Caramel Apple Coffee Cake

Welcome to a new book year of The Cake Slice Bakers on my blog!  Once a year we vote on and select a cake cookbook that we bake a recipe from of each month.  For the next year we will be baking from The Southern Cake Book Paperback by The Editors of Southern Living Magazine.  We are all excited to be baking from this new cake book choice.

This month we had our choice of which cake to bake.  We got to pick from: 

Rum-Glazed Sweet Potato Cakes

Caramel Apple Coffee Cake

Cranberry Apple Pumpkin Bundt

Orange Pecan Spice Pound Cake

I haven't done a coffee cake in a while so decided to give that one a go... apples and caramel, yum!

The first thing we needed to do is make the caramel sauce and set it aside.  Then onto the apples for the middle layer of the coffee cake.  The recipe calls for the apples to be peeled, cored and sliced then sauteed in a bit of butter.  You want to let the sauteed apples to sit and cool while you work on the rest of the recipe. 

I found in the end product that the apples were mushy and I would most likely skip this step if I make this coffee cake again.

Onto the streusel topping made up of sugars, pecans, cinnamon, flour and butter.  Simply stir it together and set to the side.  

Time to mix the cake portion of the recipe.  One thing that I hate in the morning is the see the phrase 'softened butter'.  I have barely finished my first cup of coffee and you want me to have had enough brain power to have taken out butter to soften a half hour before?  Yeah, no. 

A good workaround is to cut up your butter in thin pieces, spread them out in your bowl and the butter will be ready for creaming in about 10 minutes.... enough time to brew another cup of coffee.... ahhh.

Mixing together your cake is pretty basic.  Cream the butter and sugar, beat in the eggs and then mix in the dry alternating with the mix.  Spoon the batter into a greased spingform pan.  Time to add the apples to the top of the batter.  I found that distributing them by hand was the easiest.

Crumble to streusel all of the top of the apples, then drizzle about 1/2 a cup of the caramel sauce over the streusel.  Time to go in the oven.

This coffeecake takes over an hour to bake and comes out nicely browned.  Time for it to sit and cool.

After it cools for a bit it is time for it to be unmolded.  The pan is so full the the topping has baked over the edge and this makes getting the ring off quite difficult along with messy.

The cake also stuck quite firmly to the ring.  

It would be best to use a 10" pan instead of a 9" like the recipe called for and line the ring with parchment.  Be sure to adjust your baking time if you do change your pan size.

After it cools for an hour it is time to serve the coffee cake.  Unfortunately this coffee cake does not cut and serve cleanly due to the topping being solid and hard to cut through.

Caramel Apple Coffee Cake

http://www.myrecipes.com/recipe/caramel-apple-coffee-cake

Yield: Makes 8 to 10 servings

Ingredients

2 tablespoons butter

3 cups peeled and sliced Granny Smith apples (about 3 large)

Streusel Topping*

Caramel Suace*

1/2 cup butter, softened 

1 cup sugar 

2 large eggs 

2 cups all-purpose flour 

2 teaspoons baking powder 

1/2 teaspoon salt 

2/3 cup milk 

2 teaspoons vanilla extract 

Preparation

1. Preheat oven to 350°. Melt 2 Tbsp. butter in a large skillet over medium-high heat; add apples; sauté 5 minutes or until softened. Remove from heat; cool completely (about 30 minutes).

2. Meanwhile, prepare Streusel Topping and Caramel Sauce. Reserve 1/2 cup Caramel Sauce for another use.

3. Beat butter at medium speed with an electric mixer until creamy; gradually add sugar, beating well. Add eggs, 1 at a time, beating until blended after each addition.

4. Combine flour, baking powder, and salt; add to butter mixture alternately with milk, beginning and ending with flour mixture. Beat at low speed until blended after each addition. Stir in vanilla. Pour batter into a greased and floured shiny 9-inch springform pan; top with apples. Drizzle with 1/2 cup Caramel Sauce; sprinkle with Streusel Topping.

5. Bake at 350° for 45 minutes. Cover loosely with aluminum foil to prevent excessive browning; bake 25 to 30 minutes or until center is set. (A wooden pick will not come out clean.) Cool in pan on a wire rack 30 minutes; remove sides of pan. Cool completely on wire rack (about 1 1/2 hours). Drizzle with 1/2 cup Caramel Sauce.

*Caramel Suace - makes about 1 1/2 cups

1 cup firmly packed light brown sugar 

1/2 cup butter 

1/4 cup whipping cream 

1/4 cup honey 

Bring brown sugar, butter, whipping cream, and honey to a boil in a medium saucepan over medium-high heat, stirring constantly; boil, stirring constantly, 2 minutes. Remove from heat, and cool 15 minutes before serving. Store in an airtight container in refrigerator up to 1 week. To reheat, microwave at HIGH 10 to 15 seconds or just until warm; stir until smooth.

