Ms Chef in Seattle

Last night while searching through my cake recipe box for two recipes that I’ll need for birthday cakes next week, I pulled out a folded 8″ x 11″ photocopied recipe gifted to me by the late Sally Snyder (known to me as Sally Reed in 1995 Seattle when she provided it.) Sally loved cooking and baking and I’d shared a baked goodie with her which had a frosting that she said reminded her of the frosting on her great aunt’s eight-layer cake. Eight layers? I had to know more. I was surprised to learn that Sally had written a not-widely-distributed cookbook some years before 1995 and put Great Aunt Bess’s recipe for the cake in it. With the cookbook out of print, Sally made a photocopy from her own copy of the book.

So, long story short, last night I googled her cookbook title, “A Dash and  A Dab,” and “Sally Reed” which led, after her obituary in the Seattle Times, to the food blog of Sally’s granddaughter! It’s called The Blooming Cherry and a post title caught my eye and interest because I have a bag of local apples in the fridge needing more uses than I currently had planned. https://mikaelabloom.com/recipe/cinnamon-roll-apple-cake/

While I love Mikaela’s blog and appreciated her recipe, I quickly noted that it includes a lot of butter as well as an electric mixer and the creaming method of cake making. Nah, not today. Opting for speed, I pulled out my own recipe for coffee cake, the quicker two-bowls-and-a-wooden-spoon method, made a couple changes and added a cinnamon glaze.

It was a hit. Tender, moist but not soggy. I might add more cinnamon to batter next time.

My Recipe  Preheat oven to 350 degrees. 8″ x 8″ baking dish, lined with parchment. Roughly chop an apple or a couple small apples to yield approximately 1 cup.

Crumble for the cake’s middle (my full recipe, so freeze the extra for another use or divide the recipe into half if you love fractions): 1/4 cup soft butter, 3/4 cup brown sugar, 3/4 cup all-purpose flour, 2 teaspoons cinnamon, 1/8 teaspoon salt.

Mix the dry ingredients in bigger bowl: 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour, 1/2 cups granulated sugar, 1/2 teaspoon baking soda, 2 teaspoons baking powder, 1/2 teaspoon salt and 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon.     Add the chopped apple to the dry ingredients.

Mix the wet ingredients in a smaller bowl: 1 egg, 1/4 cup vegetable oil, 1/2 cup sour cream or yogurt, 1/2 cup milk and 1 teaspoon vanilla. (May substitute 1 cup buttermilk for the sour cream/yogurt and milk.)

Then, add the wet ingredients to the dry ingredients, stirring only until everything is moistened. Don’t overstir! Pour half the batter into the pan and sprinkle the crumble in a 1/4 inch layer all over it. Spoon and carefully spread the remaining batter over the crumble. Bake for 45 minutes, testing with a toothpick at around 40 minutes.

While cake is baking, make the glaze. Immediately dollop and spread the glaze on the hot cake after it’s removed from the oven, leaving cake in the pan.  The lovely thin layer will soak into the cake a bit and provide a bit of crunch on the top.

Cinnamon Glaze: Stir together 2 tablespoons of very soft butter, 1 1/4 cups powdered sugar, 1/4 teaspoon cinnamon and approximately 1 tablespoon of milk or canned milk or half and half.

I will have a slice tomorrow morning for breakfast with the Formula 1 race from Brazil instead of making Sunday morning cinnamon biscuits* (which I made on Thursday morning to share.) After all, it’s coffee cake.

*https://mschefinseattle.com/2018/12/14/cinnamon-sugar-biscuits/