I’ve posted many different recipes for apple cake. This Irish Apple Cake uses a 9-inch round cake pan with layers of cake, apple, and streusel.
This isn’t a light, airy cake. It’s dense and moist. It’s a cake that is ideally paired with tea, coffee, or hot cider.
It’s not heavily sweet, either, but the sweetness that is there arises from the apple and that wonderful crumble topping.
The big thing that sets this cake apart from other recipes is that you do experience the textural variations between the layers. It really reminds me of my family favorite Caramel Apple Pie in that regard.
This cake is best eaten fresh, but fear not! If you freeze it when it’s fresh, it will be wonderfully preserved for later on. Just eat it right after it’s thawed.
Modified from a Gemma Stafford recipe in Food Network Magazine, March 2021.
This crumble-topped round apple cake is fragrant with spices. Enjoy this cake the day it’s made, or freeze pieces right away to enjoy later! This would be great for dessert or breakfast.
Course: Breakfast, Dessert
Cuisine: irish
Keyword: apple, cake
Servings: 8slices
Author: Beth Cato
Equipment
9-inch cake pan
Ingredients
Streusel
6Tablespoonscold butter
3/4cupsall-purpose flour
1/4cuprolled oats
1/2cupwhite sugar
pinchsalt
Cake
1/2cupsalted butter 1 stick
1/2cupwhite sugar
2teaspoonspure vanilla extract
2large eggs
1 1/4cupsall-purpose flour
1teaspoonbaking powder
1teaspoonground cinnamon
pinchsalt
3Tablespoonsmilk
3medium baking apples such as Fuji or Granny Smith, peeled and thinly sliced
confectioners' sugar for serving
Instructions
Preheat oven at 350-degrees. Line a 9-inch cake pan with foil and apply nonstick spray or butter.
Make the streusel first. Dice up the butter in a medium bowl. Add the flour, oats, sugar, and salt. Using fingers, compress and break apart the butter into small crumbs distributed throughout the dry mix. Set the bowl in fridge to chill while assembling the cake.
Cream the butter and white sugar until light and fluffy. Add the vanilla and eggs.
In a separate bowl, sift together the flour, baking powder, cinnamon, and salt. Gradually fold the dry ingredients into the wet along with the milk. Once everything is just mixed, pour it into the prepared pan. Place the apple slices one at a time to form an even layer. Sprinkle the streusel on top and even it out.
Bake the cake until the top is golden, about 60 to 70 minutes. The middle should pass the toothpick test. Let cool at room temperature, eventually placing in fridge to speed the process, if desired.
Cut into 1/8ths. Top pieces with sprinkled confectioners’ sugar to make it even more pretty. The cake is best eaten fresh, but pieces can also be individually frozen the day of baking for a delicious treat later.
Posted by Beth on Mar 1, 2022 in anthology:poem, awards, Blog | Comments Off on Rhysling Nominated Poems from 2021
Each year, members of SFPA (Science Fiction & Fantasy Poetry Association) nominate what they consider to be the best poems of the past year. Works are divided into two categories, short (under 50 lines) and long (above 50 lines). I’m honored this year to have FOUR nominated poems, two in each category, and all of them can be read online!
Within a few months, they’ll also be published in the SFPA Rhysling Anthology that members read before voting for their top poems (I actually won in 2019!). This will also be available for the public to buy from sites such as Amazon.
This Chocolate Whiskey Cake is dense, moist, and delicious–the perfect cake for chocoholics.
This is the first entry in a special sequence of deliciousness, too–three weeks in a row with Ireland-inspired recipes. Look for Irish Apple Cake and Irish Coffee Coffee Cake in the coming weeks!
This is the kind of cake that doesn’t need frosting; that would actually be overkill. If desired, add a sprinkle of confectioners’ sugar on top, but that’s more about adding some color contrast than flavor.
So, what IS the flavor here? Chocolate. Coffee. And yes, whiskey–that adds a refreshing waft. I used Green Spot Irish Whiskey, my favorite, and one I’m fortunate enough to find sometimes at Costco around St. Patrick’s Day! Total Wine carries it year-round, too.
Eat this cake within a day or two, or wrap up pieces and freeze for later! It thaws, no problem at all.
I modified this a lot from an original take at NYT Cooking.
This is a cake for chocoholics! The crumb is moist and dense, with chocolate, coffee, and whiskey melded to endow every bite with deep flavor. Modified from NYT Cooking.
Course: Dessert
Cuisine: irish
Keyword: alcohol, cake, chocolate, coffee, springform pan
Author: Beth Cato
Equipment
9-inch springform pan
parchment paper
food scale
Ingredients
12Tablespoonsunsalted butter
3/4cupcocoa powder sifted
1 1/2cupsbrewed strong coffee
1/2cupIrish whiskey
1cupwhite sugar
156gramslight brown sugar note this is weighed, not packed
2Tablespoonscocoa powder sifted
2cupsall-purpose flour
1 1/2teaspoonsbaking soda
3/4teaspoonfine sea salt
1/4teaspoonblack pepper
1/8teaspoonground cloves
3large eggs room temperature
2teaspoonsvanilla extract
1cupchopped dark chocolate or chocolate chips
Confectioners' sugar for serving, optional
Instructions
In a large pot on low heat, warm the butter, 3/4 cup cocoa powder, coffee, and Irish whiskey. Once the butter is melted, stir in the sugars until they are dissolved. Remove from heat to cool, 30 minutes at minimum.
Preheat oven at 325-degrees. Cut a piece of parchment to fit the bottom of the springform pan. Apply nonstick spray to pan, place parchment inside, then spray again. Dust the interior with the remaining 2 Tablespoons cocoa powder to coat.
In a big bowl, combine flour, baking soda, salt, pepper, and cloves. In a different bowl, whisk together eggs and vanilla. Gradually stir the egg mixture into the butter-cocoa pot. Add the dry ingredients to just combine, then fold in the chopped chocolate.
Pour batter into the prepared pan. Bake cake for 65 to 70 minutes, until the middle just passes the toothpick test. Let cool for about 20 minutes, then release sides of pan to let the cake cool completely.
Slice into wedges to serve. Add confectioners’ sugar sprinkled on top, if desired. Keep cake covered at room temperature up to 2 days. Remaining pieces can be sliced and individually wrapped and frozen for later enjoyment.
I’ve had stories in almost 20 Chicken Soup for the Soul anthologies, and I’m starting off 2022 with another publication! Chicken Soup for the Soul: Grieving, Loss and Healing is guaranteed to be a cathartic tear jerker (though their regular cat books can do that to me, too). My story is “Joy Amidst the Sorrow.” It’s about the emotional turmoil I endured as my grandma died in 2018. I wasn’t able to travel home to be with my family, which delivered a painful edge to my grief, but I found a small measure of comfort by writing about her character–love for the Muppets and all–for her memorial.
Grandma would be very happy to be memorialized even more through this book. Here’s one of her most beloved songs, one that addresses this very subject of loss and comfort.