Apple Cake

Back in February when my baby turned 5, I mostly cried and lamented the fact that my baby wasn't a "baby" anymore. But aside from that, and more relevant to my theme, I asked him what kind of cake he wanted. It has become my own tradition to never buy a birthday cake, instead I make one that's very customized to what the birthday boy/gal wants - I consider it part of my gift to them, and I guess it's become a matter of pride to me.

My youngest boy (I really can't say baby anymore, sigh) is an apple fiend. I mean, he can eat 5 or 6 a day if I let him. Nothing makes him happier than when he says "Can I have a snack?" and I say "Go get an apple." So I should've seen this coming. He insisted on an apple cake. Not a cake shaped like an apple, a cake that tastes like apple. And I was determined to give it to him.

When I scoured the web, I found one of two things. Either a) cakes shaped like apples, or b) apple coffee cakes. Nothing suitable for decorating, to be sure. So I had to make up a recipe, or rather, tweak a recipe a bit, to get some apple flavour in there and I have to say it was a huge hit. Everyone loved it, especially the birthday boy. When I asked him if he liked it, he squealed "It tastes like APPLE!"

And so, I'm going to pass on the recipe for anyone else who wants to use it.

Apple Cake

2 1/4 cups cake flour (all purpose can be used, I didn't have cake flour)
1 cup sugar
1/2 cup powdered apple cider mix (or 3 individual pouches)
3/4 cup shortening
3/4 cup milk
3 eggs
2 1/2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp salt
1 tsp vanilla extract
1/2 tsp rum extract (or 1 tsp rum)

Butter-cream frosting
Apple jelly

Preheat oven to 375*F. Prepare pans; first grease and then flour two 9-inch round cake pans.

Into a large mixing bowl, measure all ingredients except frosting and jelly.

With mixer at low speed, beat until well mixed, scraping bowl with a rubber spatula. Increase speed to medium; beat 5 minutes, occasionally scraping the bowl.

Pour batter into prepared cake pans, smoothing the top with rubber spatula. Cut through the batter with a knife to remove any air bubbles.

Bake layers for 25 minutes or until toothpick inserted deep into the center comes out clean.

Cool in pans on wire racks for 10 minutes, then remove from pans and cool completely on racks.

Butter-Cream Frosting

1 16-ounce package confectioner's sugar
6 tbsp butter or margerine, softened (I find butter works better)
3 to 4 tbsp milk or half-and-half
1 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
1/8 tsp salt

Note - I often use salted butter even though it's not called for, and then I don't add any extra salt. I also don't use this recipe, or any recipe, but my method is not precise so I figured I'd dig one up for this purpose.

In a large bowl with a spoon or with a mixer at medium speed, beat all ingredients until very smooth, adding more milk as necessary to make the icing a good spreading consistancy.

Extra note - if you are using a mixer, add the sugar to the wet ingredients slowly. If you put a mixer into a bowl full of an entire package of powdered sugar, there will be a powder explosion.

So - once the cakes are cool, cut and level as needed. Spread a thin layer of butter-cream over the top of each layer. Cover this with 3 or 4 tbsp of apple jelly on the bottom layer, then invert the other layer so that the jelly is sandwiched in between the butter-cream. The remaining frosting can be used to cover and decorate.

On my cake, I used fondant so I used the butter-cream for a crumb layer, then covered in fondant, then used a bit of buttercream for decorating. In that sort of instance you would defininately not need as much as the recipe calls for, but this does keep fairly well in the fridge for a week or two if you plan to bake again.

This is how my cake turned out:

I wish I'd thought to get pictures of the inside once it was cut. C'est la vie, next time.