as recommended, added a tinge of fall spices, and the alcohol was irreplaceable in its ability to transport the flavor of the apple into the rest of the batter.

The texture, despite looking very dense and wet, was perfectly custardy with a slight airiness typical of white cake.  And that outer crust- ah!- sweet, buttery, crisp, and caramelized.  It was a perfect contrast to the soft interior.

Bonus points for the fact that the cake is specifically meant to sit out uncovered, and evidently it gets better with the passage of time.  But we may not ever find that out.  By the end of the day, we only had a tiny wedge left.

The kitchen is a wonderful place of bonding, and I hope you start bringing the ones you love in to the kitchen too.  The foods that result from a day of cooking with others are downright snuggly and restorative.  But I have to admit, I can’t wait to come home to a baked good that Hubtastic makes on his own!