Yesterday was chilly and rainy so I kept warm by cooking. Granola, meatloaf, and this really excellent Apple Lemon Cake. The recipe is from this book -- but I'll give it to you, with my comments,
3 medium apples 1 medium lemon 1 cup (two sticks) butter, melted 1/2 cup vegetable oil 3 eggs 2 cups sugar 3 cups all-purpose flour 1 tsp. baking powder 1 tsp. baking soda about 1 tsp. Tunisian Five Spice (this is my addition -- the recipe didn't call for any spice of any kind) 1 cup chopped pecans For the glaze 1 cup confectioners sugar 2 tbs. butter, softened 3 tbs. lemon juice 1 tsp. grated lemon zest 1 tbs. honey ( I left this out, thinking it was plenty sweet already)
1. Preheat oven to 350 F and grease and flour a 10 inch tube pan. 2. Peel, core, and chop the apples. Place in a bowl. 3. Grate the lemon zest. Set aside. 4. Squeeze the juice of the lemon over the copped apples and toss to coat each piece. 5. Pour the melted butter into a large mixing bowl. Add the oil and beat in the eggs, one at a time. Beat in the sugar and half the lemon zest. 6. Sift together the flour, baking powder, and baking soda, along with optional spice. Stir into the batter. 7. Fold in pecans and apples. 8. Pour batter into prepared pan and bake till skewer comes out clean. (The book says 1 hour and twenty minutes but my cake was ready after just a little over an hour. And a little burned at that. Still delicious. Just be aware and check for doneness at fifty minutes.) 9. Remove from oven and let cool ten minutes in the pan. Turn onto a wire rack. Prick the top of the cake with a fork so the glaze will soak in. 10. The glaze. Sift the confectioners sugar into a small bowl. (I foolishly skipped sifting and got a lumpy, yucky looking glaze. Learned my lesson.) Beat in the softened butter, lemon juice, and lemon zest. Spread over the warm cake.
Tunisian Five Spice is a sassy blend of peppercorn, cinnamon, Grains of Paradise, cloves, and nutmeg. I much prefer it to the standard apple pie seasoning of cinnamon and nutmeg. Grains of Paradise? Check out THIS description. My mouth is watering...
