by Stefan Lonce
I first came aware of apple cake due to my best friend’s family. You see, I was invited every Friday night to their Shabbat dinner…they were Jewish and considered me part of the family. As you may or may not know, in a Jewish home, dairy and meat are not allowed on the same table. Since Shabbat dinner was usually a roasted chicken, dessert couldn’t have dairy.
Enter the apple cake. My friend’s mother would usually make an apple cake for dessert. Why? Without the streusel topping, which I added…it meets the kosher rules. Besides, it’s really good and easy to make! It doesn’t have that overly sweet taste some desserts have and it’s perfect to go with a cup of coffee. Besides that, if you should have a couple of apples, you probably have the ingredients on hand…which I love.
So, I took her recipe and tweaked it (there was no cinnamon in the original!) and added a streusel topping (if you don’t want dairy, replace the butter with margarine). I’m thinking it should keep covered on the countertop for up to 3 days, but I can’t attest to that. You see, I baked this cake yesterday morning, and it’s now gone! My dishwasher seems to be full of dessert plates and forks! Go figure.
I hope you enjoy.
Cinnamon Streusel Apple Cake
INGREDIENTS:
Apple Cake:
- 1 cup Buttermilk or (1 cup milk + 1 tablespoon white vinegar)
- 1/3 cup Vegetable or Canola Oil
- 1 Egg
- 1 tsp. Vanilla Extract
- 2½ cups AP Flour
1½ cups Brown Sugar (dark or light)- 1 tsp. Baking Soda
- ½ tsp. Cinnamon
- 2½ cups Chopped Apples (*see below)
Streusel Topping:
- ½ cup White Sugar
- 1 tsp. Cinnamon
- 1 tblsp. Butter, melted
INSTRUCTIONS:
- Preheat oven to 325°. Grease and flour a 9×13 baking pan.
Peel and chop your Apples. I find 2 medium sized Apples (any variety you like, I used Honeycrisp) gives you about 2½ cups). I also chopped them into different sizes. Some small (about 1/8 inch by 1/8 inch) and some larger (about ¾ inch by 1/8 inch). The smaller pieces will “melt” into the cake and the larger ones will remain for you to bite into.
- Using a liquid measuring cup, pour your Buttermilk to the 1 cup line. (Alternately, measure 1 tblsp. white vinegar in the bottom of the measuring cup and then fill to the 1 cup line with plain whole milk and stir together). Then, pour your Oil into the same measuring cup until it reaches the 1-1/3 cup line. Add your 1 tsp.
Vanilla and whisk together. (Doing it this way saves you a bowl to wash.) Put aside. - In a large bowl, whisk together the Flour, Brown Sugar, Baking Soda and Cinnamon, being sure to break up any lumps in the Brown Sugar.
- Pour the liquid ingredients into the flour mixture and mix until combined.
- Fold in your Apples.
Mix the ingredients for the Streusel Topping together.- Pour the batter into the prepared pan and sprinkle the Streusel Topping evenly over the top.
- Bake for 45 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.
- Cool, slice and Enjoy!
