Old-Fashioned Apple Cake

Apple Cake

Our son called last night to put in a request for pies - apple and lemon meringue - for Thanksgiving. Aunt Clara makes the world's best deep dish apple pie, which I'll try to recreate next weekend. In the meantime, I turned my attention to this lovely apple cake recipe to scent the house (and warm our tummies) on this cool and rainy fall evening.

We picked up a bag of freshly picked Cortland apples at Mountain Orchards on our recent stopover at my brother's house. The fragrance in their barn of apples and warm apple cider was welcoming and heartwarming. No wonder this is my favourite time of year.

I've been doing some research into ethical, sustainable farming and local stores, restaurants and butchers that support the slow food movement. This search led me yesterday to The Healthy Butcher on Eglinton Avenue West, just east of Avenue Road. It's a lovely shop that carries lovingly raised and ethically treated meats, poultry, dairy, etc. They also have the gourmet salts that I blogged about recently. After a very helpful and reassuring conversation, I placed an order for a free-range, organic turkey for our Thanksgiving dinner next weekend.

On my way out of the shop, I came across a fantastic free publication called Edible Toronto, published and edited by Gail Gordon Oliver. I couldn't believe how packed full of information, recipes, photos and great resources this magazine was! I was surprised and encouraged by how many people are focusing their attention on building a sustainable economy through ethical and environmentally respectful approaches to food. Check it out at www.edibletoronto.com .

In the magazine, I found a recipe for "A Good Old-Fashioned Apple Cake from Gail's Kitchen" and tried it out tonight with our Cortland apples. It didn't include a cooking temperature, but I found it turned out perfectly at 350 degrees. According to Gail, this recipe comes from one by Lara C. Atkins in Edible Green Mountains.

It is absolutely delicious! In fact, it hasn't even fully cooled and it's nearly half gone. It's lovely served warm with a scoop of vanilla ice cream and a cup of tea.

Old-Fashioned Apple Cake

3 c. all purpose flour, plus extra for dusting pan
1 1/2 tsp. ground cinnamon
1 tsp. baking soda
1/2 tsp. kosher salt
1 1/2 c. white sugar
1 c. vegetable oil
3 eggs
1 tsp. pure vanilla extract
4-5 large apples, peeled, cored and cut into small chunks to make 4 cups

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease a 9" tube pan and dust with flour, shaking out excess.

In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, cinnamon, baking soda and salt. Set aside.

In a large bowl, whisk together sugar and oil. Whisk in eggs and vanilla until well blended. Fold half of the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients until just blended. Repeat with remaining dry ingredients. Fold in apples. The batter will be very thick and sticky.

Spoon batter evenly into prepared pan, and smooth the surface. Bake until golden brown and firm to the touch, 60-70 minutes depending on your oven. Let cool in the pan on a rack for 20 minutes, then turn the cake out onto a rack. Use another rack to invert the cake so it is right side up.

Serve warm or at room temperature.