My Recipe Reviews

Recipe Reviews, Recommendations, Tips and Musings. Thanks for visiting!

apple cake

Ligita’s Quick Apple Cake

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I don’t know who Ligita is, but I want to thank her from the bottom of my hungry little heart for this Quick Apple Cake recipe.

When I read through it, I was a little puzzled because it’s made in a pie plate and the apple mixture is topped with a thick cake crust. So it’s a cake, baked in a pie plate that ends up rather like a cobbler!

The apples are thinly sliced and tossed in a lemon, sugar, cinnamon mixture, then topped with a lightly sweet cake batter. It ends up with a luscious apple filling and a tender cake layer, along with a slightly crunchy top.

We had it warm with a scoop of Blue Bell Vanilla Bean Ice Cream and it was oh, so tasty.

This cake (pie, cobbler) has a familiar warm apple cake flavor with a different twist. The browned butter really adds a different dimension to the cake layer, so make sure and don’t skip that step.

It’s easy to throw together and, besides having to wait impatiently for it to cool, it’s a quick dessert. Delicious.

Ligitas Quick Apple Cake

Ligita's Quick Apple Cake

Yield: 8-10
Prep Time: 25 minutes
Cook Time: 40 minutes
Inactive Time: 30 minutes
Total Time: 1 hour 35 minutes

Combination Apple Cake Apple Cobbler - delicious!

Ingredients

  • 3 C tart apples, cored and thinly sliced
  • 1 1/2 tsp cinnamon
  • 1 1/2 tsp fresh lemon juice
  • 3/4 C plus 3 tbsp. granulated sugar
  • 3/4 C butter, cut into pieces
  • 2 eggs, lightly beaten
  • 1 C sifted all-purposed flour
  • Vanilla Ice Cream, (optional, but highly recommended!)

Instructions

  1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Generously butter the bottom and sides of a 9" pie plate.
  2. Toss the sliced apples in a bowl with the cinnamon, lemon juice and 2 tbsp. of the sugar. Spread the apples evenly in the pie plate.
  3. Melt the butter in a small saucepan over medium heat; cook until the foam is lightly golden brown, about 5 minutes. Watch carefully to avoid burning. Remove immediately from the stove top and pour into a bowl, leaving any sediment and as much foam as possible in the pan.*
  4. Stir the 3/4 cup of sugar into the butter. Slowly stream the egg into the bowl while stirring. Gently stir in the flour until blended. Spoon the batter evenly over the apples and spread into a layer. Sprinkle with the remaining 1 tbsp. sugar.
  5. Bake until lightly golden and crusty, about 40 minutes. Cool in the pan on a wire rack. Cut into wedges and serve from the pan warm or at room temperature, with vanilla ice cream.

Notes

Tips and Stuff
I used Fuji apples. Granny Smith would be another good apple – make sure it’s a firm cooking apple. (Takes 3 medium or 2 large)

*When pouring the browned butter into the bowl, pour through a sieve or use a pan lid to get just the liquid out. Some of the foam will come with it – that’s OK, but make sure the sediment from the browning remains in the pan so it won’t be bitter.

Cool at least 30 minutes to let the apple mixture firm up.

Nutrition Information:
Yield: 10 Serving Size: 1 grams
Amount Per Serving: Calories: 244Total Fat: 16gSaturated Fat: 10gTrans Fat: 1gUnsaturated Fat: 5gCholesterol: 80mgSodium: 135mgCarbohydrates: 21gFiber: 2gSugar: 10gProtein: 3g

Nutrition Values are Approximate

© Richard Sax
Category: Cakes

Irish Apple Cake with Custard Sauce

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Irish Apple Cake with Custard Sauce

It’s almost the end of March and to celebrate, I made this Irish Apple Cake – Irish….St. Patrick’s Day… Well, it’s not green for the occasion, although bright green Granny Smith apples are used in it!

The picture on TheKitchenMcCabe.com was tall, beautiful and looked as light as a feather.  I made it in a slightly larger springform pan and mine wasn’t so tall, but still came out pretty and very tasty. 

It’s a subtly sweet dense coffee-cake texture like no other cake I’ve ever had – maybe that’s what makes it Irish?  Don’t know, but it sure is good.  I took it to a church function (that’s why there’s no picture of a cut piece)  and all but one little piece was eaten, so it seems to be a keeper.

