Tuesday, March 18, 2014

The best apple cake ever

This recipe comes from a Pillsbury Bake Off cookbook from the late 1960s that my mom received as a wedding gift.  It's a really good cake and a great way to use up extra apples, particularly any that might be bruised or getting soft.
The recipe below is for a single batch of the cake, which would fit into a pie plate.  In the photos below, I used a 10 1/2" deep dish (3") Fire King pie plate that was my grandmother's.  For that size, I doubled the recipe.  When I make the cake for an 8 1/2" x 11" pan,

Apple Impromtu
[All measurements in this post are for  a single recipe, for a 8" pie plate.  Double if using a deep dish 10 1/2" pie plate.  Triple if using an 8 1/2" x 11" pan]

4 c sliced apples
1/4 c sugar
1/2 tsp cinnamon

Put apples into a well greased pan.  Mix together sugar and cinnamon and sprinkle over the apples. Bake covered at 400 degrees for 20 minutes.  (I tend to bake them longer, creating a bit more of an applesauce texture.)




Cake:

1 T butter
1/2 c sugar
1 egg
1 tsp vanilla
1/2 c flour
1/2 tsp baking powder

Cream together the butter and sugar.  Add the egg and vanilla, then mix well.  Finally, add the flour and baking powder to the mixture and mix until just blended.

Spread the batter over the cooked apples.  Note that the batter is very thick and will need to be scooped and pushed into place over your apples.
Bake at 400 degrees for 20-25 minutes.  If you've doubled or tripled your recipe, you'll need to cook longer.  For the cake below, it took 40 minutes to bake.  Start checking the cake at 20 minutes.  It should be brown on top and a toothpick should come out clean.  Underbaking this cake is not a good thing at all.
Store leftovers in the fridge.  The cake is good cold as well as warm.

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