*Streusel Topping

1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour 

1 cup chopped pecans 

1/2 cup butter, melted 

1/2 cup firmly packed light brown sugar 

1/4 cup granulated sugar 

1 1/2 teaspoons ground cinnamon 

1/4 teaspoon salt 

Stir together flour, pecans, melted butter, brown sugar, granulated sugar, cinnamon, and salt until blended. Let stand 30 minutes or until firm enough to crumble into small pieces.

The Caramel Apple Coffee Cake was voted quite tasty and the whole family enjoyed a piece of the cake.  But none of us felt that extra caramel sauce was needed and that the apples were too mushy.  

I felt that it was good but not worth the four hours it took to get to eat it.  I think with some adjustments it would be a great coffee cake.

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Happy Baking!

:)

Applesuace Spice Cake

It is that time of the month!  Time for the Cake Slice Bakers to reveal the cake baked for November!  This is our first cake from our new cookbook ~ Great Cakes by Carole Walter.  We will be voting on and baking a cake each month - revealed on the 20th - for a year.  This book is filled with wonderful sounding cakes, so I am looking forward to the months ahead.

The cake for November is the Applesauce Spice Cake.  It has a double dose of apple-i-ness calling for applesauce and chopped apple.  The recipe is pretty straight forward... nothing happens during the process of putting it together so I thought I would try to give you some tips this month instead of step by step instructions.

This recipe calls for a fluted pan.  I have two bundt pans that don't see much use anymore for a couple of reasons... I dislike using Pam spray so I would have to hand grease all those nooks and crannies and because I equally dislike having to wash out all those nooks and crannies.  Instead I use a simple tube pan.

While you get all your ingredients ready before you throw your cake together (because I know y'all are good mise-en-placers!) think about how many dishes you can save yourself from washing if you plan out your tools.  Generally I like to use a large chef's knife for chopping nuts.  But I also need to chop an apple and the large knife is a little much so I compromise and use a smaller knife for the nuts and it will work just fine for the apple too.  Same for the cutting board.  Who cares if there are nut bits on the chopped apple - it's all going in the same cake.  ;)

When you peel your apple, or anything else, peel it onto a paper towel.  Paper towels are excepted in most city green bins and in compost piles.  When you are done just wad it up, peel, core and towel and throw the whole thing into your green bin and go.  

Don't bother with an apple corer.  Let's weigh the corer frustration versus the tiny bit you will leave behind if you just cut the sides off....  Seriously!  That bit of apple left behind on the core is so not worth my time or yours.  Cut off the sides nice and close to the core and move on with a happier, less frustrated day.

*Now if we are talking the apple peeler-corer-slicer... oh yeah that thing rocks!  Use it and love it but not for doing just this one apple.

I have a confession ~ I don't own a sifter.  Hey now don't go giving me that stink eye!  I hear ya mumbling over there about a baker that doesn't own a sifter... yea yea yea.  I just use my fine strainer when I need to sift something.  Let some of your tools be multi-taskers (ode to Mr. AB)... they like it, I promise!

Also don't dirty another utensil for stirring the flour/dry ingredients through the strainer, let your measuring spoon get a little more action time.  Yeah they like it too.

When you turn out your cake... your golden brown, still warm, luscious smelling cake... ok I am back.  Oh yeah when you turn out your cake and want a nice smooth top have a second rack handy so that you don't end up with funny lines all over your cake because you took too long to find your other rack that was in the dish washer.

If you just happen to end up with silly rack lines all over your beautiful cake top don't sweat it!  Those little indentations will just be perfect for holding the tasty glaze on top of your cake.

Yes.... Brown.  Sugar.  Glaze.  

You start with brown sugar and butter melting together.  Add in your cream and then whisk in powdered sugar.  This is one place I really do recommend you "sift" your powdered sugar otherwise you will end up having to whisk out a bunch of lumpies and you really just want to get this dang glaze done so you can pour it all over that cake and cover those unsightly lines on the top... 

... and watch it puddle on the edge.  Then tell your people that it is horrible and hide it so that you have it all to yourself later after everyone has gone to bed... Wait did I say that out loud. Ha!  I would never do that!  Always share your wonderful creations!!

This cake is so darned homey and tasty and warm wonderful!  We all loved it... soft and appley inside with that golden crust that is covered in yummy glaze.  
This recipe is going in the keep pile.

