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09/06/2001 Archived Entry: "A Simple Apple Cake"

When I was teaching Neapolitan cooking at the Culinary Institute of America last spring, I met Elizabeth Beaugard, the mother of one of the students in the Cucina e Cultura program, J.J. Beaugard, a young woman chef. Being a good mommy, Elizabeth could not resist bringing along a little something for the students to eat early in the morning, while they were preparing to listen to me talk and to cook with them for several hours. It was this delicious, simple Jewish-style apple cake, which she adapted from “Matzah Magic,” a cookbook published by the Beth El Sisterhood of Cherry Hill, New Jersey.

I made it with flour, at Elizabeth’s suggestion, and liked it much better than when made with matzoh meal, which I also tried. The matzoh meal version has more of a pudding consistency than cake texture because matzoh meal is much lower in gluten (flour protein) than flour. I intend to try it again with matzoh cake meal this spring, so it will be appropriate for Passover, as it was meant to be. With matzoh cake meal it will probably hold together much better. But I thought I would share the recipe now because, made with flour, it is a perfect sweet for Rosh Hashonah. Apples, which are harvested about the time of the Jewish New Year, have become associated with the holiday. Many Jews, my family certainly, dip apple wedges in honey to insure a sweet New Year.

This is not a fancy cake, by a long shot, but cut into squares and presented on a pretty cake plate, it can pass as something special on the holiday table. It would also be an excellent cake to serve to break the Yom Kippur fast.

A Simple Pareve Apple Cake
Makes 1 - 8 by 8 inch cake

For the cake:
3 eggs
3/4 cup sugar
3/4 cup all-purpose flour
1/3 cup vegetable oil (such as canola or peanut
5 medium apples, peeled, cored, cut in half, then cut into 1/4-inch slices (about 5 cups) (I used Golden Delicious)
1/3 cup raisins (optional)

For the topping:
1/2 cup coarsely chopped pecans or walnuts (I used pre-chopped pecans right out of the bag)
3/4 cup sugar
1 tablespoon cinnamon

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.

Lightly grease an 8 by 8-inch baking pan.

In a medium mixing bowl, with a wooden spoon, beat the eggs until well mixed.

Beat in the first 3/4 sugar until well blended, then beat in flour.

Add the oil and mix again until a smooth batter forms

In a separate bowl, mix the remaining 3/4 cup sugar with the chopped pecans or walnuts and cinnamon.

Pour half of the batter mixture the prepared pan. Sprinkle 1/3 of the topping mixture evenly over the batter. Top with half the apples and all the raisins, if using raisins.

Pour the remaining half of the batter mixture over the first layers, making sure to cover the apples evenly. Arrange the remaining apples on the top of the batter mixture. Sprinkle evenly with the remaining topping mixture.

Bake for 1 hour and 15 minutes, or until the sides of the cake pull away very slightly from the baking pan and the topping has begun to caramelize. (A cake-tester may not come out clean due to the moist richness of this cake.) Allow to cool thoroughly for several hours in the baking dish before cutting into serving portions.