"apple cake" news and stories

I still have about 25 apples left from the apple picking episode of Slashfood in the Kitchen that Scott and I made a couple of weeks ago. I've done a pretty good job of using them up, what with the apple sauce, apple crisp and apple muffins that have passed through my kitchen recently. However, I'm eating at least two a day and they just aren't going away.

I was flipping through my grandmother Bunny's old recipe card file a little while ago and stumbled across the card you see above. I can see her sitting at her old typewriter, making up that card for herself, knowing she didn't need to add any specifics other than "Mix goodies in left column; add dry stuff. Bake 1 hr. at 350." I do believe I will have this one baking before the day is out.

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A big photo is the perfect way to share the big flavors of this amazing looking Caramel Apple Cake from Peabody at Culinary Concoctions. The recipe is an adaptation of one of Paula Deen's favorites, Grandgirl's Fresh Apple Cake. The cake itself is moist and tender. The original uses a lot of pecans and some shredded coconut along with the apples, but this version uses chopped walnuts and raisins to better complement the topping.

Peabody baked the cake in individual-sized cake pans, rather than one large pan, and put together what might just be the most sweetly decadent topping we've seen in a while. It has gooey caramel, caramelized apples and a drizzle of white chocolate, for contrast. As you might expect, this is one sweet dessert, but we suspect that you'll have a hard time putting the fork down once you've picked it up and taken the first bite.

The full post can be read here: http://www.culinaryconcoctionsbypeabody.com/2006/09/05/the-caramel-apple-does-not-fall-far-from-the-tree/

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While reducing the fat in baking gets easier with time, especially after you practice with a few recipes and accept the possibility of failing every once in a while, you have to wonder how far you can push the limits. While there are fat free cakes, like angel food, the texture in those is decidedly different from that of a traditional cake, which you expect to be moist and tender, not airy. After much testing, cookbook author Sarah Philips, came up with a whole book of all-natural, low fat recipes (The Healthy Oven Baking Book). This cake is a variation on one of the recipes from that book - and it has almost no fat.