Crapple Cake

I experimented a bit with the Tropical Coffee Cake recipe, and would love to share how it came out. But Scott is at work and I promised I wouldn't eat it without him. So far, all I can tell you is that it smells delicious, and it's so pretty!




As you can see in the photo, the coconut is still there. I replaced the nutmeg with cinnamon, and changed the pineapple (which was supposed to be mango but never was) for granny smith apple and a handful of Craisins that were nuked with some apple juice to reconstitute them a bit.


Strangely enough, I grossly overestimated the number of apples required to yield 1 cup of chunks. See, in my mind, a whole apple would almost fit in a cup. That meant that after removing the skin and the core, the apple would only fill 1/2 cup. Amazingly enough, chopping the apple actually made it take up MORE space! The bonus to this lesson is that I had a bowl of chopped apple and cranberry bits while the cake was in the oven.

I'll be back in the morning with the results. Fingers crossed...

Update: While the Crapple Cake isn't necessarily crap-tastic, it also isn't apple-icious. It is decidedly bland. At first, Scott thought it wasn't sweet enough, but I just had a piece for breakfast and didn't find it un-sweet. I know for sure that the cranberries add absolutely no flavor - just a splash of color. Perhaps the pineapple added more flavor than the apple did. Maybe the cinnamon couldn't hold its own in place of the nutmeg. I guess I should have looked up the seasoning that goes into an apple pie and used that for reference.

On the bright side, the apples cooked through nicely. The cake is still moist and dense. If I can get the seasoning right, and maybe replace the healthy coconut on top with a buttery crumble, this will be a helluva apple cake.

Tropical Coffee Cake

p. 247

I made this coffee cake on Tuesday night, for breakfast Wednesday morning. Of course, when I read the "serve warm" on the directions, Scott and I each had a small slice... for the sake of experimentation!

First of all, the actual cake recipe calls for mango. Since Scott and I are both a little hesitant about mango, I decided on fresh pineapple instead. And believe it or not, that's the only substitution I made here!

This is one of those pesky recipes that wants you to use AP flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt. Generally, I just use self-rising and cross my fingers, but this time I followed the directions. I also sifted the dry ingredients (those above, plus sugar and nutmeg) in my new sifter. The sugar or the nutmeg jammed the holes, and some shaking and banging were necessary.

The wet ingredients for this cake included plain yogurt, oil and just one egg. And when mixed together with the dry, the batter was extremely thick. It was mid-way between cookie dough and muffin mix. In fact, staring at the bowl with my brow furrowed, I re-read the ingredient list at least two more times looking for the cup of water or milk that I forgot to add. But alas, there were no missing ingredients.

I tossed the pineapple (which Scott was nice enough to dice for me) with a tablespoon of flour, and "gently folded" it into the batter. I literally had to spread the batter all the way to the edges of the cake pan because it wanted to stay in a near-ball in the center of the pan.

I sprinkled a generous handful of coconut on the top (I think the recipe called for 2 T., but why bother?) and put it in the oven.

OMG the smell! I looked at Scott about 20 minutes into the baking process and told him I was going to make this again no matter how it tasted because it smelled so wonderful. I think it was the nutmeg. Or maybe the browning coconut.

The cake actually cooked in the time recommended in the recipe - a pleasant surprise because I was supposed to use a 9" cake pan and we only own 8" pans. Hmm... I guess that makes two substitutions!

My impressions of this cake are overall quite positive. The batter itself is a perfect blank canvas for just about any fruit filling. I'm tempted to substitute cinnamon for the nutmeg and apples for the "mango." Heck - maybe just add whatever is in season! It was moist, flavorful, and beautiful.

Scott and I both got bites that were heavy on the nutmeg, but that's definitely user error. I was proud that there was no issue with the baking soda/powder. My previous experience has definitely been negative, with results tasting soapy or salty. This time, everything was just right. And the cake rose nicely.

This cake is definitely something I'll make again. It was so good that I might even make it for the next pot luck at work!

Autumn Apple Fritters

P. 273.

This is the dessert we had the night of the yummy pork dish Jamie did last week. So, leave it to me, the "experienced chef," to pick quite possibly the easiest recipe out of the entire cookbook to start with, while she picked one of the more difficult ones. The prep was pretty darn simple. The fritters were super easy. First off, get some oil in a pot and heat it up...

Small aside... That's pretty much the reason I did this one, and Jamie never would. Jamie hates frying anything. There had been a minor frying accident not too long after we were married in which I let the oil heat up wayyyyy too hot prior to frying some french fries, and we all know what happens when you introduce a frozen fry to screaming hot oil, don't we? That's right, immediately the oil boils over to the burner, causing a small flash over, lots of smoke, and some freaking out of those around... No fires, just a permanent fear of frying from Jamie.

Anyway, back to this incident. The mise for the dish is simple:

Core two baking style apples, in this instance, Granny Smiths. I used my mandolin to make thick slices. Mix AP flower, powdered sugar, baking soda, lemon zest, and a bit of oil for your batter.

Dunk those slices in your batter, and then, three at a time, throw them... well, you know what I mean... into your burning hot oil.

It will literally only take about a minute to minute and a half to cook them. When they turn golden brown on one side, you flip them over, and let 'em do the same on that side. Carefully remove them from the oil, placing them on a plate lined with paper towels to absorb some of the oil.

To plate, I simply dusted them with powdered sugar, and put on a mint sprig for some color. They were good, but the bad thing was with them resting, the apples, being super hot obviously, released their moisture into the breading, making it a bit soggy. The second plating was better, Jamie added some cinnamon sugar we had to the top, giving it a bit of spice and a little more sweetness.

Lessons learned:

Next time, I think I'll cut them a little thinner, and fry a little longer, to give the breading a bit more of a chance to stay crispy. Also, while we are trying to follow the recipes as much as possible, next time, definitely will be adding a bit more spice to the batter and possibly some more sugar. Yeah, it's a diabetic cook book, but still! Maybe a nice raspberry sauce for more color and a bit of flavor!