The traditional Polish apple cake was one of the first cakes I have ever learned how to make. My grandma was downright ecstatic when I displayed interest in learning how to cook and bake. That being said, this is a relatively labor intensive cake. It will take you a couple of hours to put together, that's for sure.
Ingredients:
- 4 eggs (whites and yolks separated)
- 4 sticks of unsalted butter, room temperature
- 2.5 cups of sugar (3.5 cups if you like super sweet things)
- approx. 1lbs of flour
- 3 teaspoons of baking powder
- 1/4 teaspoon of salt
- 2 tablespoons of sour cream (if necessary)
- 6 large Granny Smith apples
- 1 teaspoon of vanilla extract
You will need a 9x13 baking pan, a variety of mixing bowls, a pot, and cooking spray.
Preparing the dough: Combine all the flour, 2 tsp of baking powder, salt, and a cup of sugar in a large bowl. Add the butter and 4 egg yolks, and knead the dough with your hands until it becomes uniform (I'm sure this could be done in a mixer, but I do not possess one). If the dough comes out too dry, add some sour cream until the dough no longer crumbles. Wrap it in plastic wrap and freeze it for an hour.
Preparing the apple layer: Peel the apples and grate them; you can either do it by hand or run the apples through a juicer and put everything back together. The choice is yours. Put the grated apples into a pot, add a cup of sugar, and simmer until the apples have completely softened. Optionally, you can add a tbsp of cinnamon to apples. Set aside and let it cool completely.
Preparing the whipped layer: Put 4 egg whites into a sturdy bowl and whip them into foam with hand mixer until you have soft peaks. Add 1 tsp of baking powder, 1 tbsp of flour and 1/2 cup of sugar while stirring carefully with a spoon.
Preheat the oven to 350F.
Assembling the cake: Grate 3/4 of the frozen dough onto the baking pan and stick the rest back into the freezer. Bake that for about 25 minutes, or until the top is just barely baked (it will start showing golden edges). Take out the pan. Pour the apple layer onto the cake layer and smooth out. Pour out the whipped layer onto the apples and also smooth out evenly. Grab the remaining frozen dough and grate it on top of the whipped egg whites. Try to cover as evenly as possible, even if the grated dough will try to splatter everywhere. Put the pan back in the oven and bake for another 20 minutes. Let it cool before serving.
Enjoy!
It's insane how easy is this dessert, but so delicious! I've made it multiple times and it's always been a hit. The original recipe can be found here.
Ingredients:
- 12oz cookie dough of choice
- 8oz of cream cheese
- 1/3 cup of sugar
- 1 tablespoon of vanilla extract
- 1 egg
Note: You will need an 8x8in pan and wax paper for easier pan clean up. Also, you can use gluten-free dough if that is your dietary requirement.
Preheat your oven to 350F.
- Line the pan with the paper and spread out the cookie dough, evenly.
- Blend the cream cheese in a food processor for about 2-3 minutes.
- Add sugar and blend more.
- Add the egg and the extract, and continue mixing.
- Once it's all uniform, pour on top of the cookie "crust" and bake for about 25-30 minutes.
- When done, drizzle with a sauce of choice (caramel or chocolate seem to be popular) and leave in the fridge overnight. Cut into 16 pieces.
Enjoy!
In October a friend from work brought in these amazing caramel candies she had made herself. I was extremely impressed and delighted at the flavor, so I decided I would replicate it. At first I used apples that were given to me by that friend, but they were meant for direct consumption and I found them to be a little too sweet for my caramel. Then I purchased some Granny Smith apples, juiced them, and ramped up my caramel game. Beware, this recipe is a little time-consuming.
Ingredients:
- 4 cups of apple cider (or fresh juice from approx. 5 Granny Smith apples)
- 1/2 teaspoon of cinnamon
- 1 teaspoon of salt
- 1 stick of butter
- 1 cup of sugar
- 1/2 cup of light brown sugar
- 1/3 cup of heavy cream
You will need a 8x8in pan and parchment paper.
Note: Line the pan with parchment paper while the juice is reducing. Once you add sugar and butter you will have minutes to be ready to pour.You don't want to be stuck with a pot-full of hardened caramel.
- Boil the juice in a medium pot on medium-high until it reduces to a thick syrup (molasses-like). It should take about 30 minutes to do so. Turn down the heat to simmer.
- Add sugar, butter & cream, then simmer until the temperature reaches 165F (If you don't have a candy thermometer, I suggest pouring some cold water into a bowl and occasionally drop a little of caramel in there. If it turns solid(ish), the caramel is ready).
- Pour the caramel into the pan and set it aside for approx. 2 hours. I suggest setting a timer.
- Cut into pieces and store in the fridge so it doesn't melt. As an extra step, I wrap mine in cut up pieces of parchment paper. It looks fancy!
Enjoy!
