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Is there something wrong with this recipe?


Norm Matthews

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On 9/24/2016 at 7:55 PM, Norm Matthews said:

 

Babette Friedman’s Apple Cake

    •    JOAN NATHAN YIELD8 to 10 servings TIME1 hour 15 minutes 

This simple, rustic cake is perfect for a holiday celebration or any other occasion.

Featured in: In Successful Paris Restaurant, Jewish Roots

 

INGREDIENTS

    •    8 ounces (2 sticks) unsalted butter, more for greasing pan

    •    1 ⅓ cups plus 1 tablespoon sugar

    •    ⅛ teaspoon salt

    •    2 large eggs

    •    2 cups all-purpose flour

    •    2 teaspoons baking powder

    •    4 Gala or other flavorful apples, peeled, cored and each cut into 8 slices

    •    ½ teaspoon Calvados or apple brandy

    •    1 teaspoon freshly grated ginger

    •    ½ teaspoon ground cinnamon

Nutritional analysis per serving (8 servings)

472 calories; 24 grams fat; 15 grams saturated fat; 0 grams trans fat; 6 grams monounsaturated fat; 1 gram

polyunsaturated fat; 59 grams carbohydrates; 0 grams dietary fiber; 34 grams sugars; 5 grams protein; 107

milligrams cholesterol; 149 milligrams sodium

PREPARATION

    1    Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Butter a 9-inch springform pan, and set aside.

    2    In bowl of an electric mixer fitted with a whisk attachment, combine remaining 8 ounces butter, 1 1/3 cups sugar and the salt. Mix until blended. Add eggs and whisk until smooth. Using a rubber spatula, gently fold in the flour and baking powder until thoroughly mixed. Fold in a few of the apples, and spread batter evenly in pan.

    3    In large bowl, toss remaining apples with Calvados, ginger and cinnamon. Arrange apple slices in closely fitting concentric circles on top of dough; all the slices may not be needed. Sprinkle remaining 1 tablespoon sugar over apples.

    4    Bake until a toothpick inserted into center of cake dough comes out clean and apples are golden and tender, about 50 minutes. Serve warm or at room temperature.

 

 

I made this recipe today but made changes in it because I didn't trust it as it read.  I added about a cup and a half of milk and didn't use nearly all the apples.  I put a fine dice on the apples mixed into the "batter" (which was more like a dough before I added liquid) instead of adding sliced apples as implied in the recipe.  I probably used two and a half which was about 3 cups.  It was crazy to try to cream the butter and sugar with a whisk. I changed to a flat beater with much better results and I added the dry ingredients, apples, and milk with the flat beater instead of folding them in.  The cake turned out OK with the changes I made and looks pretty much like the picture that came with the recipe.  Here is my cake. I could not get the picture from the recipe to desktop so I could not transfer it to this post.  It took about 75 minuted to bake.  After I visited two liquor stores and didn't find any apple brandy, son gave me some apple flavored Crown Royal.  

 

 

 

 

DSCN3756.jpg

 

Your cake looks like it came out great, Norm. I too would be suspicious of a recipe for cake with no moisture except from the eggs and butter as well. I'm not a good enough baker to offer a qualified opinion, but it might interest you that I watched Lidia Bastianich prepare a similar cake on PBS today. She attributed the recipe to her grandmother, so perhaps not much altering going on with it? Here's a link to her grandma's recipe

> ^ . . ^ <

 

 

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Lydia's recipe looks very similar to the one I attempted. I don't bake cakes very often and next time I should try the recipe as written before trying to change it. Thanks for the Crepes Thanks for your compliment. My cake did turn out as I expected with the changes I made. My son really liked it.

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For what it's worth, the apple cake in Payard's first book is wonderful.  It took me a while to figure out how he was trying to explain arranging the apple slices in the loaf pan; but the cake itself is terrific. Now if only I could find my copy of the book, I could make it again....

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