Trolling though past Culinary SOS columns from the Los Angeles Times, I came across a recipe that I've been meaning to try since it was featured last year -- the "Dutch Apple Walnut Loaf" from 1881 Coffee Cafe in Bridgeport, CA. An apple recipe seemed especially appropriate given the sudden turn of fall weather that hit D.C. late last week.
The recipe is silent on what type of apples should be used in the recipe, so I went with Galas. This quickbread is made with butter, not oil, so you have to cream together the butter and sugar with a mixer and then add in the other ingredients (eggs, buttermilk, vanilla, flour, baking soda, salt, diced apples, and walnuts). Before baking, you sprinkle over a topping made by cutting cold butter into a mixture of sugar (granulated sugar, not brown sugar), flour, and cinnamon.
My crumbs of topping melted together during baking, so the loaf was not especially attractive when I pulled it out of the oven. When the loaf was cooled and I sliced it, I was surprised to see that some of the topping had migrated into the middle of the loaf in various spots. In the picture above, there is a clump of cinnamon towards the bottom of the loaf (if the slice was a face, the cinnamon clump is roughly where the mouth would be).
I first tasted a slim slice from the end of the loaf, and I wasn't all that impressed. The bread itself was moist, but not very flavorful. Also, while the L.A. Times describes this bread as "a light and fluffy loaf, almost cake-like in texture," my loaf was definitely on the dense and heavier side, and would not easily be mistaken for cake. However, later when I tasted a slice from the middle of the loaf, I loved it. The batter might not be too interesting, but as a conveyance for sweet apples, walnuts, and cinnamon topping (all of which are plentiful throughout the cake, except on the ends!), it's fantastic. And the fact that some of the topping sank into the cake only made it better, more widely distributing the delicious butter-sugar-cinnamon nuggets.
I would absolutely make this bread again. It might be all about the topping in and the mix-ins, but that's all right with me!
Recipe: "1881 Coffee Cafe's Dutch Apple Walnut Loaf," from the July 29, 2010 Los Angeles Times.
The recipe is silent on what type of apples should be used in the recipe, so I went with Galas. This quickbread is made with butter, not oil, so you have to cream together the butter and sugar with a mixer and then add in the other ingredients (eggs, buttermilk, vanilla, flour, baking soda, salt, diced apples, and walnuts). Before baking, you sprinkle over a topping made by cutting cold butter into a mixture of sugar (granulated sugar, not brown sugar), flour, and cinnamon.
I first tasted a slim slice from the end of the loaf, and I wasn't all that impressed. The bread itself was moist, but not very flavorful. Also, while the L.A. Times describes this bread as "a light and fluffy loaf, almost cake-like in texture," my loaf was definitely on the dense and heavier side, and would not easily be mistaken for cake. However, later when I tasted a slice from the middle of the loaf, I loved it. The batter might not be too interesting, but as a conveyance for sweet apples, walnuts, and cinnamon topping (all of which are plentiful throughout the cake, except on the ends!), it's fantastic. And the fact that some of the topping sank into the cake only made it better, more widely distributing the delicious butter-sugar-cinnamon nuggets.
I would absolutely make this bread again. It might be all about the topping in and the mix-ins, but that's all right with me!
Recipe: "1881 Coffee Cafe's Dutch Apple Walnut Loaf," from the July 29, 2010 Los Angeles Times.
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