apple vanilla pound cake

apple vanilla pound cake

• 23 Nov 2020

I'd planned on making an apple pie this weekend but lost my pie making mojo and decided to make an apple cake instead. I've become a big fan of Joanne Chang's recipe and found this recipe for an apple vanilla pound cake on her IG live series. It uses an unusual technique, so I wanted to give it a try.

I had everything I needed in my pantry so quickly whipped up the loaf (literally) on Saturday morning.

The cake was easy to make and the batter tasted lovely.

All the cake needed was a light dusting of icing sugar before serving. Here's the recipe for you which makes a small loaf cake. For all my recipes I use a 250ml cup and a 20 ml tablespoon, unsalted butter and 60g eggs. My oven is a conventional gas oven so if your oven is fan forced you may need to reduce the oven temperature by 20°C.

Apple vanilla pound cake - Makes 1 loaf
Ingredients
120 g unsalted butter
½ tsp vanilla bean paste
45 mls cream
½ teaspoon vanilla extract

1 medium granny smith apple, peeled and thinly sliced

1 tsp lemon juice

3 large eggs
¾ cup caster sugar
1¼ cups plain flour, sifted (sift after measuring)
½ teaspoon baking powder
¼ teaspoon salt

1 tablespoon icing sugar, for garnish
 
Method
Heat the oven to 180°C and place a rack in the centre of the oven. Line a small loaf tin with baking paper.
 
In a small pan, melt the butter. Add the vanilla bean paste to the butter. Whisk in the cream and vanilla extract and set aside to let the mixture come to room temperature.

In a small bowl combine the apple slices with the lemon juice and set to one side.
 
In a stand mixer fitted with a whisk attachment, whip together the eggs and sugar until thick and lemony coloured, 4 to 5 minutes on medium high speed. While the eggs and sugar are whipping, sift and stir together the flour, baking powder, and salt. When the egg-sugar mixture is thick, add the dry ingredients and gently fold by hand using a rubber spatula.
 
Spoon a few large spoonfuls of the batter into the butter-cream mixture and stir to combine well. Once the butter-cream mixture is lightened, add it all into the batter and fold until completely combined.
 
Scoop into the prepared loaf pan. Layer the apples across the top in 2-3 rows. Bake in the preheated oven for 50 to 60 minutes until the pound cake is golden brown on top and firm when you press it in the middle. Remove the cake from the oven and let cool.

Sift a bit of icing sugar on top to finish off the cake and slice and serve. Use a very sharp serrated knife to gently slice through the apples. Pound cake may be stored in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 2 days.

I'm planning to remake this using the classic butter creaming method and let you know which method produced the best cake. 

See you all again next week with some more baking from my kitchen. 

Bye for now, Jillian