River Food Cookbook Recipe

Spice Apple Crumb Cake

Now that we are into fall baking season, I thought I would share one of my favorites!

Every time I serve it someone asks for the recipe, so it is a keeper!

Serves 8 to 10 depending on how you serve it.

Apple Mixture

3       Granny Smith Apples, cored, peeled, sliced, tossed with sugar, vinegar, cinnamon, and cardamom.

1 TBL     Apple Cider Vinegar

2 TBLS   Sugar

½ tsp.    Cinnamon

½ tsp.    Cardamom

Cake

¾ c.       All-purpose flour

¼ c.       Sugar

¾ tsp.    Cinnamon

¾ tsp.    Nutmeg

¾ tsp.    Ginger (Or Use The spice Shack of Sun Valley’s Holiday Spice blend)

1/8 tsp.  Salt

1 tsp.   Baking Soda

 1 1/2 tsp.   Baking Powder

¼ c.         Milk

1             Large Egg

2 TBLS.   Brandy

¼ c.        Coconut Oil, olive oil, vegetable oil, or melted butter.

Topping

1 ½ c.         Flour

¼ tsp.         Salt

1/3 c.         Brown Sugar

¼ c.            White Sugar

1 tsp.         Cinnamon

½ c.           Unsalted Butter, melted and cooled

Butter and flour an 8 “ springform pan or a 12" Dutch oven.

Preheat oven to 375°F or light 25 to 30 charcoal briquettes.

Core, peel, and slice apples. In a medium sized bowl toss apple slices with cider vinegar, sugar, and apple mixture spices. Set it aside.

Tip - Tossing the apples in the cider vinegar gives the cake a tart snap and slows the reaction time with the baking soda and powder helping the cake to turn out fluffy around the fruit.  A trick I learned from my Mom.

In a small bowl mix dry crumb topping ingredients with fork. Add the melted and cooled butter and toss lightly until mixture forms crumbs. Set it aside.

Tip - For a great crumb topping melt the butter, then cool it before mixing into the rest of topping ingredients. This makes good clumps of crunchy topping that won’t sink into cake or melt.

In a medium bowl whisk flour, salt, baking powder, baking soda, and spices.

Separately, in a small bowl, whisk together brandy, milk, egg, coconut oil, and vanilla.

Combine wet and dry cake ingredients without over mixing. Lumps are ok. Over mixing will create a flat not fluffy cake. Pour batter into springform pan or Dutch oven. Lay out apple slices in thick layer over the cake batter,  then top with crumb topping mixture, covering completely.

Bake for 30 to 35 minutes or until the topping is light brown.

My 12” Dutch oven took 15 coals on top and four under it to bake for 38 minutes (it was snowing when baked it). Next trip I doubled the recipe and used my 16" Dutch oven it was 25 coals on top and 7 on the bottom, baking for 34 minutes. In my springform pans the cakes were done after 30 to 35 minutes and I cover them with foil after 25 minutes to avoid crumbs burning.

Allow to cool before removing springform sides or attempting to remove from your Dutch oven: which I wouldn't bother to do if serving right away.

Keep covered for 5 days in refrigerator or freeze for up to one month.

I bake this in a anodized aluminum Dutch oven in camp, and in a spring form pan at home. But you can make it as muffins just as well. Any way it is baked, it freezes great, even tasting good cold. To serve cold, neatly slice it before fully thawed. If you plan to reheat it on your next river trip, bake it in the Dutch oven you will take on your trip. I freeze 12” rounds for small trips of 6 to 8,  14” rounds for trips of 8 to 15 and  16” rounds for trips of 15 to 24.

Spiced Apple Crumb Cake

Page 191, River Food Cookbook