Week 38 : Preppy Apple Cake

 As a New England academic and Sacred Heart School alumni, Mom was a big fan of private schools; in fact, my sister Kristin graduated from a Sacred Heart school. My sister Kim (who is another long story for another time) went to a private school, but mostly because my mom was desperately trying to figure out a way for her to graduate from high school, which required her to switch from school to school.

I made a valiant attempt to get on the Devine / McKendall private school graduates list by going through the rigorous application process for St. George’s, a private school in Newport Rhode Island. My mom was over the moon when I learned that I’d been accepted; however, the summer before I was supposed to attend, my mom lost her job, sadly. It was so hard for her to tell me that I couldn’t attend, because while we qualified for some financial aid, it wasn’t a full ride. So, instead of attending their rigorous and likely strict academic program, I worked a couple of jobs to help pay the bills and attended our local junior-senior high.

NO REGRETS

During this time, I learned that I was resilient and tenacious. I made some lifelong friends in high school, had very supportive teachers, and became both a better musician and a vocalist. Besides, I don’t think I’d have made a very good “preppy girl”, nor did I want to hang out with girls named Muffy and New England preppy boys (as honestly, the ones I met were never very nice).

Why all this talk about private school?
In the corner of this week’s recipe for Headmasters Apple Cake, it mentions North Ridge School in Lake Placid, New York. I have no idea about the school’s connection with my mom, but I’m assuming she had a friend who attended or worked at North Ridge. I looked the school up online and I couldn’t find a North Ridge School, but I did find a Northwood School. After diving into Northwood’s website, I surmised that it was exactly the kind of school my mom would have wanted her girls to attend. The campus is gorgeous, and I would imagine this apple cake recipe was perfection served with tea on chilly, autumn day. I can almost smell the crisp fall leaves now.

Original Recipe

This week I made both the original recipe and the revamped to compare flavors.

I followed my mom’s recipe, but halved it because I didn’t want two loaves. The only change I made was to add some fresh grated ginger to give it a little kick. The batter is kind of a bizarre, sticky texture, and as I scooped it into a loaf pan I could only assume that some kind of baking magic would occur. Read the results below!

I confess that most cakes and desserts can’t really be “healthy“, but they can be made healthier. This week’s recipe revamp involved going vegan and adding in a little protein using tofu.

 

The Results:

Both cakes were super, super moist and may have benefited from either longer baking time or being baked in a flat cake pan instead of a loaf pan. But, kitchen science definitely converted sticky batter into to a flavorful moist cake.

I prefer the original recipe over the vegan reboot, and while I like the flavor of the vegan cake, I felt it was too heavy and could use some more experimenting. I’m providing the recipe but if you’re like me and want to experiment, please share your results.

 

Vegan Autumn Apple Cake Recipe

Ingredients:

1 cup coconut palm sugar
1 flax egg (1 tablespoon flax meal combined with 3 tablespoons water let stand for 15 minutes)
1/2 cup silken tofu
1-1/2 cups flour
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon apple cider vinegar
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 teaspoon freshly grated ginger
2 cups peeled and diced apples

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350.
Blend coconut palm sugar, flax egg, ginger, and tofu together.
Sift flour, baking soda, and salt in a separate bowl.
Add dry ingredients to the sugar mixture.
One at a time, add vanilla and apple cider vinegar to the batter.
Fold in apples.
Turn batter into a greased loaf pan and bake at 350-degrees for 60 minutes.
Let cool and then remove from pan.
Wrap cooled bread and store overnight before slicing.

 

Week 38 Recipe Pick

 

I’ve avoided the meat recipes because not only do I not eat a lot of meat but also because my mom really liked lamb and veal. I just can’t purchase, cook or eat dead baby animals. I’m not sure which of these I’ll select or how ‘ll change them but I seitan or tofu will be involved.

 

Tags: apples, cakes