Sep 27, 2010

rustic apple yogurt cake







apple season!!!!!! i just love apple season.

i grew up in the midwest not far from some wonderful farms that had incredible farm markets in the summers. the kind of voluptuous farm markets that dependably unloaded large open trucks of fresh sweet corn every few hours, direct from field to pot, everyone we know bought corn nearly every day in the summer. why eat day old corn when you can eat corn that was picked a few hours ago? there was also an amazing apple orchard with freshly made, unpasteurized cider, and great varieties of apples: early, late, tart, sour, sweet, crisp. the orchard was remote, but always busy and bustling. wonderful.

now that the farmer's markets around here are overflowing with apples, i find myself eating a couple of apples a day (namely jonathans, empires, macouns and macintosh, these are my favorites, the tart eating varieties). amazingly, i still have some apples left for cooking and baking. because apples are completely irresistible to me and, i buy them, not by the bushel, but almost. i really loved going to that apple orchard as a child. so crunchy and sweet/tart these farm fresh apples. we make do, of course, as we must, in late winter when the apples are no longer farm fresh. luckily, all kind of apples are still available and good for baking at that time. this year, i was thinking i wanted to try an apple yogurt cake, since they are perfect for breakfast in a hurry or an after school snack and this cake will keep well for days.

after perusing a lot of recipes, this is what i came up with, it was delicious.

rustic apple yogurt cake

3 cups chopped apples, i use organic granny smith
1 cup sugar
4 eggs
1 cup plain yogurt
1/2 cup olive oil
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 1/4 cups organic all purpose flour (i always use king arthur flour)
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
optional: 2 TBSP brandy instead of the vanilla

preheat oven to 350 degrees farenheit

first, chop the apples, i like to make it rustic and leave the peel on. if you have someone who is averse to large apple pieces you could certainly peel and grate the apples instead). pour 1 cup sugar over the shopped apples and allow to sit for at least 10 minutes, this step pulls a lot of the juice out of the apples and flavors the sugar.

next mix 4 eggs with 1 cup yogurt and the vanilla or brandy if using. add in the olive oil. in a separate container, mix the dry ingredients. now, mix the apple mixture with the yogurt/egg mixture. lightly mix the dry ingredients into this, mixing till combined while also mixing as little as possible,. it may look like a lumpy, ghastly mess at this point. that is okay. it turns out delicious. it is not necessary to get the lumps out.

bake in a 9 inch spring form pan that is generously buttered and floured, or since i didn't have that i used a 9 inch insulated cake pan lined with parchment. you could also use a 9 inch rectangular baking pan lined with parchment. i prefer to use parchment in that it doesn't add any butter or flour to the recipe, and this recipe is pretty healthy and not very sweet. no butter, just yogurt and olive oil.

bake in your preheated 350 degree oven for 50 to 60 minutes. allow to cool for 15 minutes before serving. a casual, yummy apple yogurt cake for snacks and breakfast. for dessert you could serve it dusted with powdered sugar and with some sweetened whipped cream with brandy. yum. this is a super moist cake that keeps very well. yay, apple season!

5 comments:

  1. This looks so yummy. I love your coloured whisk too!

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  2. This looks really good and easy. Thank you, fom a new fan.

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  3. thanks alice!

    and, lulu, you're most welcome, so glad you like c&t!

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  4. very interesting pie there like the fact there isn't those awful foil bases wrapped around it and that it stands alone. very nice blog

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  5. I have made this several times now and it is DELICIOUS! I have also tried a gluten free version of this, substituting the all purpose flour for gf flour and it came out beautifully! Thanks for sharing!

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