Teddie's Apple Cake

Let's start with a thrilling announcement, shall we? Readers, I now have a fancy Recipe Index on my site! Right there, to the left, under my author photo. Thank you for putting up with those difficult-to-navigate archives for so long - two years, two months, and 304 posts to be exact. I've gotten many, many complaints about this, and I'm so pleased to say that your struggles through my archives are finally over.

In the spirit of democracy, I've included ALL the recipes that I've made on this site in there, including the duds. I'm still debating a system in the Index in which I alert you to my Hall-of-Famers, my Absolute Disasters, my Weeknight Repeats. Any suggestions? Anyway, I hope it's useful to you all - I've already re-discovered more than a dozen things I cannot wait to try again.

To celebrate (and to fortify myself, because I haven't entirely finished going through my archives and adding them to the index), I'm having cake for breakfast. Now, I'm of the opinion that not every cake can double as breakfast. Some cakes, the flourless and the frosted, for example, just can't - they're too glamorous, too late-night, too spangly and wicked. But the homey cakes, the ones that look a little craggy on the edges, with a generous, open crumb and a scent not unlike fresh pancakes, those will do just fine for the weekend mornings when a bowl of cereal is simply not enough.

First published in 1973 and resurrected this weekend by Amanda Hesser, Teddie's Apple Cake (who is Teddie and why is the cake named after him or her? Unfortunately, I have no answers for you) is such a cake. It's got this wonderfully craggy top, all mountains and valleys of soft apples jutting upwards through the cake and slumping down gently into the crumb, and a faintly shattering crust. It could be masked through some confectioner's sugar sifted on top, but I like its rustic appeal just fine. Besides the cake teeters on the edge of too-sweet-ness as it is.

I had to fiddle with things a bit (my God, I've become such a renegade), using less sugar, adding pecans instead of walnuts, swapping in fresh cranberries for the raisins. (It's not that I don't like raisins, but the tart little pops of cranberry are so much more refreshing.) But it was a hit around here last night, fresh out of the oven - with Ben, and with Gemma upstairs. This morning, for breakfast, it's even better.

Teddie’s Apple Cake
Serves 8

Butter for greasing pan
3 cups flour, plus more for dusting pan
1 1/2 cups vegetable oil
1 3/4 cups sugar
3 eggs
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon vanilla
3 cups peeled, cored and thickly sliced tart apples, like Gala
3/4 cup chopped pecans
1 cup fresh cranberries

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Butter and flour a 9-inch tube pan. Beat the oil and sugar together in a mixer (fitted with a paddle attachment) while assembling the remaining ingredients. After about 5 minutes, add the eggs and beat until the mixture is creamy.

2. Sift together 3 cups of flour, the salt, cinnamon and baking soda. Stir into the batter. Add the vanilla, apples, pecans and cranberries and stir until combined.

3. Transfer the mixture to the prepared pan. Bake for 1 hour and 15 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Cool in the pan before turning out. Serve at room temperature.

Comments

[The Casual Baker]

Cake for breakfast is always allowed (strongly encouraged even) in my house!

I'm looking forward to sifting through your new recipe index and finding some gems.

[nbm]

okay, that settles the question of what I'm baking for tomorrow's staff meeeting. Must pick up apples on the way home.

[Bea]

That is so funny. I made a similar cake last night for a dinner we were invited to, using cranberries and apples together. Although the apples I used were Heirloom Reine des Reinettes, my fav, and other types of flours. Spooky!

[Bea]

Mine looked more like this:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/28757974@N00/1847958868/

[Jessika]

I'd welcome the system you suggest; top ten, hall of fame, repeats, disasters etc.

[mary]

I'm not much of a dessert person, I'd rather have more bread or potatoes or wine with my dinner, but give me a piece of cake for breakfast and I'm really happy. This one looks particularly good (tart cranberries, yum).

[deb]

Ooh, this sounds just like my mother's German Apple Cake recipe, that we love and love. I've been wanting to try a pears version for some time, just to switch it up. Bravo on the recipe archive! (Mine is a pathetic three months out of date.)

