Monday, October 15, 2012

Apple Tea Cake with Oat-Pecan Streusel

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Hey. How are ya? I'm going to skip right over the whole apologetic blogger thing, and get straight to the point. This tea cake? It's delicious. And if you make it, you'll think it's the second coming because your house will smell heavenly.

I have been baking quite a bit, after finally settling into my new flat, but seeing as the charming security agents in Kiev Borispol, which, let me tell you, is one hell of an airport, destroyed my camera lens, photographing the tasty things that paraded out of my oven proved problematic. There have been so many things that I wanted to tell you about- Toblerone cookies, toffee caramel chocolate chip cookies, and some seriously good blondies my flatmate Caitlin made. But I just didn't have any way to share them with you.

Luckily, I have my brother's camera on loan until I sort out my own camera. It's taking some getting used to, but hopefully I'll get the hang of it before too long. Though I can honestly say these are certainly not my finest photos, I do implore you to try this recipe. It's easy peasy and really couldn't be much tastier. I had all of the ingredients on hand, save the apple juice, and it came together in no time. And, it's so moist and so moreish, I think it'll be gone from my kitchen table before too long.

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Apple Tea Cake with Oat-Pecan Streusel
Makes one 9-inch loaf

For the cake:
2 cups all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon table salt
1/2 cup dark brown sugar
1/2 cup rapeseed (Canola) oil
2 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
3/4 cup cloudy apple juice
2 granny smith apples, peeled and diced
1/2 cup chopped, pitted dates

For the streusel:
1/2 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 cup oats
1/2 cup dark brown sugar
1/2 cup pecans
1/4 teaspoon table salt
4 tablespoons butter, cold and cut into 1/2-inch cubes

For the cake: Preheat the oven to 350. Grease and flour a 9-inch loaf pan. Whisk together flour, baking powder, cinnamon, and salt. In the bowl of a stand mixer, beat together brown sugar and rapeseed oil. Add eggs one at a time, beating until incorporated. Beat in vanilla extract. Beat in dry ingredients in three additions, alternating with apple juice, and ending with dry ingredients. Fold in apples and dates. Pour batter into prepared baking sheet.
For the streusel: In the bowl of a stand mixer, combine flour, oats, brown sugar, pecans and salt. Add butter and beat on medium speed until the mixture is in pea-sized lumps. Sprinkle over top of tea cake.
To bake: Slide filled loaf pan into the center rack of the oven. Bake for 1 hour, or until a knife inserted into the center comes out clean. Let cool on wire rack. Once cool, remove from baking tin and invert, streusel-side up, onto a cake plate or serving platter.

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