maven&meddler

Again, this cake is a breeze to whip up, and it’s so delicious that you’d swear it couldn’t possibly be healthy, too.

The secret to the nutrition is King Arthur 12 grain flour. The secret to the taste is the Wood’s Cider Mill boiled cider syrup. Maple or cane sorghum syrup would be good choices, too.

The 12 grain flour bakes very similar to all-purpose flour with a light and tender crumb. It’s so delicious that I can’t understand why you’d want to use the highly refined, and nutritionally bankrupt white flour. The King Arthur version includes whole wheat, spelt, corn, buckwheat, barley, amaranth, quinoa and more with all the wonderful fiber and micronutrients.

Ingredients:

1-1/2 cups King Arthur 12 grain flour, or you can use half all-pupose flour and half whole wheat flour.

1 cup packed dark brown sugar

1 teaspoon baking soda

2 teaspoons ground allspice

1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

(optional: 1 teaspoon Fenugeek powder)

1 cup buttermilk or plain yogurt

1/2 cup any neutral tasting oil, such as canola

1 tablespoon melted butter

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1 apple, about 8 ounces, cut into brunoise dice

1/2 cup chopped walnuts

1/2 cup Wood’s Cider Mill cider syrup

(light whipped cream or creme fraiche for serving)

1/2 teaspoon salt

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Soft all the dry ingredients into a mixing bowl and whisk together well. In another mixing bowl, combine all the wet ingredients - except the whipped cream or creme fraiche - nad whisk together. Add the wet to the dry, and combine into a totally yummy batter. Fold in the apples and walnuts and stir well.

Prepare an 8 x 8 or similar pan. You can see that I used a round tart pan, but I’ve also used a long bread loaf pan. Cut some parchment paper to fit the bottom and spray it and the entire pan well with Pam for Baking.  That’s the spray that has the flour in it.

Pour in the batter and spread it evenly. Put it into the oven for about 40 minutes or until a toothpick inserted near the center of the cake comes back out clean or with just a few crumbs. Set your kitchen timer so that you remember to turn the cake once during baking.

Take the cake out of the oven and let it cool for about 10 minutes, then invert it if you wish onto a cooling rack.

When the cake has completely cooling, take a pastry brush and begin to dab the boiled cider syrup or other sweet syrup on the cake and let it soak in. This cake is actually better the next day.

Another idea would be to use an Orange syrup like they use in the Middle East.

Slice and serve with the whipped cream or creme fraiche.