Apple Cake - The Classic ~ #TheCakeSliceBakers

'Tis the season for Fall baking and this Apple Cake, studded with tender 

apples and rum-soaked raisins is perfect for this time of the year. 

The Cake Slice Bakers continue to bake through - Gâteau: The Surprising Simplicity of French Cakes by Aleksandra Crapanzano this year. Aleksandra, a James Beard Award–winning writer, shares her secrets of the cakes Parisians like to bake at home. Recipes such as a simple yogurt cake, a surprisingly easy Bûche De Noël, and Walnut Pear and Roquefort Madeleines will show you the surprising simplicity of a French cake.

The Cake Slice Bakers are a group of dedicated bakers who all love cake. Each year we choose a new cake-centric cookbook and bake our way through it. Every month we are given 3 choices and on the 20th day of each month we reveal what we have chosen on our blogs. This month's choices were Apple Cake - The Classic, Lemon Verbena Peach Yogurt Cake, and Strawberry-Rhubarb Rouleau with Lemon Buttercream. Who doesn't love a classic apple cake - especially when you add a slightly different spin on it? So this was my choice this month.

As with most of the cakes in this cookbook this Apple Cake is very easy to put together and can also be easily adapted by switching out the choice of fruit or the topping.  In the original recipe the topping for this cake is apricot jam and a rum glaze, but I love streusel-topped cakes and wanted a little extra crunch. I also added a powdered sugar glaze with a little almond extract in it. This cake is amazing whilst still slightly warm and served with a little ice cream or cream, and still good at room temperature for breakfast, lunch, or dinner. The other changes I made were to use Granny Smith Apples as these are my favorite baking and eating apples - I just love the tartness of them and the fact that they hold up extremely well when baked and I changed the sugar called for in the recipe.  As I mentioned in my last post I am not a fan of creaming butter and powdered sugar, so I used regular granulated sugar - I just like the crumb that is produced by creaming granulated sugar and butter. I also used my standard rum - which is Bundaberg Rum - it's the Aussie coming out in me.

Apple Cake - The Classic

Printer Friendly Recipe

Ingredients

Cake ~

• 160g (1½ cups raisins - I used golden raisins)
• 30 ml (2 tablespoons) dark rum
• 2 apples (Golden, Honeycrisp, or Fuji)
• 120g (8½ tablespoons) butter, at room temperature
• 110g (1 cup) powdered sugar
• 3 large eggs, at room temperature
• 145g (1 cup + 3 tablespoons) all-purpose flour
• ¼ teaspoon salt
• ½ teaspoon baking powder

Streusel ~

• 50g (¼ cup) sugar
• 55g (¼ cup) light brown sugar
• 60g (½ cup) all-purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon Penzeys Cake Spice (or ½ teaspoon cinnamon)
• pinch of salt
• 45g (3 tablespoons) butter, melted
• 60g (½ cup) sliced almonds

Preparation

Cake ~

1. Prepare Streusel topping so that it has time to chill whilst you prepare the cake. 
2. Preheat oven to 180℃ (350℉).
3. Line a 21 x 11 x 6 cm (8½ x 4½x 2½-inch) loaf pan with parchment, leaving enough parchment to create a 3-inch overhang so that the cake can be lifted out of the pan once baked.
4. Place the raisins in a small saucepan and add the rum, heat to a simmer and then set aside to macerate while you prepare the batter.
5. Peel and core the apples, cutting them into ⅓ to ½-inch pieces.
6. In a stand mixer, whip the butter until smooth, scraping down the side of the bowl a few times. 
7. Add the powdered sugar, a bit at a time, and continue to beat until the mixture is pale and creamy.
8. One by one add the eggs, beating after each addition, continue to mix until the mixture is homogeneous.
9. Place a sieve over the mixing bowl and sift in the flour, salt, and baking powder, and using a rubber spatula, fold the flour mixture into the egg mixture.
10. Fold in the raisin/rum mixture, and then the apples.
11. Sprinkle the streusel mixture over the top, patting gently so that it adheres to the cake.
12. Bake the cake for 50-60 minutes, or until a cake tester inserted into the middle of the cake comes out clean.
13. Remove the cake from the oven and set on a cooling rack, but do not remove the cake from the pan until it has cooled for at least 30 minutes.

Streusel - 

1. Combine sugars, flour, Cake Spice (or cinnamon), and salt in a medium bowl, gently mixing to combine.
2. Add melted butter and sliced almonds and toss mixture until crumbly.
3. Chill topping in the freezer until needed.

Each month The Cake Slice Bakers are offered a selection of cakes from the current book we are baking through. This year it is Gâteau: The Surprising Simplicity of French Cakes by Aleksandra Crapanzano. We each choose one cake to bake, and then on the 20th - never before - we all post about our cake on our blogs. There are a few rules that we follow, but the most important ones are to have fun and enjoy baking & eating cakes!

Follow our Facebook, Instagram, and Pinterest pages where you can find all of our cakes, as well as inspiration for many other cakes. You can also click on the links below to take you to each of our cakes. If you have a blog and are interested in joining The Cake Slice Bakers and baking along with us, please send an email to thecakeslicebakers at gmail dot com for more details.

The Cake Slice Bakers also have a new Facebook group called The Cake Slice Bakers and Friends. This group is perfect for those who do not have a blog but want to join in the fun and bake through this book.

It is a new year and a new book - Gâteau: The Surprising Simplicity of French Cakes - and our choices for August 2023 were ~

Apple Cake - The Classic

• All That's Left Are The Crumbs
• A Day in the Life on the Farm
• Karen's Kitchen Stories
• Amandie Bakes

Lemon Verbena Peach Yogurt Cake

• My Recipe Reviews

Strawberry-Rhubarb Rouleau with Lemon Buttercream

• A Little Bit of All Right