[KatyBelle]

That looks amazing! Do you think that batter would also work with rhubarb? I have a ton in my freezer that I need to use.

[Jayne Jubb]

I'm so glad you posted this!
I was looking for an apple cake to make for a friend's birthday on Saturday. Thank you - you answered my prayers :=)

[radish]

I am itching to make this - itching - but we have a few baked goods in the household right now and I've been asked to hold off for now. This looks incredible!

[Leah]

A+ for Archives and for Apples! Yay!

[gemma]

this was DELICIOUS. Thanks for sharing and please bring more upstairs x

[EB]

What a perfect way to use the apples of the season! Thanks for the archives!!

[Victoria]

Oh this looks SO GOOD. And apples are just the thing in fall, aren't they? My closest farm stand had it's last day till spring on Saturday. There were no bright greens and luscious tomatoes. But there was plenty of squash and wonderful, divine, heady apples. This would have been just the thing. Sigh! By the way, I have adapted your recipe for Mexican meatballs to one of my favorite dishes, meatball goulash (sounds horrible but is fabulous) = eliminating the breadcrumbs, adding an extra egg, and using the zucchini. What a great variation. So moist and soft. Thanks for that one.

[Julie]

A recipe index! Great idea. (As is cake for breakfast!)

[Charmaine]

Luisa, thanks for the recipe index; very helpful. I read about this apple cake yesterday in the NYC Sunday Magazine. I'm thankful you suggested swapping cranberries for raisins - great idea! I'm going to try it this Friday for Saturday breakfast. Thanks for taking the time to post these wonderful recipes intertwined with your wonderful and entertaining stories. Cheers, or should I say "bis bald"!
Charmaine

[ann]

hmmmmm... I wonder if this is what I should do with all the apples slowly getting squishy in the fridge. I had planned on making a tarte tatin, but man have I been lazy!!
Thanks for the index too, you rule!

[Molly]

I made this cake last night. I used a bunt pan, granny smith apples and omitted the cranberries. It was YUMMY! Thank you.

[Dana]

I fully support the practice of eating cake for breakfast! I'll even go for ones with frosting (but flourless ones, no). This is the perfect kind of cake for breakfast, though, and reminds me of a recipe I have in my collection! I bet that sweet potato cake by Regan Daley would be good for breakfast too, don't you think??

[casey]

glad to hear it's as good as it looked in the mag yesterday--now, wouldn't you like to test and report on that apple crepe recipe in the same article for us? TIA.

[Ben]

This one made my all time top-ten list. I wish I were eating some now...

[Luisa]

Katybelle - absolutely! My goodness, lucky you. I wish I had some rhubarb languishing in my freezer.

Ann - if they're getting squishy, I'd make applesauce, actually, or apple butter. Plus you get rid of more of them that way :)

Dana - it would indeed. Not for me, but I think I remember Ben having some of that cake for breakfast.

Ben - Seriously? All-time top-ten? People, here's your testimony.

[Susan from Food Blogga]

Your index is impressive, Luisa. I like the idea of categories like "disasters" and "weekend repeats." They could be both humorous and informative. Oh, and your cake looks exceptionally moist.

[Lydia]

I sympathize -- I still haven't finished indexing all of my earlier recipes, either. Maybe if I had some of this wonderful cake to fortify me....

[KatyBelle]

Luisa, my dad has several 20-year-old rhubarb plants in his yard, so I spend most of June harvesting and preping rhubarb for the freezer. And honestly, I am getting sick of rhubarb compote, so this will be a great switch-up!

[nbm]

okay, made it for the staff meeting, using walnuts, a little whole wheat flour, and more spices, and chopping the apples into smaller bits. It came out very well. I could have used more (and better -- the Rome I used along with a Gala was watery) apples and more cranberries -- I had some in the freezer from LAST November. Anyway, tall bronzed & handsome, tasty, and a success with my colleagues. One person recognized the source: "Was this the cake in the Times Magazine?" she said.