A few notes on this recipe...
I did not include he called for allspice.
I chopped my apple fine and used a bit more than called for.
I used walnuts instead of pecans.
Watch your timing on this cake - it baked quicker than the book called for.

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Enjoy!

:)

Gluten what?

I have to admit that the gluten-free "thing" is a complete mystery to me.  But since my sister has asked that we have some gluten-free options on the menu I figured it was time to solve the mystery.  

I have never made a galette aka a free form pie.  This may not be exactly what others know a galette to be but it is what I know it to be so bear with me.  First thing to do is find a well rated recipe for a g-f pastry crust.  For that I hopped over to King Arthur Flour, which kind of made sense because I had their g-f flour sitting on my shelf.  Now peruse some recipes for galettes and yep I think I got what to do in my brain.

First make the crust.  This is pretty straight forward - just like making a regular crust except the KA recipe has an egg in it.  You can find the recipe I am using here.

Whisk together the dry ingredients.  Then using a pastry cutter blend in the butter.  You want to have small pea sized bit of butter through your crust mixture.

Mix together the egg and vinegar then incorporate it into your dry ingredients.  Mixing only enough to get the crust to hold together.  Squish it together and place it in plastic wrap.  Let it chill for an hour in the fridge.

Roll out your dough between two pieces of plastic wrap.  You use less flour and it is easy to move around.  I rolled it out to about 8 inches in diameter, maybe a bit bigger than that.

At this point I should have put the crust back into the fridge to chill while I worked on preparing my apples but I didn't and it will be a slight issue later... lesson learned.

Peel, core and slice your apples nice and thin.  I used my mandolin set at 1/8" and am happy with the end result.  You want your slices thin so that they will bake rather quickly.  Placed the slices in a bowl then tossed them with the cinnamon and sugar.

Transfer your crust to a piece of parchment paper.  Lay out your apples in the center of your crust leaving about an inch to an inch and a half of crust all the way around.  You can lay out your apples how ever you like - try different patterns to see what you like but don't take too long because the butter in your crust is softening minute by minute.  Yes another lesson learned. 

You want even layers so that the apples will bake evenly.

Break up your butter and put small pieces all over the top of the apples.

Now using the parchment fold the edge up and over the apples.  Do a small section at a time.

This is where I got into trouble with the time my pastry sat out - the butter had softened too much and the dough was rather sticky and very stuck to the parchment.  This made folding it over rather difficult.  I think had I put it in the fridge while working on the apples it would have been easier to work with.

Don't worry about the folds being perfect - this is a rustic dessert.  Free form is great tasting!

Sprinkled the top of the crust with a bit more of the cinnamon sugar.  Moved it to a sheet pan and popped it into a 425 degree oven for 15 minutes.  Turned the oven down to 375 degrees, loosely covered it with foil and baked for 25 minutes more. I like a bit of a texture to my apples so next time I would probably only cook it for about 15 to 20 minutes at the turned down temperature.  It really does depend on how you like your apples to be done.

Took it out of the oven and cooled it on a rack for about 15 minutes.  Then sliced and served it with a scoop of vanilla ice cream.

We all thought it quite tasty!  But the crust did seem a bit grainy compared to a typical pastry crust.  I have read that this usual (or if too much, a problem).  I realized I have nothing to compare it to!  Since I have never had a gluten-free pastry crust before.  I also realized that I had no one to test it.  The only person I know that eats gluten-free lives four states away ha!  Guess I only surround myself with a bunch of gluteneaters!

I will be trying more items with gluten-free in mind to find some good things to offer on the menu.  If you give this a try let me know what you think.

Apple Galette
by My Sister's Table

Ingredients

1 pie crust, ready to roll ~ I used KA's gluten-free recipe found here.
2 apples, peeled, cored and thinly sliced
2 tablespoons cinnamon sugar mix*
1 tablespoon butter

Directions

Preheat oven to 425 degrees F.
Roll out your pie crust to about 8 -9 inches round.  Lay the rolled out dough onto parchment paper.
Toss your sliced apples with the cinnamon sugar.  Arrange the slices in the center of the dough leaving about 1 to 1 1/2 inches of dough around the edge.  Try to layer the apples evenly.  Break up the butter into small pieces and place the all over the apples.
Fold the edge of the dough up and over the apples.  Fold up small sections to get a nice pleated look.  Don't worry about it being perfect - this is a rustic dessert.  Free form is great tasting!  Once all the edges are folded up you will still have an open center showing off your apple slices.  If you wish, sprinkle a bit more cinnamon sugar on top of the crust.
Move the galette on the parchment to a baking sheet.
Bake at 425 degrees for 15 minutes.  Turn the oven down to 375 degrees.  Cover the galette loosely with foil and continue baking for 15 to 25 minutes depending on how done you like your apples.
Cool on a rack for 15 minutes before serving.

