Recipe of the Week: Apple Spice Cake

Few things are better for dessert on a fall evening, from one of our favorite books on preserving, Tart and Sweet.

Apple Spice Cake

3 cups whole wheat flour
1 ¼ cups canola oil
3 large eggs
¼ teaspoon ground cloves
2 cups sugar
1 teaspoon kosher salt                                              
1 teaspoon baking soda                                            
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
2 apples, peeled, cored, & cut into ½” dice
1 cup Apple Maple Butter
¼ teaspoon ground ginger                                        
½ whole nutmeg, grated
Demerara or granulated sugar

Preheat the oven to 325°F. Butter and flour the 9-inch round cake pan or Bundt pan.
Whisk the flour, salt, baking soda, cinnamon, cloves, ginger, and nutmeg in a medium bowl to combine. Whisk the oil and sugar in a large bowl; add the eggs one at a time and whisk until combined.

In three parts, add the dry ingredients to the wet, whisking until smooth. Fold in the apples and the apple butter.

Scrape the batter into the prepared pan and sprinkle the top with sugar. Bake for 1 hour and 15 minutes, or until a toothpick poked into the center comes out clean. Cool on a rack before removing from pan.

Note: You can substitute cake flour for a lighter, fluffier cake; whole wheat flour produces a slightly denser cake. If you’re using a Bundt pan, the baking time and temperature stay the same.

Tart and Sweet, by Kelly Geary and Jessie Knadler. Photography by Ellen Silverman. Rodale, $24.99