Apple Fritter Cake
Please don’t tell my wife, the cardic nurse, but my favorite donut pastry is and has always been an apple fritter. I don’t have them often and they may not be healthy for you, but they sure are delicious. So, when I saw this recipe for an Apple Fritter cake, I had to give it a try. Could it be as good as an apple fritter? Well, I’ll let you decide but I’ll give you a hint. I’ll make this recipe again.
Adapted from and inspired by a recipe on www.cookiesandcups.com
Click here for recipe
Filling
2 C (225 g) peeled/diced Granny Smith Apples
1/3 C (2 1/3 oz/65 g) granulated sugar
½ t (1 g) cinnamon
2 T (16 g) cornstarch
2 t (10 ml) water
½ C (99 g) dark brown sugar
½ t (1 g) cinnamon
Cake
1/3 C (2 ½ oz/74 g) butter, room temp
¾ C (5 ¼ oz/149 g) granulated sugar
½ C (120 ml) applesauce
1 t (5 ml) vanilla extract
2 eggs, room temperature
2 ¼ C (11 ¼ oz/319 g) all-purpose flour
1 t (4 g) baking powder
1 t (4 g) baking soda
½ t (1 g) kosher salt
1 t (2 g) cinnamon
1 C (8 fl oz/245 g) sour cream
Glaze
2 C (8 oz/226) powdered sugar
1/3 C (80 ml) milk
1 t (5 ml) vanilla extract
Place oven rack in middle position and heat to 350° F (177° C). Spray a 9×13-inch baking pan with nonstick spray with flour. Set aside
Filling – In medium saucepan combine apples, granulated sugar, cinnamon, cornstarch and water. Heat on medium for 5 to 6 minutes until apples soften and liquid thickens. Set aside to cool. Mix brown sugar and cinnamon in small bowl and set aside.
In bowl of stand mixer fitted with paddle attachment, cream butter and sugar on medium speed for 3 minutes until lighter in color and fluffy. Add applesauce, vanilla, and eggs and mix on medium until combined, scraping sides of bowl as necessary. Don’t worry if mixture looks broken at this point. That will change in next step.
In separate bowl whisk together flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, and cinnamon. Add dry mixture and sour cream in alternating parts to mixer bowl, starting and ending with dry. Do not over mix. Mix until just combined. Spread half of batter in bottom of prepared pan. Top with apple mixture, spreading carefully to cover batter. Then top with 2/3 of brown sugar, sprinkling over apple mixture. Cover with remaining batter and sprinkle remaining 1/3 of brown sugar.
Bake 35 to 40 minutes, or until center of cake is set or until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean or has a few moist crumbs attached. Rotate pan one half turn midway through baking.
Glaze – When cake has only a few minutes left baking, prepare glaze by mixing powdered sugar, milk and vanilla in medium bowl until smooth. When cake is done, immediately poke holes in cake using knife or wooden skewer, about 30 pokes. Pour glaze over cake spreading to cover top completely. Let glaze set up for 20 minutes before serving.
Serves 8 to 10
Click here for Baker's Notes
28 Aug 18 – Based on the number of ingredients, I could tell making this recipe was a bit more involved. Unfortunately, I didn’t read the recipe close enough to understand the filling involved two parts, the apple mixture and a separate sugar/cinnamon mixture. I made the mistake of putting the brown sugar in the apple mixture which I then had to remove as much as I could and combined it with cinnamon in a separate bowl. The pan I used for the apple filling was the medium All-Clad. It worked but the small pan would have worked as well. I lined my Williams-Sonoma pan with parchment paper. Regarding ingredients, I used WinCo unsweetened apple sauce, Tillamook unsalted butter and Tillamook full fat sour cream. The butter was 65° F prior to creaming which then required a full 3 plus mins to get a light and fluffy consistency. Butter/sugar mixture looked very broken after adding egg/applesauce/vanilla but came around after adding flour and sour cream. Batter weighed approximately 1014 g or each layer was approximately 507 g. The two batter layers were very thin and somewhat hard to evenly spread out but rose nicely upon baking. I was surprised the apple mixture layer was more than adequate to cover bottom batter layer. Brown sugar and cinnamon mixture weighed approximately 129 g. 2/3 equals 87 g. Baked in island oven on conventional heat for 40 mins. Top felt firm, toothpick came out clean and center did not sink upon cooling. All good. I had a small problem with lumpy powdered sugar in the glaze resulting in small white powder sugar balls on the cake after applying glaze. I did not whisk it enough or I should have sifted it before mixing with the liquids. The texture and flavor were good but I was hoping for something more reminding me of an apple fritter. It didn’t have a strong apple or fritter flavor or the crunch I associate with one. Overall, I was satisfied with how it turned out.