Apple Cake
Apple “Filling”
4 small apples, peeled and chopped (I’ve used Honeycrisp and Fuji)
2 tablespoons butter (cultured vegan butter would work perfectly)
2 tablespoons brown sugar
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
Preheat small Dutch oven or medium saucepan over medium-low heat. Add butter and brown sugar, stir, then add apples and cinnamon. Cook apples, stirring gently, for 2 minutes.
Remove apples from pot using a slotted spoon and add
3/4 cup apple juice
Bring juice to a gentle simmer, stir occasionally, scraping down the sides, until it has reached a thin syrup consistency and reduced its volume to about one third. (Took mine about 20 minutes.) Remove from heat and set aside to cool.
Spooning the apples out of the pot and leaving the “syrup”.
Preheat oven to 350° F.
Cake Batter
wet ingredients
1/4 cup shortening
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1/2 cup dairy free plain yogurt (I have used Culina and Kite Hill brands)
1 large egg
cooled apple juice reduction (see apple filling steps)
In a large mixing bowl (I use my stand mixer with the paddle attachment) combine these ingredients together — mixture will be quite runny.
Cake batter
dry ingredients
1 1/2 cups gluten free all purpose flour, measured correctly
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon cinnamon
1/8 teaspoon nutmeg
1/4 teaspoon salt
In a separate smaller bowl, whisk these ingredients together until the color is uniform and no lumps remain. Add dry ingredients to the wet batter in the mixing bowl and gently mix until fully incorporated.
Cake Batter
final steps
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
chopped apples
Finally, add vanilla to batter, mix until just combined. Fold in partially-cooked apples with a rubber spatula.
Spread batter in an ungreased 8x8 square pan or an 8” round pan and bake for 30-35 minutes or until toothpick poked in the center comes out clean.
Cool completely and serve with your favorite dairy free cream cheese frosting!
(I use a simple mix of 8 ounces Tofutti cream cheese and 1/2 cup powdered sugar.)
