This hasn’t been a very productive week for cooking. For one, the weather has taken a rather drastic turn from the unseasonable heat of last week. Autumn came galloping in with a full gamut of chilly temperatures, wind, and a few days of monotonous drizzle. Not very motivating. I’ve also been slightly immersed in a videotape of old X-files episodes that I found and dusted off. Although I don’t watch much tv these days, I used to be pretty into the show back when it was in regular programming. But I seem to have had selective memory about it…I mean, were the episodes always so utterly silly? The one with the dancing skeleton, musical bowl, and cringe-inducing puns made me think that perhaps I was taking myself way too seriously back then to think that the show was something other than a big bag of goofiness.
Anyway, let’s be honest. The biggest reason I haven’t felt like doing much is that I stopped drinking coffee this week…for “health” reasons. Ha ha ha. If you’ve ever done this, you know what I was going through. So, even though I’ve been in somewhat in a haze from the migraine medicine (because caffeine withdrawal ain’t a pretty sight, folks) I did manage to come up for air and make some warm apple cake with a yummy, buttery, and caramelly whisky sauce.
This cake’s recipe came from the Vermont Localvore website, which was recently brought to my attention by a good friend who lives in Burlington. For all you eat-local devotees out there, the site has a nice FAQ about the benefits of eating locally, some sources for locally-produced (Vermont, that is) food, and a collection of user-submitted recipes. The recipes include information about how local the ingredients are, with categories like “totally local” and “local with Marco Polo exceptions”. The Marco Polo caveat allows “salt and spices that sailors could carry in their pockets for 6 months while at sea”. A good idea, if you ask me, since who can enjoy food without salt?
I like this website in particular because it seems to be a bit more inclusive than other local-food agendas I’ve come across; i.e. the importance of eating local in VT doesn’t seem to be totally co-opted by the wealthy and transformed into an expensive status symbol. But that’s another rant for another time.
Meanwhile, back to the cake. It comes together in a snap and bakes up soft, pale, and not too sweet…almost like a less-eggy clafoutis. By itself, it would work as a simple breakfast cake (especially if you use whole wheat pastry flour instead of the white). Although the title is Maple Apple cake, I didn’t detect a very strong maple flavor, possibly because I used a light grade A syrup instead of something darker. It also looked a bit humble by itself, so I wanted to add something to move it from breakfast to dessert status. Since the texture reminded me a little of bread pudding, I decided to coat it with a butterscotch whisky sauce, which is about the best topping for bread pudding I know of. This was just the right thing to transform the humble cake into something a bit prettier that guests would be glad to gobble up. I recommend using a generous hand with the sauce, so no one will have to do any clandestine plate-licking. :)
Maple Apple Cake
Adapted from Real, Old-Time Yankee Maple Cooking by Beatrice Vaughan and Janet Greene
1/2 cup maple syrup - Grade A dark amber (not light) or Grade B
2 medium apples, cored, peeled, and sliced
1 1/4 cups all purpose flour
3/4 tsp. baking soda
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp. cinnamon
1/4 tsp. each nutmeg, cloves, and allspice
1/4 cup yogurt or sour cream
3 tablespoons unsalted butter, room temperature
1 large egg, beaten
Preheat oven to 375ºF.
Cook the apple slices in the maple syrup over low heat until the apples are tender; cool. Mix flour with salt, baking soda, baking powder, and spices. Combine yogurt, egg, and butter in a separate bowl. Add the apple mixture to the dry ingredients and stir to mix. Add wet ingredients. Stir lightly to blend, then pour into a greased and floured 8-inch square baking pan. Bake at 375ºF for 15-20 minutes, or until a tester comes out clean.
While the cake cooks, make the Butterscotch Whisky Sauce. Note that this sauce recipe makes enough for 2-3 servings, but it will double easily for more. You can use it on cakes, crêpes, ice cream, fruit (warm sliced peaches would be divine), or whatever strikes your fancy.
Butterscotch Whisky Sauce
3/4 cup sugar
1/2 cup whisky or bourbon
2 tablespoons water
3 tablespoons unsalted butter
pinch of sea salt
In a small heavy saucepan, cook sugar over medium-low heat, stirring occasionally with a fork until melted and pale golden. Cook caramel without stirring until deep golden amber. Remove pan from heat and slowly add whisky and water down side of pan. Cook mixture on lowest heat, stirring, until caramel bits are dissolved (this might take a while, but don’t worry, it will happen). Whisk in butter and salt until fully incorporated and remove pan from flame. Let sauce cool slightly before serving (it will thicken), and serve warm.
