Almost everything in life is better with… butter.
But guess what’s better without butter.
You’ll never guess.
Cake!
It just so happens that all my favorite cakes are better without butter.
Earl Gray Chiffon cake is made with oil.
Carrot Cake -- oil again.
And today’s cake, which is a very simple apple cake, is made with sour cream.
Over the years I’ve tried so many cakes with fruit.
Yes, I’ve tried the world famous New York Times plum torte.
It was ok.
But I believe that this apple cake is better.
It has a truly remarkable moist inside, really crackly top, and outstanding flavor.
I wish I could take credit for this creation, but I can’t.
I found it on a YouTube Channel called Oshpaz Kelin (I’ll give you a link to the original
video below).
This is a very versatile cake.
Since it’s fall, we are making it with apples, but it can be done with plums, apricots, peaches,
pears, and pretty much any stone fruit.
You can also mix in some raspberries or blueberries.
Let’s preheat the oven to 350F and get to work.
The amount of fruit is flexible.
The original recipe calls for 3 apples, but I like a scary amount of apples, so I use
5.
That’s roughly a kilogram of whole apples before peeling and coring.
I particularly like the tart granny smith for this dish, but you can also use honey
crisp or some other apple that holds its shape after baking.
Peel and core the apples.
Trim the flower end and the stick end.
Cut each piece in half pole to pole and then slice.
You can cut the apples any which way you want as long as you end up with pieces of roughly
this size.
Butter a 13 by 9 inch baking dish very generously.
It can be made out of any material.
Glass, metal, and even ceramic.
It’s best to use room temperature butter since it will spread easier.
Since I am buttery already, let’s make the streusel topping.
In a small bowl, combine 26 grams of sugar, 16 grams of all-purpose flour, and 15 grams
of cold butter.
Rub all the ingredients with your fingertips until you get a crumbly mixture.
I am sure some delightful viewer will leave me a snarky comment about the use of butter.
Just to clarify.
This is not a butter free cake.
It’s just not a butter based cake.
We need butter for greasing the pan and for the crumb topping, but it’s not the primary
fat in the batter.
Don’t worry, I am not trying to get rid of butter as some sort of dietary trick.
I just like the texture of the batter more with sour cream.
When your mixture looks something like this, you are done.
Put it in the fridge, and let’s work on the batter.
Put 3 large room temperature eggs into a bowl of a mixer.
It doesn’t need to be a stand mixer.
Hand mixer works great.
By the way, if you ever need to bring eggs to room temperature quickly, just put them
into very warm water for 5 minutes before cracking.
Add 2.8 grams of salt.
That’s 1 tsp of Diamond Crystal Kosher Salt or 1/2 tsp of table salt.
Whip with a whisk attachment gradually bringing up the speed to high until the eggs are very
foamy, about 2 minutes.
Turn down the speed to low and gradually add 200 grams of sugar.
Bring up the speed to high and beat for about 3 minutes or until the mixture is very light
in color.
You might want to scrape down the bowl half way through.
Let’s give it another minute.
Once the eggs are very pale, add 300 grams of sour cream and 1 teaspoon of vanilla extract.
Beat until incorporated.
Put 230 grams of all-purpose flour into a sifter.
I am using unbleached, but bleached will work as well.
Add 15 grams of baking powder and sift together.
Add the ingredients to the wet ingredients in 3 additions on the lowest speed.
Don’t overmix.
As soon as the flour is slightly moistened, add more, and once all the flour is in, stop
mixing before it’s completely incorporated.
Give the batter a few folds with a spatula to finish incorporating the flour.
If you find big lumps, smash them, but there is no need to be too thorough.
You don’t want to overmix.
See -- my batter still has some little lumps.
Fold in the apples until they are completely coated in the batter.
Dump into the buttered baking dish and spread out evenly.
I like to push the batter to the sides and make the center slightly lower since most
cakes have a tendency to dome.
Sprinkle the top all over with the streusel crumbs.
I know this topping is an extra step, but I’d never skip it.
It gives the cake the most delightful top crust and it contrasts beautifully with the
moist inside.
Put the cake in the middle of the oven and bake for about 50 minutes, but that depends
on your oven and your baking dish material.
When the toothpick inserted in the middle comes out clean, the cake is done.
Let the cake cool for about an hour and serve.
It tastes great warm.
It tastes great at room temperature.
It even tastes great the next day.
Here are more culinary tutorials for you to check out and if you are ever in the Boston
area, maybe I’ll see you in one of my classes.