phila*craft

better than it looks

whole wheat apple prune cake

I replaced the white flour in our favorite apple cake recipe with whole wheat pastry flour and substituted prunes for the raisins and walnut oil for "vegetable oil." Pesach Shalom, Happy Easter.

3 cups whole wheat pastry flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
½ teaspoon salt
¾ cup walnut oil
3 large eggs
1½ cups granulated sugar
½ cup packed light brown sugar
1 tablespoon ground cinnamon
½ teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg
1 tablespoon calvados or whisky
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
3 Cortland, Empire or Gala apples, peeled, cored, and cut into
¼-inch dice
½ cup quartered prunes (please don't call them dried plums)

Put a rack in the middle of oven and preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Butter and flour a 9” springform pan.

Sift together flour, baking soda, and salt into a bowl.

Whisk together oil, eggs, sugars, spices, liquor and vanilla in a large bowl until just combined. Fold in flour mixture until just combined, then fold in apples and purnes. Spoon the very thick batter into prepared pan.

Bake until a wooden pick or skewer inserted in the center comes out clean, about 1½ hours. Cool cake in pan on rack for 10 minutes, then turn out onto rack to cool completely.

*The cake can be kept in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 5 days and tastes better as the flavors meld.