Wednesday, November 18, 2009

Apple and Cream Cheese Cake

Of course I didn’t send Kurt off to his potluck lunch with just bread sticks. How could I pass up the opportunity to bake something sweet that would be taken away, shared with others, and not left in the house to tempt me? This gave me the opportunity to bake from The Golden Book of Baking which I received as a review copy from Barron’s. This pretty book, with gold, gilded page edges and a gold dust jacket, covers every area of baking with cookies, bars, small cakes, layer cakes, pies, tarts, yeast cakes, and a few savories items as well. It’s full of classics, some twists on favorites, and a few items that were new to me. There’s a photo of each and every recipe, and the recipes have been graded for degree of difficulty. Most are either a one or a two, but there are a few level three recipes. As I read through the book, I marked pages that immediately caught my attention. The chocolate caramel squares look like homemade Twix bars. The Irish cream cake sounds delicious with the coffee frosting. The Portuguese meringue cake, which was new to me, is a rich cake that’s sliced into layers and soaked with caramel syrup, then topped with meringue, and baked until brown. And, there’s a pumpkin pie with a top crust. I’d never before seen a pumpkin pie with a top crust, and I have to try that too. But first, the apple and cream cheese cake could not be denied. I could tell by looking at the photo in the book that this cake would travel well, and I guessed that with the butter and cream cheese in the batter, it would be even better the day after it was baked.

Cream cheese, butter, sugar, and almond extract were mixed until fluffy, and then eggs were added. Flour, baking powder, cinnamon, baking soda, and salt were sifted together and then added to the butter mixture in alternating turns with some milk. Regarding that cinnamon, I had just read an article in Saveur about different types of cinnamon so I looked around at the grocery store to see what my options were. I bought some Vietnamese high oil ground cinnamon, and it was like a wonderful, super-cinnamon compared to what I usually use. I highly recommend it for this kind of cake or any baked item in which cinnamon is the focus. So, the mixed batter went into a thirteen-inch by nine-inch baking pan that I had lined with parchment paper since I wanted to remove the finished cake from the pan. Two granny smith apples were peeled, yes I actually peeled the apples, and they were sliced and then tossed with sugar, flour, and more of that super-cinnamon. The apple slices were layered on top of the cake batter, and then the cake baked for about 50 minutes.

The serving suggestion in the book was to add a dollop of whipped cream to each piece of cake, and that would have been perfectly delicious. However, since a bowl of whipped cream that would have to be refrigerated would have over-complicated the matter, I instead glazed the cake with melted apricot jam. I cut the cake into pieces and sneakily kept a couple of them at home. My guess about the cake getting better the next day was correct. The butter and cream cheese gave it a very tender crumb, and the tart apples and warm cinnamon flavor combined to make this simple cake a delight.





34 comments:

  1. Lisa,
    This cake looks fabulous.
    I love any apple cake and with cream cheese, it sounds amazing.
    I still have yet to bake from the Greyston Bakery book, and now I will have another baking book to drool over!

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  2. cream cheese + apples? Isn't that kind of cheating, 2 things that go great together, but I imagine if anything would imprive it its your magic touch! Thanks for sharing

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  3. A soft, moist and delicious cake! Marvelous!

    Cheers,

    Rosa

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  4. Wow, I am amazed at how skilful you are. This is so beautiful, restaurant quality daaaaaaahling. I am sure its delicious as it is gorgeous. Apple and cream cheese??? D-vine

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  5. this is my kind of pudding, a lovely and moist cake to be pampered with, excellent! cheers from london

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  6. another apple cake for me to try, hooray! this one's pretty unique--i like the layer of apples up top, and i can tell that the cream cheese does a world of good for the crumb. it's cinnamon-happy, which makes me happy, and i think your impromptu glaze sounds perfect.

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  7. I love cakes like this. Not overly complicated but with amazing ingredients. Great idea to brush the top with jam - you get that beautiful shiny top that looks so professional.

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  8. This cake looks gorgeous! The top looks perfect.

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  9. Oh Lisa, what a beautiful cake...absolutely gorgeous!

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  10. Can you send me the recipe w/ the amounts of each ingredient? Or am I totally missing it?

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  11. I don't actually re-print copyrighted recipes from books. I link to recipes when the original source is available online, and otherwise, I link to the books where the recipe is found.

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  12. wow delicious!
    check out my food blog and tell me what you think:
    http://thegodscake.wordpress.com

    Michael

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  13. Mmmm.. this is a lovely cake, so delicious with apples!

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  14. The cake itself looks so dense and moist! The apples are a nice touch layered on top. It's a beautiful cake!

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  15. Did I say earlier that apple crisp/crumble was my favorite? I may have to re-consider after seeing this! Kurt had to have been the most popular person at that potluck lunch after all this amazing food you provided him. He owes you big time! 8-D

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  16. This sounds like a great book. Love the apples topping, very inviting! Nice to have potluck and dinner party to give us opportunities to bake as you say.

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  17. This is a beauty...love all those apples on top!

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  18. I never had this kind of cake before! This apple cake is truly gorgeous!

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  19. What a lovely and original idea to use cream cheese in the batter. I definitely want to make something similar.

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  20. If I had a plateful of this in front it me I'd gobble it all up too!!

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  21. That looks so good Lisa! And I can see how this would have been perfect with whipped cream..

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  22. Such a moist looking cake! No doubt due to the cream cheese. And those apples... you are a very talented baker.

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  23. Such a fabulous looking cake! And its easy and delicious!

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  24. I love your idea to put an apricot jam on top! Your apple cake looks so pretty and delicious!

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  25. pumpkin pie with top crust sounds good! I hope you make that soon. But you and I think alike... I would have zoomed in for the apple and cream cheese first!

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  26. I'm putting my hand up as an apple dessert fiend! Gorgeous looking recipe and it's great that it gets better the next day (ideal for when you don't have time to make a cake that day)

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  27. That cake looks sooooo good! Whipped cream or a glaze, I am sure it would great with either!

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  28. Gosh, that cake looks awesome. I'm sure you didn't know I love anything apple. ;-)
    And that book sounds good too, but space on my bookshelf is scarce. :(

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  29. Definitely sounds fabulous. Love apples baked into just about anything. The cream cheese in this must be so good. The apples on the to are gorgeous ; )

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  30. The almond and the apples sound so good. I love the apples on the top.

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  31. There's something irresistible about a cake or pie that features thin slices of apple arranged in this fashion on the top. Very pretty to look at and you just know it tastes good too.

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  32. cream cheese and apples..wow! Lovely texture.

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  33. this sounds like a wonderful combo for cheese cake, I'm really salivating here :)

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  34. I have always thought that there wasn't enough cream cheese IN baked goods. Lots of frosting but less cake. I cream cheese in rugelach because of the tenderness that it adds. I'm convinced that this cake tastes just as soft.

    And yes, vietnamese cinnamon is the real deal.

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