From the ArcaMax Publishing, Recipes by Zola Newsletter:
http://www.arcamax.com/news/zola/s-291045-145754
The Anatomy of a Cake Recipe
My husband declared it the best cake he'd ever tasted. My husband has
eaten 25 years of my cakes so I guess that says something.
I wasn't so sure, so two days later I decided to have another small
piece and continue my evaluation. I have to keep quality control, you
know.
This is my story of how I developed this cake recipe. My hope is
you'll not only love this cake but might be inspired to develop your
own cake recipes based on your favorite flavors.
Sometimes I just get a hankering. This time I wanted to put apple into
a cake. My question was, "Without grating it would it get cooked so it
would not be crunchy when you bit into it?" I didn't want to have to
cook the apples first so I was determined to find out.
I wanted a creamy cake, fluffy, but not too fluffy.
I wanted an interesting addition to the middle or base of the cake. I
decided that streusel wasn't just for coffee cake. It could make the
base of a specialty cake but how was I going to pull that off, and
what flavors would be in my streusel?
Then, how to top it. I didn't want a regular frosting. That would be
overkill on top of a streusel. And then I also wanted to incorporate
toffee. I thought the toffee would be good with the apple. So all of
those flavors and specifications came together to make this cake.
I decided to start with a mix; just to make it easy for novice cooks.
You'll see in my recipe that I decided to put a streusel layer in the
middle and one on top. Interesting thing is it all sunk to the bottom
but worked out blissfully so I am sticking with it. Because the middle
streusel "landed" at the bottom I decided the cake needed extra crunch
on top. I happily cut up another toffee bar and tossed the pieces over
the cake while it cooled. The bits didn't completely melt, so I was
successful in adding my crunch on top. My caramel sauce came to the
perfect consistency after it cooled, so when I drizzled it over the
cake, just the right amount slid down the sides to form that cascading
affect so sought after in a drizzle cake. Bingo. I had it!
Now all that was left was the taste-testing, which brings me back to
the beginning of this story. The rest of the guests gushed over it
too.
Don't be afraid by the number of ingredients. This is really a very
easy cake to prepare. It just has three parts. The cake. The streusel.
And the Caramel Drizzle.
The Cake
Serves 12
1 box of yellow cake mix
1/2 cup of softened butter (Not
melted. Softened)
2/3 cup of water
3 eggs
One cup
of peeled and minced (tiny squares) Granny Smith apple
The Streusel
1-1/3 cups of graham cracker crumbs
3/4 cup of chopped walnuts
(optional. Use any nut or no nuts)
3/4 cup of brown sugar
(loosely packed)
1-1/2 tsp of cinnamon
2/3 cup of melted
butter
3 English toffee bars diced (save one third of the
pieces for the topping)
The Caramel Sauce
3 Tbl of butter
6 Tbl of dark brown sugar
6 tsp of maple
syrup
6 Tbl of sweetened condensed milk
pinch of salt
1/4 cup of water
Assembly and Baking
Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
Put the cake mix, butter, water and eggs in your mixer. Blend on
slower setting to incorporate all dry ingredients. Use your spatula to
wipe down the sides. Now turn the mixer up to medium high and blend a
full four minutes. Time it. By blending for 4 minutes you will end up
with a whipped butter batter that is amazingly fluffy. Stir in your
apple bits after you've turned off the mixer.
While the batter is mixing, if you are using a stand mixer you can
make your streusel. In a bowl, combine the crumbs, chopped walnuts,
brown sugar, cinnamon, melted butter and 2 of the English toffee bars
cut into bits. Stir thoroughly.
Grease and flour your baking pan. You can choose a tube pan (angel
pan) or a 10" springform cheesecake pan.
Pour one half of the batter in the pan. Then sprinkle one half of the
streusel across the batter and add the last of the batter on top of
the streusel. Finally put the last half of the streusel on top of the
cake. Save the last toffee bar until after the cake has baked.
Bake the cake for 55 minutes to 1 hour at 350 degrees. Check it with a
toothpick toward the end of baking. If the toothpick comes out with no
batter stuck to it, the cake is completely baked. It will be golden
brown.
Pull the pan out of the oven and immediately sprinkle on the rest of
your English toffee bits. Let the cake rest on the counter to FULLY
cool.
While the cake is baking or cooling you can make your caramel sauce.
Melt the butter in a medium saucepan, on medium high. Then add the
sugar, syrup, condensed milk and salt and turn the heat to medium
high. You want the mixture to begin to boil. Stir often and watch for
the tiny bubbles to form on the edge of the pan. This is not like
regular caramel sauce that you have to cook until it turns golden
brown. This will already be brown. Don't let it come to a full boil.
You just want to see it start to thicken up. Then slowly add the water
and continue stirring over the heat. Should only take about 5 minutes.
Then let the sauce cool in the pan on the stove or counter. Do not put
it in the refrigerator. This cooling will take a few hours. When the
sauce is fully cooled, stir it to loosen up the top of the caramel and
get it all incorporated. It will now be a thickened caramel topping.
When the cake is fully cooled, release it from the pan. Put it
crunchy-side up on a beautiful cake plate and drizzle the caramel
over. You have two choices. Drizzle the caramel lightly and then
reserve the rest to serve warm in a small puddle next to the cake
slices or drizzle it thickly on the cake with no remainders. You can
serve with vanilla ice cream as an option too. Or do both warm caramel
sauce and ice cream.
Cheers!
Zola
Send email to Zola at dinnerwithzola@hotmail.com.