With Labor Day weekend coming up we’re reminded that summer will eventually fade and make way for another abundant season full of culinary delights. September is a shoulder month of sorts with summery eats such as corn and watermelon still in season while apples, turnips and rutabagas are coming on strong. You might have noticed the neighborhood apple trees beginning to drop their firm little fruits. The upcoming weekend also brings us the annual Little Woody Barrel-Aged Beer, Cider & Whiskey Festival.
With all that in mind, I landed on this jewel of an apple cake made with grated apples, hard cider and cinnamon, which can be served with freshly whipped cream for a simple dessert or served plain, like a coffee cake, with your morning beverage of choice.
Cider Apple Cake Recipe
This is a very simple cake to mix up; you don’t need anything but a couple of mixing bowls and a wooden spoon or some other sturdy stirring spoon. This is a very moist cake which needs no frosting to make it melt in your mouth. It can easily be made gluten, sugar and alcohol free without any loss of quality or taste. A perfect cake for a perfect late summer/almost fall day.
Serves 6
• 1 ¼ cups all-purpose flour OR Bob’s Red Mill 1:1 Gluten Free Baking Flour
• ½ cup sugar OR monk fruit sweetener
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 teaspoon cinnamon
• ½ teaspoon salt
• ½ teaspoon ground cloves
• 1 ¼ cups unsweetened applesauce
• ¼ cup molasses
• 1 small apple, peeled or unpeeled, shredded
• ¼ cup vegetable oil
• ¼ cup hard cider (Avid Blackberry Currant Apple is a good choice) OR regular apple cider
• Zest of one lemon
• Whipped cream for serving, optional
• Thin apple slices for serving, optional
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Generously butter an 8-inch cake pan. In a large mixing bowl, whisk together flour, sugar, soda, cinnamon, salt and cloves. Set aside. In a medium mixing bowl, stir together applesauce, molasses, shredded apple, oil, cider, and lemon zest. Mix wet ingredients into dry ingredients until well blended. Pour batter into buttered pan.
Bake at 350 degrees for 30-40 minutes. Insert toothpick into center of cake to test for doneness and start testing early if cake begins to look too brown. Remove cake from oven and cool for 5-10 minutes on a rack. Slide a butter knife around inside of cake pan to loosen cake. Gently turn cake out of the pan onto the rack and continue to cool.
Serve with whipped cream and apple slices, if desired.
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This article appears in Aug 24, 2022 – Aug 30, 2023.
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