Category Archives: cake

An Apple A Day Coffee Cake

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Honeycrisps. Jonagolds. Pink Ladies.

There were a few different kinds of apples just sitting in my refrigerator.

And with some down time and an urge for something sweet, I thought, let’s see what I can make with these.

After searching the web for about 45 minutes, looking at various recipes, I decided to wing it.  The worst that could happen is an awful tasting mess that I would unceremoniously toss. The best? Heaven with a cup of tea!

The best apple cake I ever had used applesauce, so I started there.

Applesauce, IMHO, should never be bought, only made at home. It’s so easy and you can control just how sweet it is because you can add as little or as much sugar as you wish.

As for me, I chopped up 6 of those apples into little pieces, squeezed the juice of a whole lemon over them, then added a half cup of light brown sugar, a half cup of orange juice, two teaspoons of cinnamon, a healthy pinch of salt, and grated some nutmeg over it all…

I put the pan on the stove and turned up the heat to medium, using a big wooden spoon to toss them around a bit. About 10 minutes into it, I added about 1/2 cup of water…just to keep them from getting too sticky while they continued to cook down.  10 minutes later, after mashing down the softened apples, I had a delicious homemade applesauce.

Then in a bowl I mixed together:

  • 1 1/2 cup of regular all purpose flour
  • 2 tablespoons of cornstarch
  • 2 teaspoons of baking soda
  • 1 teaspoon of kosher salt
  • 2 teaspoons of cinnamon

In another bowl I added the following ingredients:

  • 1/2 cup of light brown sugar
  • 1/2 cup of sour cream
  • 1 beaten egg
  • 1 generous tablespoon of vanilla
  • 1 stick of unsalted butter, melted
  • 1/2 cup of cinnamon chips

Then I simply mixed the contents of the two bowls together. With a few tosses of the spatula, it looked like oatmeal!

I then greased and floured a baking pan. Added the batter and topped it with some sliced apples. Then I thought — Juliana would kill me if I didn’t make a crumb topping! So in another bowl I tossed together

  • 1/2 cup flour
  • 1/2 cup light brown sugar
  • 1/2 cup white granulated sugar
  • 4 tablespoons (1/2 of a stick) of butter cut into small pieces

I mixed that up with my hands to form a nice crumbly topping and spread that on top of the cake mixture.

Into the oven at 350 for 40 minutes it went.

The intoxicating scent of apples and cinnamon — mmmmm….  so good!

And with a cup of tea, a slice of heaven appeared on our plates. Just like that.

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Morning Glory Breakfast Cake made in a Big Ass Wrought Iron Skillet

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Morning Glory Skittle Cake

everything that’s good for you in one yummy cake, this is a big, big winner at our house

So, it was Sunday morning. Last Sunday to be precise. I think around 7:00.

I was poking around in the fridge, trying to figure out what I should make for breakfast. I wasn’t really hungry, but since I was up too early on a day that there were NO sports, NO commitments other than coffee and Sunday morning talking heads while folding laundry… I figured I could be a little ambitious.

I opened the crisper and saw a big bag of organic carrots and immediately thought of a recipe I had seen a few days before for my favorite muffins in the world: Morning Glory Muffins. 

Hmm… I  decided right away that I didn’t feel like pulling out the muffin pan and baking twice – because I own only one stone PC muffin pan which can make 12 at one time and this recipe would have made 24 muffins in my guesstimation.

So — here’s the original recipe and what I did:

  • 1 1/4 cups Sugar  (half brown/half white)
  • 2 1/4 cups unbleached all-purpose flour  (1/2 cup of coconut flour, 1/2 cup almond flour, 1 1/2 cups of regular all purpose flour)
  • 1 tablespoon ground cinnamon (same)
  • 2 teaspoons baking soda (same)
  • 1/2 teaspoon salt (same)
  • 1/2 cup shredded, sweetened coconut (same, except I only had unsweetened)
  • 3/4 cup Earthbound Farm Organic Raisins (1/2 cup of golden raisins)
  • 1 large Earthbound Farm Organic Apple (peeled and grated) NOPE
  • 1 cup crushed pineapple (drained, about 8 oz) (1 cup of chunk pineapple in water, not drained at all!)
  • 2 cups grated Earthbound Farm Organic Carrots (I just threw a bunch of carrots in my food processor — it was a good two cups worth at the end — they were tiny pieces, not grated, not mush)
  • 1/2 cup coarsely chopped pecans or walnuts (1 cup pecans)
  • 3 large eggs (same)
  • 1 cup vegetable oil (1/2 cup of walnut oil, 1/4 cup of coconut oil, 1/4 vegetable oil)

1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract (same)

And I added:

  • 1/2 cup chopped dates (I love dates)
  • 1/2 cup pear butter (why not? we had some in the fridge)
  • 1 teaspoon of coconut extract

I took out my big ass wrought iron pan. You know what I mean? They are super heavy. You need two hands to hold them.

I used coconut oil to prepare the pan so nothing would stick. After mixing up all those ingredients in my food processor until they were coarsely chopped, chunky and mixed — I dumped the whole thing in my skillet.  Spontaneously, I cut up a Granny Smith apple into pieces and splashed them on top like I was Jackson Pollock. Then I took some cinnamon-sugar mix and sprinkled that on top because I thought it would add a little extra crunch on top.  (You just take white sugar, add some cinnamon and stick it in your blender and pulse a few times. Great for toast, excellent for cookies and now, I’ve learned – cake!)

Into the oven at 350. I checked it at 45 minutes, but it was still moist in the middle. I kept checking every 5 minutes. This was a big pan and a heavy batter so it took about an hour and ten minutes to be done. I took out the pan and before I could snap a picture my daughter grabbed a big piece!!

Suffice it to say that today is Thursday. We’ve been nibbling on it most of the week. Only have a tiny bit left and it is still moist. Next time I do this, I think I’ll grate in some fresh nutmeg.

BTW — the cake continued to cook, then cool and settle. It was very moist on the first day. Butter on a piece was divine. I swear this tasted better on Monday morning once all the flavors had a chance to mingle!