Rustic Apple Cake

Sorry, pumpkin spice lovers, my favorite fall flavor is apple. I love apple pie, apple cider, caramel apples, apple butter, apples with peanut butter, Waldorf salad and even apples with pork chops. Growing up, I enjoyed picking apples at my Grandmother's house, and finding pecans ready to crack open under the tree at my great Grandmother's house. 

My great Grandmother Doskie Gordon Faison was born in 1884 in North Carolina. Doskie is a Scottish surname, and I suppose her Mother had run out of names when she gave birth to her 11th child. Granny, as we all called her, lived through an extraordinary century. Two World Wars, the Great Depression in between, the invention of penicillin and vaccines - she saw it all. Granny lived to be 101 years old. She fell and broke her hip during her 100th year, and moved into a nursing home, after having lived for decades on her own. Granny's funeral in 1985 was on Easter Sunday, a coincidence she would've enjoyed. I was 15 years old.

The constant I most remember about Granny's house was pound cake. Regardless of whether she was expecting company or not, she always had a pound cake of some variety available. In retrospect, I wonder if always having a cake baked was in response to growing up poor and living through some very difficult times, when the ingredients to a cake were hard to come by. "Let them eat cake" might have been her motto late in life, but for the exact opposite reasons that Marie Antoinette allegedly made that statement. (She probably didn't actually say that, but that's another story.) Granny baked and ate cake simply because she could.

This apple cake recipe is not my great Grandmother's, but it makes me think of her, and combines some of my favorite fall flavors. I hope you will enjoy it.

INGREDIENTS

• 1/2 cup raisins or dried cranberries

• 3 tablespoons Applejack liquor, rum, whisky, Brandy or warm water

• 1 3/4 cups whole wheat flour

• 1 teaspoon baking powder

• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda

• 1 teaspoon ground allspice

• 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

• 1 teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg

• 1/4 teaspoon ground cloves 

• (As an alternative to the 4 spices above, you can substitute 3 ½ teaspoons of Apple Pie spice. I use Penzey’s and it’s delicious.)

• 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt

• ¾ cup (packed) light brown sugar 

• ½  cup granulated sugar

• 1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, softened

• 3 large eggs

• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract

• 3 Golden Delicious apples, peeled, cored, and cut into 1/2-inch dice (about 4 cups) Any apple can be substituted, I usually use Gala apples, unpeeled

• 1 cup (4 ounces) pecans, coarsely chopped

• 1/3 cup crystallized ginger, finely chopped (If desired)

METHOD

• In a small bowl, combine the raisins and rum or liquor of your choice. Let stand until raisins plump, about 1 hour. Drain, discarding rum, and set aside.

• Position rack in middle of oven and preheat to 350°F. Lightly butter a 10 inch bundt pan, then dust with flour, knocking out excess.

• In a large mixing bowl or bowl of electric mixer, sift together flour, baking powder, baking soda, allspice, cinnamon, nutmeg, cloves, and salt. Add brown and granulated sugars, butter, eggs, and vanilla. Using an electric mixer, beat on high speed, scraping down sides of bowl with rubber spatula as needed, about 3 minutes for handheld mixer or 2 minutes for standing mixer. 

• Stir in apples, pecans, ginger (if desired), and raisins. Spoon into prepared pan and smooth top.

• Bake until a wooden pick or skewer inserted in the center of the cake comes out clean and the cake just shrinks from sides of the pan, about 45 minutes to an hour depending on your oven. Cool the cake in the bundt pan on a rack for at least 10 minutes, then invert and unmold onto the rack and cool completely. 

This cake can be made up to 3 days ahead and stored at room temperature, wrapped tightly in plastic wrap or in a cake box. It’s better the second day as the apples continue to break down and add moisture to the cake. 

If desired, this cake can be topped with a vanilla, caramel or Eggnog sauce. However, I find it’s not necessary. 

-Rebecca 

(Modified from a recipe on Epicurious.com, this recipe uses whole wheat flour and about half the sugar in the original.)