Makes 4 large servings.
*A good cinnamon sugar mixture is 1 teaspoon cinnamon to each tablespoon sugar.  If you like it cinnamonier add a bit more to the mixture.

Printable recipe here.

Enjoy!

:)

More layers!

Hope y'all had a wonderful Christmas & New Years!!  I just didn't get it together enough to post in between so I will back track a bit here.

I am really loving making the croissants!  The next batch I made were filled with chocolate again because I wanted to try rolling them differently and apple.

I used two granny smith apples.  Peeled and cut into large-ish matchsticks.  I then sauteed them in a bit of butter, sugar and cinnamon.  I only cooked them long enough so they were just slightly limp.  I didn't want to stuff my croissants with applesauce.

When done I smooshed them to one end of the pan and tipped it so that any extra juice would drain away from the apples.

While the apples cooled I rolled the chocolate filled.  This time I didn't tuck in the sides.  I added more chocolate - sorry - and as I rolled them up I kind of pressed the end down just a touch to help hold in the chips.

I found that after separating the piece of dough that I was going to work with I would give it an extra press.  Then I would add the filling on that end and roll up.  This would give a nice spirally edge to the croissant.

Nice little portion of apple on the end.

You can see the apple peaking out.

I don't think you need to see the photos of them resting on the sheet pan.  Or them hanging out with egg wash on them.  Nope you want to see the good stuff!

I wish we had smel-o-net for moments like this...

All packed up and ready to go to loved ones.

For Christmas morning we have a nice big brunch... like way too much food.  But all of it is oh so yummy!  I was asked to bring croissants.  So I made another batch of dough a week before Christmas. Divided it into three pieces and froze them.  Took out two pieces of dough the night before to defrost in the fridge.  I have to say I LOVE that!  Being able to make ahead, freeze, thaw over night and roll and bake in the morning.

I was told *roll my eyes at my mother* to not make them all filled because they are much better plain.  I had already decided to make half plain and half filled. *insert bratty smirk here*

The first few batches I made eight per third of a recipe.  This time I cut the rolled out dough into twelve pieces and they were a perfect brunch size.

The filled half were done with a combination of homegrown/made blackberry jam and a cream cheese mixture.  The plain ones were left straight when rolled.  I had one problem - the filled croissants unrolled a bit as they baked.  But they still tasted awesome!!

~ A side note.  That third piece of dough (in case you were keeping count) I took up to Reno with me after Christmas and made a batch there.  I made half plain and half filled.  I did the same filling as Christmas day but this time I dipped my finger in water and moistened the end of the roll up.  The croissants didn't unroll this time! Yay!

Halloween is fast approaching!

Halloween is tied with Christmas for my favorite holiday.  Last year was actually the first time I have thrown a Halloween party.  We have always concentrated on the outdoor decorations and Halloween night.  We had a great time decorating, baking and partying!

Two of my favorite this were the Chocolate cupcakes with vanilla goo and orange 'glass' shards.

And the awesome candied apples.

You can find the recipe for the Red & Black apples at Matt Bites.

What made them even more spooky is we used branches off of our lime tree for the sticks.  They have wicked thorns on them.  (which I carefully dulled the tips on each one.)

Even though we are not hosting another party this year this certainly won't be our last.  I look forward to seeing what all peeeps come up with this year for their spookiness!

:)

Apple Crisp

We love Crisps Cherry, Berry, even Apple.  Slightly warmed with a scoop of creamy melty vanilla ice cream.  
Crisps are easy and quick to put together, transportable and you usually have everything needed in your kitchen.

We got a large batch of apples.  Time to make our Crisp.

Love my peeler, corer, slicer!

Ingredients 
10 cups apples, peeled, cored and sliced (I like to use Granny Smith) 
1/2 cup white sugar 
1 tablespoon all-purpose flour 
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon 
1/4 cup water 

1 cup quick-cooking oats 
1 cup all-purpose flour 
1 cup packed brown sugar 
1/4 teaspoon baking powder 
1/4 teaspoon baking soda 
1/2 cup butter, melted 

Directions
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degree C). 
Place the sliced apples in a 9x13 inch pan. Mix the white sugar, 1 tablespoon flour and ground cinnamon together, and sprinkle over apples. Pour water evenly over all. 
Combine the oats, 1 cup flour, brown sugar, baking powder, baking soda and melted butter together. Crumble evenly over the apple mixture. 
Bake at 350 degrees F (175 degrees C) for about 45 minutes. 

Makes 12 servings.

Printer friendly recipe here.



One to eat.
One to freeze.
One to share.

:)