Irish apple cake with custard sauce3

I had a big fight with the custard, so there’s no picture of it here. It wanted to revert to scrambled eggs and it won. I’m including the ingredients for it because if you can make it correctly, it would be divine over this cake.

I ended up taking whipped topping and a caramel sauce to put on top of the cake and that was quite good. Still, next time I will perfect the custard and use it.

This would be a wonderful cake to have with coffee or a small slice after a substantial dinner, since it’s not overly sweet. I’ll definitely keep this in my recipe files!


Irish Apple Cake with Custard Sauce 2

Irish Apple Cake with Custard Sauce tastes like a professionally-made cake – delicious! All those wonderful apples. Mmmm.

Need more apple cake recipes? Try the fantastic Fresh Apple Cake with Maple Glaze or the amazing and different Apple Sharlotka Cake

Irish Apple Cake with Custard Sauce

Irish Apple Cake with Custard Sauce

Yield: 10-12
Prep Time: 35 minutes
Cook Time: 50 minutes
Total Time: 1 hour 25 minutes

Dense, lightly sweet, apple-filled cake.

Ingredients

  • Cake:
  • 3 C. flour
  • 2 tsp. Baking Powder
  • 1/8 tsp. salt
  • 1/8 tsp. ground cloves
  • 1/8 tsp. ground nutmeg
  • 1/2 tsp. ground cinnamon
  • 6 oz. butter, cold
  • 3/4 C. plus 1 tbsp. sugar
  • 4 large Granny Smith apples, or other firm, tart apples
  • 2 eggs
  • 3/4 C. milk
  • 2 tbsp. sugar, for top of the cake
  • Custard:
  • 6 large egg yolks
  • 6 tbsp. sugar
  • 1 1/2 C. whole milk
  • 1 1/2 tsp. vanilla

Instructions

  1. Grease and flour an 8" or 9" round spring form pan. Using an 8" pan will give you a taller cake. Preheat the oven to 375°.
  2. Peel the apples and slice them into uniform pieces (about 1/2" square).  Place them in a medium bowl and add 1 tbsp. of sugar.  Mix lightly to cover apples and set aside.  
  3. Sift the flour, baking powder, salt, cloves, nutmeg and cinnamon into a large mixing bowl. Make sure the bowl is very large to allow room for the apples to be folded in.
  4. Cut the butter into the flour using your fingers or a pastry cutter until the mixture resembles fine crumbs. Add the 3/4 C. sugar to the flour mixture and mix in. Toss the apples into the flour mixture and combine them thoroughly.
  5. In a separate bowl, beat the eggs and milk together.  Add to the apples and flour and mix in with a large sturdy spoon until just combined. Batter will be thick and dough-like. Transfer the dough into the prepared cake pan and flatten the top surface using the back of your spoon.  Sprinkle the sugar over the top of the cake.
  6. Bake for 45-50 minutes. Test the center for doneness. The top of the cake should be golden brown. 
  7. Make the Custard Sauce:  Place the egg yolks and sugar in a bowl and whisk until pale yellow, 2-3 minutes. Place the milk in a medium saucepan and bring just barely to a boil. Slowly (to temper eggs) whisk 2 tablespoons of the hot milk into the egg/sugar mixture.
  8. After combined, slowly add the rest of the hot milk. Transfer the mixture back to the saucepan and stir over medium-low heat until custard thickens, 3 to 3 1/2 minutes. Custard should be thick enough to coat the back of a spoon. Remove from heat and stir in the vanilla. Transfer to bowl or serving saucer.
  9. Serve warm or cold over apple cake.

Notes

Tips and Stuff:

Do not over-mix the batter or it will be tough.

Next time I would use parchment paper around the inside walls (not bottom) of the pan (still greasing and flouring the bottom).  As you can see from the second photo above, the apples on the sides of the cake darkened - didn't burn, but darkened and caramelized a bit.

Mine was perfectly done at 45 minutes.

Keep the custard on medium-low heat while it thickens or it will begin to curdle at about 3 to 3 1/2 minutes.  Remove immediately from the heat so it will stay creamy and smooth.

Pecans and raisins or currants would be a wonderful addition in this cake.