[Beth]

Yum! I made this last night using your recipe, with a few "healthy" modifications (I know, but I *was* making it expressly to eat for breakfast). I used 1 cup of whole wheat flour, decreased both oil and sugar by 1/4 C, and baked in 2 loaf pans. It came out beautifully, and was even well-received by my boyfriend (who normally only likes light, fluffy, grocery-store bakery cakes). Thanks!!

[Virtual Frolic]

ooo - I have apples AND cranberries in my fridge/freezer...I know what I'm making!

[Hillary]

This looks like such a good Thanksgiving dessert! Mmmm!

[Cakespy]

So cool! I read the Times magazine article, so it was fun to come across this! I bet it was great for breakfast the next day...my favorite time to eat cake!

[turtle]

luisa - for annotating your index, how about using a simple code letter in parentheses after the recipe title:
(HF) for hall-of-fame, (AD) absolute disaster, etc. ? I enjoy your blog a lot.
thanks!

[Kaykat]

Rock! This looks like the perfect recipe for exhausting my giant supply of apples!

Thanks! :)

[hannah]

SUCH a good cake. My father fed my seven month old some for breakfast this morning and I could not think of a better "first cake."

[hannah]

Photographic evidence that babies love this cake:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/hannahcooks/2022014469/

[aileen]

Oh, this is lovely, Luisa. Lovely, indeed. I made it last night, and can't think of a more perfect dessert for the night. It was a bit blizzardly last night. Not an official blizzard. But cold, and windy, with a snow fall of sharp-edged ice bits that whipped around and made the outside seem just beyond prudent. We both had to work late, the truck windows had frozen open, and we needed to run out to the postoffice to see if our mailorder of dog food had finally arrived. When we finally got home, we discovered that J's father had made us a big pot of chicken soup and had laid out a copy of the Anchorage newspaper. And the radio was playing some acoustic music, with the occassional update about a storm coming in this weekend. And the love of my life volunteered to walk the dogs. And it was all so homey and humbly good, such quiet bliss, that I too wanted to contribute to the warmth of it all. I remembered this post. And your version of Teddie's Apple Cake, adjusted to take advantage of my stache of tundra cranberries and baked in a castiron skillet and served with a drizzle of cream - well, it fit perfectly. And it makes for a fine breakfast too. I say this as I nibble on the last crumbs of mine. Thank you!

[Rebecca]

My mother and I baked Teddie's Apple Cake today (from the magazine recipe), intending to serve it tomorrow as part of Thanksgiving dinner. Neither of us is an experienced baker, but this looked easy. It didn't turn out well at all. We had to scoop it out of the pan in pieces -- it more pudding than cake, and it has a thick, tough crust. We did make one departure from the recipe as printed: with no access to a mixer, we had to do all of the mixing by hand. Is this where we went wrong?

[Luisa]

nbm and Beth - whole wheat flour! that's a good idea. I'm currently obsessed with tossing a bit of it in everything I bake.

turtle - that sounds like an idea... thanks! I'm still fiddling with it.

Hannah - Nathan's first cake! That is seriously thrilling. Thanks for the photo link - he is adorable.

Aileen - I love your dispatches from Alaska, they're always so thrilling. And I love that you did this in a cast-iron skillet, what a lovely idea! Tell me, what are tundra cranberries?

Rebecca - oh dear, I'm sorry to hear it. It's quite a big cake, so it takes a while to cook through to the center. Did you test it with a cake tester or toothpick before removing it from the oven? If the outside was thick and crusty and the inside was still gooey, I'm wondering if perhaps your oven isn't calibrated? Sounds like a temperature issue. The mixing method seems not to have been the problem.

[jocelyn]

Can I cook this in an ordinary pan as don't think I have a tube one? and if so what size. lol

[Luisa]

Jocelyn - you can certainly cook it in an ordinary cake pan, I'd go for a 10-inch one. It's quite a heavy, thick batter, so in a regular cake pan it might need more time in the oven than for the tube pan.