How ’bout Them Apples? Cake For Everyone (Even Allergy Peeps)!

Awesome Apple Cake (allergy friendly too!)

Awesome Apple Cake (allergy friendly too!)

This weekend while apple picking, we managed to bring home 30 pounds of apples!  My family can eat lots of fruit each day, but I don’t know if we could polish off 7 1/2 pounds each in a week.  What a perfect excuse to bake!  Back in the day (the day being when I didn’t have food intolerances), I loved to bake.  And after an annual outing to the orchard, apples would be a part of every dessert.  One of my favorites is actually a family recipe.  My grandmother makes the best apple cake in all of the world.  The dough is moist and spongy and the apples are sweet and delicious.  But, with my sensitivity to eggs, dairy and gluten, apple cake has been something to smell rather than eat over the past few years.  Actually, it doesn’t have dairy in the recipe so that my grandparents, who kept a Kosher home, could enjoy the cake after a meat meal.  But it still has eggs and gluten, which are no-nos for me.  It’s not fair that I have to miss out on this soul food, this family dessert made from love, this apple-y goodness… get the picture?  So I decided that I would share the apple cake recipe with you, but (drum roll please!) I would also share a recipe made with egg, dairy and gluten substitutes, in case you are suffering alongside me.

Grandma Pauline’s Awesome (Allergy Friendly or AF) Apple Cake

(Allergy-Friendly ingredient substitutes are in parentheses)

Serves 12

Dough:

1 2/3 cups  all-purpose (rice) flour

2/3 cup sugar

1 teaspoon baking powder

1 egg  (1 1/2 teaspoon of Ener-G egg replacement plus 2 Tablespoons of hot water)

3/4 cup shortening or margarine

2 teaspoons vanilla

(1/2 cup almond milk)

Filling:

6-8 apples

1/2 teaspoon cinnamon

2 Tablespoons sugar

juice of 1/2 lemon

 

All the ingredients: Traditional on the left, allergy-friendly on the right.

The two main substitutes: Rice flour and Ener-G Egg Replacer.

My kids and I worked together so that we could make both cakes simultaneously.  Preheat the oven to 350 F.  First we made the dough.  Mix the dry ingredients in a bowl together.  In a smaller bowl, mix the egg, margarine and vanilla.  For the AF version, mix the Ener-G with hot water and mix to get it frothy before adding the margarine and vanilla.

IMG_3976

Frothy egg replacement

My daughter adding the vanilla.

Wet ingredients for the traditional cake…

IMG_3982

…and wet ingredients for the AF cake.

Mix the wet ingredients together.  Once blended, add them to the dry ingredients and mix with a large spoon until it becomes difficult, then use your hands.  For the AF cake, add almond milk to the wet and dry ingredients and then mix using a large spoon.  As with the traditional dough, feel free to use your hands.  The traditional dough will be stickier due to the gluten, but both will form a ball.  Once it’s in a ball, set aside.

Dough. Can you tell which one?

Next, it’s time to prepare the apples.  Peel, core, and slice the apples.  If you are lucky enough to have a mandoline or a food processor with a slicing blade, this will be an easy process.  If not, you have a lot of chopping to do!

Apples, peeled and cored with the help of my son!

I’m lucky to have a slicing blade, but my grandmother does this part by hand!

Put the apples into a bowl and add the sugar, cinnamon, and lemon.  Mix to coat (I use my hands).  Now, it’s time to assemble the cakes!

Apples and filling ingredients all tossed.

In order to tell the difference in the cakes, I made the traditional one in an 8×8 square glass casserole dish and the AF one in a glass pie dish.  Both doughs are sticky, so have a small bowl of water nearby to dip your fingertips into – it makes it easier to spread the dough.  Start with dividing the dough in half.  One half will be for the bottom of the dish and the other half will be for the top.  Press the dough between your hands to spread it out and then place it at the bottom of the dish.  Using your fingers (wet if you need to), press the dough to the edges and a bit up the side of the dish.

Pressed out dough in the bottom of the AF cake dish.

Pressed out dough in the bottom of the traditional apple cake dish.

Once the dough is pressed out, add the apple mixture to the dish.  Next, it’s time to press out the remaining dough and add it to the top of the dish.  Use the same method for both cakes.  Press small pieces of dough flat in your hand and then place it on top of the cake until the whole cake is covered.  You will have to use that bowl of water again if the dough is sticking to your fingers.  Take your time – you want to make sure you have enough to cover the entire cake.

Press out the dough in your hands first…

…and then add them to the top of the cake until…

…it is completely covered.

And then do the same for the next cake. Whew!

Bake at 350 F for 45 minutes or until the dish is bubbling and the crust turns a golden brown.  The AF crust does not brown as much as the traditional.  Really, it dries out and gets crisp on the edges; it looks different but it’s still apple cake!

The traditional apple cake!

And an AF cake for me!

A slice of tradition apple cake. Ooohh!

A slice of AF apple cake. Ahhh!

There are always variations to try, depending on your allergy.  Feel free to use rice milk and teff flour, or soy milk and oat flour.  If you are vegan, use regular flour and the egg substitute.  If you are vegetarian, enjoy both.  No matter what ingredients you use,  you too can enjoy Grandma Pauline’s Awesome Apple Cake!  If you have any leftovers, wrap them up.  The dough may become a little wet, but it will dry out when you reheat it, or enjoy it a little on the moist side!

Whether you make the traditional apple cake or the allergy-friendly apple cake, I hope you enjoy this (new) family tradition as much as I do!

Happy Apple Season!

 

xo

B

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Beth Rosen

Eating Attitudes™ & Gut Expert

Beth Rosen, MS, RD, CDN is a Registered Dietitian and owner of Beth Rosen Nutrition. She practices a non-diet philosophy and is a Health at Every Size" practitioner. Her goal is to end the pain of diet culture, one person at a time. Beth's techniques and programs empower chronic dieters, and those who consider themselves emotional and /or stress eaters, to ditch the vicious cycle of dieting, eat fearlessly by removing Food and diet rules, and mend their relationship with food and their bodies. Beth's works face-to-face with clients in Southbury, CT, and virtually with clients, worldwide.

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