Apple Cake

In one of FB groups, whenever someone requests a recipe for apple cake, one of my virtual friends V always recommends Padma’s apple cake. I never got an opportunity to bake the cake until 10 days ago. The made ⅓rd of the recipe in my mini bundt pan and it was delicious. The cake is served with a glaze or butter sauce.

By the time I baked the cake it was already getting dark and the cake had to cool for an hour before it is flipped over to a platter. I took the picture in the pan when it was cooling. After transferring the cake to a platter, I took a quick picture with my point & shoot camera before slicing it. I was afraid my bundt pan might be small and in fact after baking, the cake raised above the rim. I could not pour all the sauce into the pan as it was already full. Nevertheless, the cake had a nice depth after removing from the pan.

Source: Padma’s Kitchen
Total Time: 75 – 80 minutes
Preparation: 15 – 20 minutes
Bake Time: 60 minutes
Yields: 1 mini (3 cups) bundt pan
Serves: 6 – 8 (1 ½”) slices

Ingredients:
Cake:

• Butter for greasing the pan (I used pam to spray the pan)
• 1 cup All-Purpose Flour
• ½ - ⅔ cups (I used ½ cup)
• ¼ + ⅛ tsp. Baking Soda
• Dash of Salt, little less than ⅛ tsp.
• ¼ - ½ tsp. Cinnamon Powder (Check note below)
• 1 Egg
• ½ cup Vegetable Oil
• 1 – 1 ½ tbsp. Orange Juice
• 1 tsp. Vanilla Extract
• 1 medium sized Apple cored, peeled and finely chopped or 1 cup chopped Apple (I used Granny Smith)
• ⅓ shredded Coconut
• ⅓ cup chopped Almonds or preferred nuts ( I used sliced almonds and lightly crushed with my fingers)

Sauce:

• 2 ½ tbsp. Butter
• ¼ - ⅓ cup Sugar
• 2 ½ - 3 tbsp. Buttermilk (I used 2 tbsp. yogurt and ½ - 1 tbsp. milk)
• ⅛ + a dash of Baking Soda

Preparation:

• Preheat the oven to 325 F (160C). Grease the pan with butter or spray with cooking spray.
• Cake – In bowl mix together sugar, egg, oil, orange juice, flour, baking soda, salt, cinnamon and vanilla extract until well incorporated.
• Fold in chopped apples, coconut and nuts to the batter.
• Pour the batter into the prepared pan and bake until tester comes out clean, about 1 hour.
• Sauce: prepare the sauce just before cake is done. It takes about 5 – 10 minutes to prepare the sauce.
• Melt butter in a sauce pan and stir in rest of the ingredients. Bring it to a rolling boil stirring it constantly. I actually took all the ingredients in a pan and melted on medium flame until butter melted and then increased the flame to bring it to rolling boil.
• Boil it for 1 more minute and pour it on to the hot cake once the cake is removed from the oven.
• Let it stand for 1 hour, then turn it to a platter or cake stand or a serving plate and let cool completely.
• Cut and serve the cake cold. I refrigerated the left over cake and warmed it for 20 seconds in the microwave before serving. Or leave it on counter top for ½ hour before serving.

Note:

• Cinnamon Powder - I used little over ¼ tsp. but left I could have used more. If one likes cinnamon in cakes, then one can use up to 1 tsp. of powder.
• Pan - I used a 3 cup mini bundt pan but any shaped pan can be used.
• Baking Time - If making full recipe, that is 3 times the recipe listed above, baking time would 1 ½ hours.
• I liked the slightly burnt crust and would not have minded baking it for another 5 – 10 minutes for thick burnt crust.