Apple Coffee Cake

So, this fitness lover has been a major slacker of late; a single run in two weeks, no visits to the local pool all month and certainly no gym time. Luckily, I’ve managed to curb my appetite and not gain a ton of weight. Which is rather surprising, considering all the baked goodies I’ve treated myself to this month.

One of which is this cake that tastes like an apple pie merged with a cinnamon roll and found its way into a cake. After savoring a piece for breakfast this morning, I was asking myself if this wasn’t going to end up my favorite cake of all time. Top it with vanilla ice cream and serve it up as a dessert and I’d say it’s a definite possibility.

The recipe, adapted from the Taste of Home website:

INGREDIENTS:
– For the cake
1/2 cup butter
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 cup brown sugar
2 eggs
1 tsp. vanilla extract
2 cups a/p flour
1 tsp. baking powder
1 tsp. baking soda
1/2 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp. ground cinnamon
1/4 tsp. ground nutmeg
1 cup sour cream
3 small Macintosh apples, shredded
– For the filling
3/4 cup brown sugar
1 tsp. ground cinnamon
1/4 tsp. ground nutmeg
2 Tbs. cold butter
1/2 cup chopped walnuts

METHOD:
Preheat oven to 350°F and generously butter a bundt cake pan. In the bowl of a stand mixer, cream butter and sugars until light and fluffy. Beat in eggs and vanilla. Whisk together flour, baking powder & soda, salt, cinnamon and nutmeg; gradually add to the butter mixture alternately with the sour cream, mixing well after each addition. Stir in apples. Spoon batter and filling into the prepared pan in multiple layers, and bake approximately 50-60 minutes (mine took 55.) Let the cake cool in the pan for about 10 to 15 minutes before inverting onto a cooling rack.

TIPS:

1. Given the amount of moisture from the apples, using a toothpick to check for doneness doesn’t work too well with this cake. However, I still used this method to check on the progress of the batter after about 45 minutes.
2. Because this cake takes a considerable amount of baking time, I recommend placing the bundt pan onto a metal pie plate (or baking sheet) to prevent the bottom from burning before the center even has a chance to bake through. I removed the pie plate near the end of the baking time, perhaps 10 minutes or so.
3. Warm leftover cake in the microwave for a moist, just-baked texture and serve with a scoop of vanilla ice cream! Heaven!!

Now, if someone would be so kind as to send some fitness motivation my way, I’d be ever-so grateful!

Coffee Cake… but it’s not what you’re thinking!

One of my all-time favorite baked goodies that my grandma made when I was growing up was coffee cake. At least that’s what she called it. She was not familiar with the “swirl-in-the-batter” coffee cake that gets baked in a bundt pan. To her, coffee cake had coffee IN it (and I think she’s right!) and not simply a cake that went well with a cup of coffee!

From a pastry chef’s perspective, this would be considered more of a coffee-flavored spice cake. Personally, I couldn’t care less what you name it or what category you want to put it in, just let me have a piece already! So let’s get to it…

INGREDIENTS:
2 cups flour
2 tsp. baking powder
1 tsp. ground cinnamon
1/2 tsp. ground nutmeg
1/2 tsp. ground cloves
1/2 tsp. ground ginger
1/2 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp. ground black pepper
2 Tbs. instant coffee granules
2 Tbs. boiling water
1/2 cup milk
1 cup butter, room temperature
1 cup sugar
2 tsp. vanilla extract
2 eggs

METHOD:
Preheat your oven to 350°F and prepare a 9×13″ pan by either greasing or lining it with parchment paper. For the Pyrex pan I was using, I set the oven rack to the top third to prevent the bottom of the cake from burning. Come to think of it, I usually have the rack in that position for most of my baking.

Sift and whisk together the first 8 ingredients.
In a small bowl, dissolve coffee granules in the boiling water. Allow to cool, then whisk in the milk.

To the bowl of your stand mixer fixed with the paddle attachment, beat butter and sugar until light and fluffy, about 3-4 minutes, scraping down the sides of the bowl every now and then. Add the eggs, one at a time and beat well after each addition. Finally, mix in the vanilla.
Add both the coffee and flour mixtures to the butter mixture in three additions, beginning and ending with flour. Scrape down the sides of the bowl between additions and mix just until the batter is well blended. Spoon the batter (which is quite thick) into the prepared pan, and bake 30 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean.
Remove pan to a wire rack to cool… this is another cake that I simply leave in the pan. Allow cake to cool completely before frosting.
For the frosting: Cream 1/4 cup  room temperature butter using your stand mixer. Gradually add 2 cups of icing sugar. Add 3-4 Tbs. of milk along with 1 tsp. vanilla extract, and beat on high speed until frosting is light and fluffy (approximately 3-5 minutes.) Add more icing sugar or milk as needed. Yields 12 good-sized servings of one of the most flavorful cakes around!
Calories: 393
Total Fat: 19.5g
– Saturated Fat: 12g
Sodium: 246mg
Total Carbohydrate: 51.7g
– Fiber: 0.8g
– Sugars: 34.7g
Protein: 3.8g