Is there something wrong with this recipe?

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pengyou

Senior Cook
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Or is it the cook?

Best Ever Apple Cake

3 cups flour
2 cups sugar
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
3 large eggs, beaten
1 cup vegetable oil
2 teaspoons vanilla
3 cups finely chopped apples
1/2 cup apple juice
1 cup chopped walnuts

Glaze topping for cake
1 cup brown sugar
1/4 cup butter
1/3 cup whipping cream

In a large bowl combine flour, sugar, soda and salt. Make a well in the center and set aside.
In a medium bowl combine eggs, oil, apple juice and vanilla. Stir in apples and nuts. Add the egg mixture to dry ingredients, just until moistened.
Spread batter in a greased and floured 9 x 13-inch pan. Bake at 350°F for 45-50 minutes.
In a small saucepan combine the brown sugar, butter and cream.
Cook and stir till bubbly and all of the sugar is dissolved. Cool slightly. Drizzle warm sauce over cake, when it has cooled for 5 minutes, so it can seep into the cake, keeping it moist.


I was attracted to this recipe because it is very similar to a recipe I often use for chocolate cake. I followed the recipe very closely, with the exception that I added 2 tsp of cinnamon to it. That was a good thing because the cake had very little flavor, even with the cinnamon. I think, without the cinnamon it would have had no taste. The cake was a little bit heavy and turned out more like a brownie. The top was sticky, so not a good cake to eat with the fingers, and there was a large, diagonal crack almost completely through the cake :( I was very disappointed, especially because I thought this would be an easy task with nice results, so I was going to make it for a Bible study that I attend...but it just did not either look or taste good enough to be presentable.

My first thought is that I should put a bit more b soda in it - maybe at least 1.5 tsp, and maybe more oil and less juice.

Any ideas?
 
I can't diagnose your recipe because I'm not much of a baker ...

But I have been making this one for ages. It's waaay different than yours as it's tons of apple and very little "cake".

French Apple Cake
4 big apples, peeled and diced (mix and match or use your favorite)
3/4 c flour
3/4 t baking powder
pinch of salt
2 eggs @ room temperature
3/4 c sugar
3 T dark rum (or brandy or leave out)
1/2 t vanilla extract
8 T butter, melted and cooled to room temperature
powered sugar, for dusting (optional)

Preheat the oven to 350ºF. Butter an 8- or 9-inch springform pan.

Whisk together the flour, baking powder, and salt.

Beat the eggs until foamy then add sugar, rum and vanilla.

Stir in half of the flour mixture. Then half of the butter.

Stir in the remaining flour mixture. Then the rest of the butter.

Fold in the apples until coated with batter.

Scrape into the prepared pan and smooth the top.

Bake for 50-60 minutes. Cake tester should come out clean when it's done.

Cool for 5 minutes. Run a knife around the edge to loosen the cake and then carefully (make sure no apples are sticking) remove the ring of the springform pan.

Dust with powdered sugar.
 
I can't diagnose either, as I too am not much of a baker, but I have made one very similar to Zereh's, which I also made for years. Will have to find the recipe. Mine had tons of apples and not much flour as I recall. And not so much oil, no apple juice.
 
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To me it looks like too much oil and too much sugar. I also notice that it uses baking soda, but I don't seen anything acidic to react with the baking soda. Whenever I use baking soda as the leavening agent there is sour cream or buttermilk or yogourt or a bit of vinegar to make the baking soda work.

Also, I think of oil in a cake as a "make do" solution. If it is supposed to be really good, I would want butter, not oil.
 
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Baking soda requires an acid to react with, such as vinegar, or cream of tartar. In your chocolate cake that you mentioned, if you used non-dutch processed cocoa, it provided the required acidity. In the recipe you posted, there is no acidic ingredient. But you can get a lighter cake by replacing the baking soda with baking powder in the ratio of 2 tsp. baking powder for every cup of flour.

As far as flavor goes, increase the vanilla to 1 tsp. You will also need to increase the salt to a little less than 1/2 tsp. The cinnamon was a good option. As you are making what is essentially an apple coffee cake, nutmeg will compliment the apple flavor. Add 1/4 tsp. of the nutmeg to your recipe.

Use a cream cheese icing on top. The cake should be moist enough with the amount of butter you added.

Enjoy.

Seeeeeya; Chief Longwind of the North
 
It seems heavy on the oil and not enough leavening. And with all those apples, it could probably use more cinnamon. If the batter seemed thin, maybe the apples were too juicy.
 
I'd agree with others, that is not enough leavening to lift all of those ingredients, and since there isn't an acidic component, then the very little soda in it isn't going to do much at all.

If you were comparing this to a carrot cake recipe, then the amount of oil would be just right (although many carrot cakes of this volume us 1 1/2 cups oil). Even though this is a cake recipe, I would expect more of a quick bread consistency like a carrot cake if the recipe was correct. I'd say looking at it as written even if I made it, it would come out heavy and dense.
 
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