Most of the ideas for recipes I’ve come up with have had their origin in existing recipes. Sometimes I see a recipe and think it sounds wonderful, but that I could make it better. Other times I think of a combination of ingredients I think will work, then search my extensive cookbook collection (and now the web) to see if anyone else has thought of it and if so what they did with it.
If my modifications are minor, then I tend to consider it a variant on the original. But there comes a point when I say that it is a new recipe, one that is worthy of its own place and that I am entitled to claim. This apple honey cake falls into that category.
I started with the Fresh Apple Cake from the Fannie Farmer Baking Book, and some things remain unchanged. The finely chopped fresh apples, leavening, butter, eggs and walnuts remain the same, as does the amount of flour. The mixing technique is also the same. Then the variations began. Instead of all white flour, I used a combination of white and wheat. I doubled the vanilla and added almond extract. The original contains cinnamon, nutmeg, cloves and allspice. I left out the cinnamon or nutmeg, then added ginger, cardamom and mace. Raisins became a combination of Sultanas and dried cherries. White sugar became a combination of dark brown sugar and honey.
Butter, flour and sugar don’t define a cake, or there would only be one cake recipe. Since there’s no way you could even mostly follow the original recipe and come up with something such as the one I made, the Honey Apple cake is now mine. I’m planning to make it for Yom Kippur this year.
Honey Apple Cake
2 cups unpeeled fresh apple, cored and finely chopped. (One large Granny Smith apple did it for me.)
6 Tbsp unsalted butter (3/4 stick), softened
1/3 cup dark brown sugar, packed
2/3 cup light honey
2 eggs
2 tsp vanilla extract (or 1 tsp vanilla powder)
1 cup unbleached all purpose flour (I don’t like bleached flour; it has a chemical aftertaste to me.)
1/2 cup whole wheat flour
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp salt
2 tsp ground ginger
1/2 tsp allspice
1/4 tsp clove
1/2 tsp cardamom
1/8 tsp mace
1 tsp ground lemon peel
1/2 cup Sultana raisins
1/2 cup dried cherries
1/2 cup chopped walnuts
Preheat oven to 350o F. Grease and flour (or spray with non-stick spray and flour) an 8 inch square baking pan. Set aside.
Chop apple and set aside. It doesn’t matter in the least if it turns brown.
In a large mixing bowl, beat the butter until it’s light, smooth and creamy. Gradually add the sugar and blend in, then add the honey and beat until creamy and well blended. Add the eggs and vanilla and beat well. Combine the flour, baking powder, soda, salt, spices and peel in a bowl and blend together. Add them to the butter mixture. Beat until smooth; the mixture will be very stiff. Add the apple, Sultanas, cherries and walnuts and beat well.
Spread evenly in the prepared pan. Bake for 30-35 minutes, or until it passes the toothpick test. Remove from oven and cool on a rack. This is incredibly good by itself, but if you are into lily-gilding, add a drift of whipped cream, some vanilla ice cream, or a little creme anglais (aka vanilla boiled custard).