Ingredients
2 1/4 cups flour*
3/4 cup milk*
3/4 vegetable oil
3 eggs
1 1/4 cups sugar
2 teaspoons vanilla
1 tablespoon baking powder
3 small apples, cored, peeled and chopped
1 teaspoon cinnamon mixed with 2 teaspoons sugar
1/4 cup raisins
Finely grated zest of 1 small lemon mixed with 1 tablespoon sugar
Icing sugar for dusting
*Measurement is approximate
Directions
Preheat oven to 350 F degrees.
Peel, core and chop apples into very small pieces (1/4 inch by 1/4 inch).
In a bowl add the cinnamon mixed with 2 teaspoons sugar to the sliced apple pieces and mix well. Put aside.
In an electric mixer blend eggs and sugar till a bit creamy.
Add milk, oil, eggs and vanilla to the batter.
Slowly add flour (If the mixture is too soft add a touch more flour, if it's too hard had a touch more milk).
Add baking powder to the cake batter and mix well.
Add the raisins to the cake batter (Use a rubber spatula to mix the raisins in the batter, do NOT use the electric mixer.).
Add the finely grated zest of 1 small lemon (using a rubber spatula).
Add the apple pieces that have been mixed with cinnamon and sugar to the batter (Again using a rubber spatula to mix the ingredients, and NOT the electric blender).
Pour the cake batter in a greased tube or coffee cake pan.
Bake in a 350 degree oven for about 50 minutes or until a skewer inserted in the cake comes out dry.
Cool.
Dust with icing sugar before serving.
Notes
Italians possibly use olive oil to make this recipe. However North Americans of Italian origin generally prefer to use all-purpose vegetable oil (except of course for salad dressings -- then they go for the best extra virgin olive oil available!). Most North Americans believe, rightly or wrongly, that olive oil is "too heavy" or has "an over-powering" flavor. In any case I also prefer to use vegetable oil as it seems to blend more easily with the other ingredients, allowing their flavors to dominate. This particular cake recipe, regardless of what type of oil one uses, is rather easy to do. However, it is also rather ordinary as well -- tastes more like a large muffin than a cake. Photo: Mary Melfi. |