Nutrition Information:
Yield: 12 Serving Size: 1 piece
Amount Per Serving: Calories: 400Total Fat: 18gSaturated Fat: 9gTrans Fat: 0gUnsaturated Fat: 7gCholesterol: 178mgSodium: 281mgCarbohydrates: 50gFiber: 3gSugar: 21gProtein: 10g

Nutrition Values are Approximate

© TheKitchenMcCabe
Category: Cakes

Fresh Apple Cake with Maple Glaze

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Although we can get pretty good apples all year long, Fall is definitely the season for great apples.  I grew up with Red Delicious apples, not ever knowing there were actually other kinds available!  I finally discovered Fuji apples – crispy, sweet with just the right amount of tartness – and haven’t looked back. 

Besides the taste and texture, I love Fuji apples because they last forever in the refrigerator.  Well, maybe not forever, but a lot longer than other apples – 3 to 4 months if properly refrigerated!  They’re nice to have on hand for this delicious lightly spicy Fresh Apple Cake.

Fuji’s were developed in Japan and are a cross between two American apples – the Red Delicious and the Virginia Ralls Janet (OK, I’ve never heard of the second one).  They’re known for their crisp texture and long shelf-life and are good for cooking, baking, freezing and just plain apple-eating.  They’re not the ruby red color of Red Delicious – most  are red with yellowish stripes and they’re a rounder apple.   Washington state harvests them in October and they’re best then, but I buy them all year long.

To get to the point (too late), I make this apple cake with Fuji apples, although any sweet-tart apple would be good. Definitely not red delicious, though – it wouldn’t hold up in the baking phase. 

A friend gave me this Fresh Apple Cake with Maple Glaze recipe in the late 80’s when I was but a toddler…..um, anyway this is my favorite apple cake.  I love the simple maple glaze on it and it’s still my favorite apple cake after all these years.

Fresh Apple Cake with Maple Glaze

Fresh Apple Cake with Maple Glaze

Yield: 15
Prep Time: 15 minutes
Cook Time: 1 hour 15 minutes
Total Time: 1 hour 30 minutes

*Love the light cinnamon flavor. Get your arm muscles ready for stirring the ingredients by hand!  Tastes best the next day.

Ingredients

  • 1 C. oil
  • 2 C. sugar
  • 2 eggs, lightly whisked together
  • 3 C. flour
  • 1 tsp. soda
  • 1 tsp. salt
  • 2 tsp. cinnamon
  • 2 tsp. vanilla
  • 3 C. peeled and diced apples
  • 1 C. chopped pecans, optional
  • Glaze:  optional
  • 4 tbsp. powdered sugar, sifted
  • milk
  • 1/4 to 1/2 tsp. maple extract

Instructions

  1. Preheat oven to 325°. 
  2. Put diced apples into a large bowl, then add the sugar and let them sit for about 5 minutes to make some juice so the batter won't be so stiff.  
  3. In a smaller bowl, sift together the flour, soda, salt and cinnamon. Add the 2 eggs into the apple mixture and then pour the flour mixture (about a cup at a time - stirring between cups) into apple mixture and stir batter well.
  4. Stir in vanilla and then add pecans (pecans optional). Pour into a greased/floured bundt pan.
  5. Bake 1 hour, 15-20 minutes at 325, checking after 1 hour. Cool in pan for about 10 minutes, then turn out on rack. 
  6. Place wax paper under the rack, mix together glaze ingredients to the texture you like, then pour over the cake. Let cool before serving.

Notes

Tips and Stuff:

Next time I'm adding about 1/2 Cup of golden raisins - I think that would make it even better!

I use Pam and flour to prepare the pan.  Make sure the flour/Pam also coats the tube part of the pan so it won't stick, and tap the pan upside down to make sure there are no flour clumps that will transfer to the baked cake.

I sprinkle a little powdered sugar after it's baked just to make it pretty, but that's completely optional.

I kind of like chopped apples rather than diced - just my preference.

Great in the morning, nuked for about 15 seconds and enjoyed with a cup of coffee for breakfast!!

Nutrition Information:
Yield: 15 Serving Size: 1 slice
Amount Per Serving: Calories: 418Total Fat: 21gSaturated Fat: 2gTrans Fat: 0gUnsaturated Fat: 18gCholesterol: 26mgSodium: 174mgCarbohydrates: 53gFiber: 2gSugar: 32gProtein: 5g

Nutrition Values are Approximate

© Krista B
Category: Cakes