a lightly sweetened spicy cast iron “cake’’ that you can make as fancy or as straight forward as you want
Course Dessert
Cuisine Baking, cast iron
Prep Time 15minutes
Cook Time 45minutes
Equipment
cast iron pan
electric mixer
stand mixer
Ingredients
for the apples
3medium apples
1tspground cardamomyou can sub cinnamon if you prefer
1/2tspground ginger
1/4cupgranulated sugar
lemon juice
for the batter
3/4cupgranulated sugar
1Tablespoonmolasses
1stick room temperature unsalted butter1/4 cup or 8 Tablespoons
2eggs at room temperature
1tspvanilla extract
2tspsorange liqueroptional
1cupwhole wheat pastry flourYou can use AP if you prefer
1t1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2teaspoontable saltor 3/4 tsp diamond kosher
1/2teaspoonground ginger
Instructions
peel the apples, slice and macerate by tossing with the granulated sugar, cardamom, 1/2 tsp of ginger, and lemon juice in a large bowl- set aside
pre heat oven to 350F
in a stand mixer with the beater attachment cream together butter, sugar, and molasses until fluffier and lighter, add eggs, vanilla, and orange liqueur and beat again until throughly combined (about two minutes, you may need to pause and scrape down the bowl once or twice)
remove from mixer and add the dry ingredients, stirring or folding gently to combine until no dry bits remain.
butter your (well seasoned 10 1/2 inch cast iron) pan and spread in the batter
layer in the apples (you can discard the left over juice or reserve for something else like apple sauce) pressing down if necessary to help spread the batter- I had some broken leftover broken bits that I added to the apple sauce I’d made the day before. )
sprinkle the apples with a little bit of sugar or cinnamon sugar if desired and bake until the batter is cooked through and begins to pull away from the sides of the pan (you can also do the toothpick test) about 40-45 minutes
best served warm- on its own or with a sprinkling of powdered sugar or a generous dollop of whipped cream