Mostly Apples, All Flavor: Mostly Apples Cake with Maple Coffee Glaze

I had some Arkansas Black apples left over after making Rachel Allen's Swedish Apple Cake, so I decided to use them in Yossy Arefi's "Mostly Apples Cake" from Snacking Cakes.  The headnote says that the cake "is just what it sounds like -- a heap of apples barely held together with a sweet, spicy batter." 

To make the batter, you whisk brown sugar and eggs until pale and foamy; add oil, whiskey, vanilla, cinnamon, freshly-grated nutmeg, instant espresso powder, and salt; mix in the dry ingredients (flour, baking powder, and baking soda); and fold in chopped apples and toasted chopped walnuts. The recipe calls for two small apples and the weight of the two peeled and trimmed Arkansas Black apples I used was 310 grams. When I transferred the batter to a parchment-lined 9-inch round pan, there were lots of cubes of apples sticking up from the batter, and I sprinkled on more nuts before baking.

While you can serve this cake plain, Yossy suggests drizzling on a Maple Coffee Glaze that is included with the Buttered Walnut Cake recipe in the cookbook. It's a mixture of powdered sugar, maple syrup, milk, instant espresso powder, and salt. Because I used cold milk straight from the fridge, the espresso powder did not dissolve and you can see the dark specks in the glaze in the photo above. I had enough glaze to cover the entire top of the cake and while it developed a skin, the glaze did not set firm. 

I thought this cake was fabulous. When I first saw that the recipe included instant espresso powder, I wasn't sure how that would pair with the applies. But the espresso in the cake and the glaze added such an incredible depth of flavor that really complemented the apples. The apple flavor in the cake came through loud and clear, and with the walnuts, cinnamon, and nutmeg in the mix as well, every bite was just bursting with flavor. I'm so glad I added the glaze; the espresso kept it from being too sweet, and I liked the hint of maple flavor. Now that I've had this cake with the glaze, I can't imagine making it without. 

This was such a wonderful apple cake. It really highlighted the flavor of the apples, but also added so much more.

 

Recipes: "Mostly Apples Cake" and "Maple Coffee Glaze" from Snacking Cakes by Yossy Arefi.