In our test of the original recipe from Uprisings, The Whole Grain Bakers’ Book, we used Granny Smith apples, which are crispy, juicy, and rather tart. To sweeten the cake without adding sugar, we baked another version, using a mixture of Granny Smith and Delicious apples — both Red Delicious and Golden — which proved very satisfactory.
Oh, and the comments? Well, how about an enthusiastic “Ummm, scrumptious!” and “This is really good!” Add to these remarks the fact that the apple cake is easy to make and you’ll see why we feel this is an apple-icious winner.
Apple Cake
• 1/2 pound of butter, softened
• 1 1/2 cups plus
• 1 tablespoon of honey
• 3 tablespoons of vanilla
• 1 cup of yogurt (or buttermilk)
• 2 1/2 cups of unbleached flour
• 2 cups of whole wheat pastry flour
• 2 teaspoons of baking powder
• 2 teaspoons of baking soda
• 1 teaspoon of nutmeg
• 4 teaspoons of cinnamon
• 3/4 cup of chopped walnuts
• 3 1/2 cups of chopped apples, mixed types
Cream the butter and honey together until smooth. Add the beaten eggs, vanilla, and yogurt, and stir well. In a separate (large) bowl, combine the flours, baking powder, baking soda, and spices. Add the butter/honey mixture, the chopped walnuts and the apples, and stir everything together. Pour the batter into two greased 9″ round pans, and bake at 350°F for about 45 minutes, until a knife inserted in the center comes out clean. Remove the pans from the oven, let the cakes cool, and serve portions with whipped cream.
Uprisings uses only whole wheat flour in its apple cake recipe and suggests garnishing the top with nuts. Although our test of this original version turned out well, most members of our crew preferred the variation we present here. Every family has its own taste preferences, though, so we were pleased to see that this recipe lends itself to creative experimentation.
For more recipes seeA Is for Appleicious: Delicious Apple Recipes.
