Jewish Apple Cake

They say that you can tell the good recipes in a used cookbook by the amount of “schmutz” on the page.  If that’s true, then my recipe for Jewish Apple Cake must be amazing.  I can make out cooking oil stains, vanilla drips, batter spatter, and other unidentifiable schmutz.  You know, “schmutz,” as when your mother would say, “Come here and let me get that schmutz off your face.”

Schmutz is apparently a yiddish word, although I think that its origin can also be traced to Germanic roots.  Schmutzig is the German word for dirty, and I believe that I’ve heard some Pennsylvania Dutch reference schmutz. 

When I responded with “Jewish Apple Cake” after a friend asked about future blog recipes, he suggested I should just call it “Apple Cake.”  He was concerned that someone might be offended by using “Jewish” in the title.  After thinking about it for about ten seconds, I realized that calling a cake “Jewish” wouldn’t be any more offensive than calling cheese “Swiss,” or rice “Spanish,” chocolate cake “German,” pastry “Danish,” bread “Italian,” toast “French,” or waffles “Belgian.”  And how about Turkey and Chili (Chile)?

I tried to research the origins of Jewish Apple Cake, and found little.  However, it is definitely a traditional Jewish dessert.  Kosher laws prevent milk and meat from being eaten at the same meal, so most Jewish desserts have neither and thus can be eaten with either meal.  Interesting.  I eat it because it’s good!

Any post of a recipe using apples will most likely include a discussion of the types of apples best for…whatever the recipe is making.  I decided to check online and discovered that the Old Farmer’s Almanac recommends three types of apples for baking:  Fuji, Granny Smith, and Rome.  I used Gala.  Why?  Because they were the best size and shape for one of the tools I planned to use.

What’s the worst part about making Jewish Apple Cake?  Obviously, it’s paring, slicing, and coring four cups apples.  I’ve made many more Jewish Apple Cakes than I would have under "normal" circumstances as a result of a kitchen tool I purchased about 15 years ago.  It’s…you may have already guessed…an apple parer, slicer, corer, made by Bandwagon, Inc. in Wilmington, Massachusetts.  I love it.  It’s actually a reproduction of an old design, which makes it more appealing to me…no pun intended.  Really.

Imagine how long it would take you to pare, core and slice four cups of apples.  With this tool/toy you accomplish it in about five minutes, and the slices are more uniform that you could ever make them by hand.  Here’s how it works:

First, you should only use apples that are about 2½” in diameter.  I’ve tried larger ones and it's just an exercise in futility.  As a result, the gadget remained unused for a number of years…until I read the directions.

As soon as you begin cranking, the blade on the peeler begins to remove the apple skin in a thin ribbon.  Another uniquely-shaped blade does the double-duty of coring and slicing the apple.

If you’re careful, you’ll still have an apple shape, spiral sliced, with the core and almost all of the peel removed.

At that point, it simply a matter of slicing the whole thing in half.  Instant (almost) apple slices!

It really is a thing of beauty to operate.  Watch this video:

Now that you have four cups of apple slices, you’re ready to begin.  (The sheep enjoyed the “leftovers!”)

JEWISH APPLE CAKE

Ingredients:

3 cups flour

2 cups sugar

3 teaspoons baking powder

4 eggs

1 cup oil

½ cup orange juice

2½ teaspoons vanilla

2 Tablespoons sugar

1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

4 cups pared, cored & sliced apples

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350°.

Put the first seven ingredients listed in the bowl of an electric mixer.  Make sure that you use baking powder and not baking soda.  Beat on low speed for ten minutes.  Set a timer when you begin mixing while you prepare the other ingredients.

Mix together 2 Tablespoons of sugar with 1 teaspoon of ground cinnamon, and set aside.  Prepare 4 cups of peeled, cored and sliced apples.  If you don’t have an apple parer, slicer & corer, the slices should not be any thicker than about 1/8”.

Using a round tubular cake pan, (the kind that comes in two pieces), grease or spray the sides, bottom and center tube with non-stick cooking spray.  (You can find a type that is expressly for baking and incorporates flour with the non-stick spray.)  Evenly distribute approximately one-half of the cake batter in the pan and layer about half of the apples slices on top.  Sprinkle about half of the cinnamon-sugar mixture on top of the apples.  Repeat with the rest of the cake batter, the remaining apples, and the rest of the cinnamon-sugar.

Place cake pan in the middle of your oven and bake at 350° for 90 minutes.  Yes, that is the correct amount of time.  Mine actually took 95 minutes.  When the cake is done, a cake tester will come out clean, and the top of the cake will spring back when gently pressed.

Remove the cake from the oven and allow to it cool on a rack for about 30 minutes.  While still warm, remove it from the tubular pan as follows.  If it looks like the sides have adhered to the pan, carefully run a sharp knife around the circumference of the cake.  Then, gently push the insert of the pan up and out of the outer pan.  Look at the bottom of the cake.  If it looks like the cake is stuck to the bottom, use the same sharp knife to run around the radius of the cake bottom, angling the knife toward the pan bottom so it doesn’t “eat away” at the cake.  Now comes the tricky part.  Ready the plate that will serve at the “final resting place” of the cake.  Quickly and in one motion, invert the tubular insert, supporting the top of the cake with your spread fingers.  Gently pull the tubular insert off of the bottom of the cake.  Still holding the cake upside down, position the inverted plate on top of the cake bottom and re-invert the plate and cake together.  If the cake is not centered on the plate, carefully “hop” the cake across the plate.  Don’t try to push the cake across the plate.  This cake is dense, and doing so will most likely cause the cake to “smush.”

You’re going to love this cake.  It’s very moist, and keeps well.  It also will keep longer if refrigerated, however this isn’t necessary, unless it will be around for more than several days.  It also freezes well.  I took mine to a Memorial Day picnic hosted by my son and daughter-in-law.  It was a great party, and I couldn't have been prouder of both of them.  And, it did my heart good to see a future "Dad in the Kitchen" in the making!

More power!...readying the grill for cooking the burgers.  Gotta love it!

Enjoy!