Hello friends~
As promised! Mom’s Favorite Jewish Apple Cake
It really, truly was one of Michael’s mom’s specialties.
Jewish Apple Cake is wonderful any time of year, especially in the fall and winter. It’s called Jewish apple cake because it’s traditionally dairy-free, which allows it to be eaten with meat according to Jewish dietary laws, and apples are symbolic for Rosh Hashanah.
We made the cake last night. In a bit of a hurry to get it out of the pan, it stuck. Dang. It can take a bit of time, but if yours sticks you can loosen it by wrapping a warm, damp kitchen towel around the outside of the pan to “melt” the stickiness, or freeze it. We were impatient so we carved it out with a knife, which doesn’t affect the taste at all of course…
Scroll down to the bottom to get a preview of an upcoming piece about the “embarrassment” of having a boyfriend – we are not married in case anyone wondered.
So today I “glued” the cake together with a brown sugar glaze – in a rush as usual, so the glaze became gritty. If this happens to your glaze it could be due to too high heat, or due to adding cool cream to the sugar and butter causing the sugar to crystallize. So we have a crunchy texture on our cake, and it’s delicious, even if it isn’t going to win any baking awards!
Mom’s Favorite Jewish Apple Cake
1 (10-inch) tube or bundt pan
Ingredients
- 5 tablespoons white sugar
- 2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
- 5 medium apples, peeled, cored, and thinly sliced
- 3 cups all-purpose flour
- 2 cups white sugar
- 1 cup vegetable or canola oil
- 4 large eggs
- ½ cup orange juice
- 3 teaspoons baking powder
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
Directions
- Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Grease and flour a 10-inch tube pan.
- Combine 5 tablespoons sugar and cinnamon in a large bowl. Add apple slices; toss to coat.
- Beat flour, 2 cups sugar, oil, eggs, orange juice, baking powder, salt, and vanilla extract in a separate bowl until smooth and thoroughly blended. Batter will be thick.
- Transfer ½ batter to the prepared pan; top with ½ apple slices. Add remaining ½ batter; neatly arrange remaining ½ apple slices on top.
- Bake in the preheated oven until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean, about 1 ¼ hours. Cool in the pan for 1 hour. Run a table knife around the edges to loosen. Invert carefully onto a cooling rack to cool completely. (If it sticks, try the warm damp towel around the inverted pan, or freezing the cake in the pan.)
Delicious, even with the gritty glaze.
I want to mention that the famous Marian Burros Plum Torte recipe was published a couple of weeks ago, a bit late for those Italian plums, although any type of plums will work. And we made this Jewish Apple Cake recipe a few years ago with pears from my sister’s tree, so there’s another option.
Stay tuned for thoughts about having a “boyfriend”. Yes, he cooks and bakes, and loves the kids and grandkids, so seriously lucky me!
At the age of 72 (we got together 20 years ago) it is ridiculous to use the term boyfriend. What are we? What am I, and what are the economic and social ramifications of a woman not being married? I have the option of using the term partner (but that sounds like we’re in a business together or gay), or significant other, which is too many syllables. I have big issues with all of this terminology, including the historical (and current) patriarchy of the institution of marriage. Ooooh…get ready. This is the article in British Vogue that started it all. It’s aimed at young women but relevant to all single women: Is having a boyfriend embarrassing now?
x
Polli
Post script: Michael admitted that he forgot to flour the pan :).
