Cake Day: Buttery Apple Loaf Cake

I have trust issues.

*Phew* There. I said it. That feels better.

I’ve always had trust issues… I’m not too sure where it comes from. Maybe from growing up in a house where nothing–from the bathroom to your bedroom to even your diary–was private. Maybe it’s from moving around so often, always having to make new friends and never being sure what they truly thought of you. It could even be from being an awkward middle schooler, like so many of us are, even if we all feel like we’re the only ones.

At any rate, I have a hard time trusting people, and I tend to keep a lot of things, like most of my writing, a secret from the people closest to me, even if I have no problem posting it all on the Internet for strangers to see.

I have trust issues with my food too. Though I’ve come a long way from my soap fear, I still get nervous the first time I feed someone new, especially when that someone is a picky eater. Alex likes everything–he’s easy to please, but others aren’t so forgiving of little mistakes and cooking “au feeling.”

A few weeks back, we spent the whole weekend at Alex’s parents’ house in the suburbs, and when Saturday rolled around, Alex expected Cake Day, as usual. I wasn’t so sure: it wasn’t my kitchen, I didn’t know the oven, I didn’t know what ingredients were available… but he insisted, and I caved.

I wanted to pick something simple, something I would feel comfortable making, like a quickbread, which is hard for me to mess up. There were apples in the fruit basket waiting to be used up, and so I grabbed a couple and found this recipe at Culinary in the Country.

I moved my way through the hotel’s kitchen, unwrapping individually-packaged 12.5 gram pats of butter to get the right amount, rummaging through the unfamiliar collection of spices, tasting different mysterious white powders until I found the (unlabeled) box containing baking powder, subbing white sugar and honey for the brown sugar that is nearly never used in France.

I accidentally mistook plastic serving trays for baking sheets and almost burned the hotel down, standing next to the oven having a stress-fit while Alex expertly removed the bubbling trays from the oven.

But it came out in the end, a little burned on the top, but perfectly serviceable. And yet, something wasn’t quite right. The apple topping was tasty, the ribbon of sugar in the middle had come out right… but the cake itself was surprisingly bland. I had taken some liberties and added nutmeg to the cinnamon, which had been the only spice, and had thrown a bit of both spices into the cake itself, but something was still missing… I’m assuming vanilla, which I didn’t notice was absent from the recipe, but afterwards, I wondered if it was a typo.

No problem, says Alex, heading to the industrial-sized fridge for a package of pre-made crème anglaise. He generously pours it over the top and declares it delicious. When his picky sister agreed–a self-declared hater of cinnamon in any form–I decided I could trust his pronouncement–and the recipe.

This recipe is my submission to this month’s FBI Gloves blog event, hosted by Marija at Palachinka. You can stop by Joe’s awesome blog any time before May 31st to pick a recipe to make and blog about.

Remember: if you’d like your baked goods featured in the weekly Cake Day post on Saturdays, just send me a hyperlink to the post, and I’ll include you in my round-up!

Buttery Apple Loaf Cake (adapted from Culinary in the Country)

Note: We served this with crème anglaise and it was fine, but in the future, I’ll definitely be adding vanilla to the batter, and so I’ve written the recipe to reflect this change.

For the topping:
1 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1 tbsp. honey
8 tablespoons butter, melted
2 teaspoons cinnamon
1/4 tsp. nutmeg

For the cake:
2 cups all-purpose flour
3/4 cup granulated sugar
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 tsp. cinnamon
1/4 tsp. nutmeg
1/2 tsp salt
2 large eggs, lightly beaten
8 tablespoons butter, melted
1/2 cup yogurt
1 tsp. vanilla
1 3/4 cups peeled and diced tart apples

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

In a medium bowl, mix together topping ingredients until crumbly.

In a large bowl, whisk together flours, sugar, baking powder, spices and salt.

In a medium bowl, whisk together eggs, melted butter,  yogurt and vanilla. Add to the dry ingredients and mix just until moistened.

Place half of the batter into a 9 x 5″ loaf pan coated with nonstick spray. Cover the top with half of the apples and half of the topping mixture. Place the remaining batter on top and spread to cover. Scatter with another half of the topping mixture, the remaining apples and finish with the leftover topping.

Bake until golden and a toothpick placed in the center comes out mostly clean Рabout 70-80 minutes. Remove and place on a wire rack. Let cool in the pan for 10 minutes and then carefully remove. Let cool completely. Serve with cr̬me anglaise.