9 October 2006
A Tale of Two Cakes
Even though Baron’s birthday was 6 weeks ago, I still have the urge to write about the yummy cakes I baked and bought for his birthday. I’m getting a reputation at work for being a baker, so I had to outdo myself when it came time to bring in a cake for Baron’s birthday. I decided to go for the delicious, yet time-consuming Jewish Apple Cake. This moist cake is always a crowd favourite, and I swear it weighs 10 pounds.
Jewish Apple Cake
prep time: 45 min. | bake time: 90 min.
6–8 apples, peeled, cored & sliced
2 tsp. cinnamon
5 Tbsp. sugar3 c. flour
1 c. vegetable oil
1/4 c. orange juice
2 1/2 tsp. vanilla
2 c. sugar
4 eggs
3 tsp. baking powder
1 tsp. salt
1/2 c. water [or less]
1. Heat oven to 350°. Grease a tube pan.
2. Place apple slices in large bowl. Sprinkle with cinnamon and 5 tablespoons sugar. Toss until apples are evenly coated. Set aside.
3. Put remaining ingredients in another large bowl and beat until smooth.
4. Pour half of batter into greased tube pan. Arrange half of apple mixture over poured batter. Pour in remaining batter and top with rest of apple mixture. Bake for 1 1/2 hours. Cool on wire rack.
All the peeling, coring and slicing of the apples does take a while, but the cake is rather heavenly. It was also worthwhile because I received a lot of compliments as the cake quickly disappeared. Plus the birthday boy seemed to enjoy it.
Since we played hooky on Baron’s actual birthday, we had the Jewish Apple Cake the day before. So this left me with having to provide another cake since he had to have an official birthday cake on the actual day. Whilst ditching work, we went to the Georgia Aquarium during the afternoon. To go along with the day’s fishy theme, I bought a Fudgie from Carvel. A Fudgie is an ice cream cake with a layer of chocolate ice cream and a layer of vanilla ice cream with chocolate crunchies in between and fudge on the outside. Carvel ice cream is so creamy, and the crunchies add a nice change of texture. According to the sign in my local Carvel shop, Tom Carvel once said, “Ice cream is good, but an ice cream cake shaped like a whale and covered in fudge is better.” And, oh my, is that true.
