Apple cake
.jpg) Apple cake | |
| Course | Dessert, Snack |
|---|---|
| Main ingredients | Flour, butter, sugar, apples |
Apple cakes are cakes in which apples feature as a main flavour and ingredient. These cakes incorporate apples in a variety of forms, including diced, pureed, or stewed, and can feature common additions like raisins, nuts, and 'sweet' spices such as cinnamon or nutmeg. They are a common and popular dessert worldwide, thanks to millennia of apple cultivation in Asia and Europe, and their widespread introduction and propagation throughout the Americas during the Columbian Exchange and colonisation. As a result, apple desserts, including cakes, have a huge number of variations.
Apples are also used in other cakes to add moisture and sweetness, often as a partial substitute for refined sugar.
Varieties
[edit]British & Irish
[edit]Regions of Great Britain and Ireland have the ideal climate for apple growing, making apple cake a common dessert with many regional varieties throughout. However, it is in the traditionally agricultural West Country of England that apple cakes have been raised as culinary symbols of their counties, such as Dorset apple cake,[1] Devonshire apple cake, and Somerset apple cake.[1] A recipe for Dorset apple cake was first recorded in the Bridport News on 27 November 1896, and has since been voted as Dorset national dish.[2] Cider cakes originate from the South West and Herefordshire, with various versions incorporating the alcoholic apple based beverage either in the cake batter or steeping the fruit inside the cake.[3] The Irish apple cake is different from their English counterparts, in that slices of apple are sandwich within the sponge mixture.[4] The Welsh apple cake, Tiesen Faa and can be eaten as with a cup of tea or as a dessert with custard or cream,[5] while the Welsh Harvest cake resembles the Irish apple cake but has the addition of sultanas and cinnamon.[6] On Guernsey, they have a suet based apple cake called Gâche Melée.[7]
German
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Apple is a common fruit in German baking. The Versunkener Apfelkuchen (sunken apple cake) is an apple cake that has apples halves, usually peeled and hasselbacked, sunk into the sponge cake batter.[8] Apfelkuchen mit Hefeteig (apple cake with yeast dough) combines apples with a rich yeast dough, like a traditional coffee cake. Apfelstreuselkuchen (apple streusel cake) is a sheet cake with apples and streusel over the top.[8] An Unsichtbarer Apfelkuchen (invisible apple cake) pairs a large volume of thinly sliced apples with just enough thin batter to retain the shape of the cake after baking.[8]
Polish
[edit]An apple cake in Poland is called jabłecznik, made from a sponge or yeast-based dough with a spiced apple filling.[9] It can be topped with kruszonka (crumbles), meringue, or a dusting of caster (powdered) sugar. An additional layer of budyń (a Polish variation of custard) can sometimes be found. In restaurants and cafes, it is usually served hot with whipped cream and coffee.[citation needed]
Scandinavian
[edit]In Scandinavia, apple cakes are typically prepared from sour apples and baked in a dough made from sugar, butter, flour, eggs, and baking powder. The cake is then topped with apples, cinnamon and sugar, sometimes also chopped almonds. Apple crumble pie is also common. In Sweden and Norway it is usually served tepid with whipped cream, custard (vanilla sauce) or vanilla ice cream.[10]
See also
[edit]References
[edit]
- 1 2 Castella, Krystina (2010). A World of Cake: 150 Recipes for Sweet Traditions From Cultures Around the World. Storey Publishing. p. 144. ISBN 1-60342-576-4. Retrieved December 23, 2010.
Dorset apple cake.
- ↑ "Cooking the Books – Dorset Apple Cake". Dorset Council. 20 August 2021.
- ↑ Duff, Julie (2003). Cakes. Regional and Traditional. Grub Street. p. 90. ISBN 9781904943198.
- ↑ Duff, Julie (2003). Cakes. Regional and Traditional. Grub Street. p. 107. ISBN 9781904943198.
- ↑ Duff, Julie (2003). Cakes. Regional and Traditional. Grub Street. p. 111. ISBN 9781904943198.
- ↑ Duff, Julie (2003). Cakes. Regional and Traditional. Grub Street. p. 222. ISBN 9781904943198.
- ↑ "Gâche Melée". BBC. 22 July 2004.
- 1 2 3 "Vielfalt aus dem Backofen: 13 leckere Apfelkuchen-Rezepte für jeden Geschmack". www.hna.de (in German). 2024-01-28. Retrieved 2024-01-28.
- ↑ "Skarlotza - Polish Apple Pie". Polonist. 5 November 2019.
- ↑ Apple Cake. swedishfood.com. Retrieved September 25, 2022.
