It’s Thursday and that means yet another delicious apple recipe from the Erdenheim Archives!
It took a little convincing, but we’re ready to give away our secret recipe in honor of the delicious Gala apples we have growing here in our orchard. Today we baked up a special favorite, a recipe we created after many years of testing! And when we say many, we’re talking 10 years of test tasting and baking heartbreaks. The best part about it is that all you need, as far as equipment, are two mixing bowls and a cast iron pan.
It’s rich, moist, full of flavor and perfect with an afternoon tea or coffee. Ladies and gentlemen, I give you, Kristina’s Champagne Walnut Apple Cake!
Ingredients:
5 Erdenheim Farm Gala Apples
2 teaspoons cinnamon
1/3 cup granulated sugar
1 cup ground walnuts
1/4 teaspoon of salt
2 cups AP flour
1 cup cake flour
1 tablespoon baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
1 cup oil (flavorless – vegetable, safflower, grapeseed, canola)
1 ½ cup granulated sugar
¼ cup Champagne (you can substitute sparking cider if you’d like)
½ vanilla bean (or ½ teaspoon vanilla extract)
4 Erdenheim Farm Eggs
2 tablespoons of soft butter for pan greasing
Directions:
1) Preheat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit. Butter a large cast iron pan and set aside.
2) Peel, core, and dice apples into 1/2 inch chunks.
3) In a medium mixing bowl, combine apple pieces, cinnamon, sugar, ground walnuts, and salt.
4) In a separate large mixing bowl, whisk together flours, baking powder, salt, and sugar.
5) Pour oil, champagne, and vanilla into dry ingredients and stir until just combined using a spatula or wooden spoon. The batter is going to look THICK. This is normal.
6) Add your eggs one at a time and stir until absorbed into batter. The batter should be smooth, and yes, it is thick. It’s important to remember that over-stirring this batter will make your cake dense in a bad way, so be careful to only mix until ingredients are combined.
7) Now add half of the cake batter to your greased cast iron pan and spread evenly in one layer.
8) Sprinkle half of your apple mixture over the first layer of cake batter.
9) Spread remaining batter on top of apples and sprinkle remaining apple mixture over the top.
10) Place cast iron pan into preheated oven and bake for 1 hour.
The cake should be golden brown and the apples nicely caramelized on top. Using a cast iron pan not only helps the cake slices to come right out of the pan without sticking, it also looks REALLY COOL!
Because this cake is delicious warm or cool, it’s the perfect sweet to bring to a dinner party or to cook on a lazy afternoon. You’ll be enjoying it long after you pull it from the oven. Just be sure to leave it out at room temperature. Putting it in the fridge will dry it out.
Enjoy!
