spiced apple cake with brown sugar meringue

somehow in the midst of

catching up on recipes, i jumped

right past our chanukah dinner

and into new year's eve.

but, our dinner that evening -

a couple weeks ago at this point -

was really fun and everything

a holiday with

your family should be.

we brought back chanukah harry,

a play on secret santa, in its second

incarnation. we ate latkes and yummy challah,

before pulling gold wrappers

off our gelt. and later, we played catch phrase,

which you should know can get pretty

dangerous in our house.

(we're just a little intense about our games -

there's clue screaming and

chair bouncing, but i think it's only

natural when faced with true

challenges: how would you get

your team to guess the word

shazam without a lot of

hand gestures and

widening of the eyes?

i didn't know either.)

if i skipped chanukah,

i wouldn't be able

to tell you our night - or about my

new friend, the apple cake.

i first saw this recipe in early october,

during one of the first contests i really took

serious interest in on food52.

and by took seriously, i mean from afar -

i was still a voyeur, not yet even voting.

but i was immediately smitten by one

of the finalists for that week:

an old-fashioned apple spice cake

by betteirine, that i'm sorry to say i

probably never would have looked

at once, if not for the gorgeous picture.

but i would have missed out.

because once i spotted

the shattered top, i was in.

i loved that amanda and merrill

called it a "cake with a snow cap,"

a phrase that popped into my head,

every time i thought of the dessert.

and i loved that they said something

to the effect, that this cake should never

actually work, but it does.

and, is it just me, or does anything with

brown sugar sound instantly worth it?

so, i filed it away until i had a need.

and then, i'm so glad, in december,

i had a need. even though we're slightly

past apple season, there's no denying

that apple shortages are never really

something we deal with.

and the brown sugar

(did i mention the brown sugar?),

absolutely made me feel ok about

baking this fall cake in the winter.

usually most of the ingredients

are in the house, but it wasn't until

i was packing up the bag to go to my

mom's, that i realized that um,

somehow i ran out of golden raisins

and eggs. and butter.

thank goodness, i have a mom,

who has a house stocked with

such necessities. and a sister,

who is willing to pick things

up from the grocery store,

on a rainy miserable day,

when i, for some odd reason,

assume that my mother

does not actually

have butter in her house.

and, usually, i would

think that this recipe would

not take very long to prepare

at all. but probably, that's the

case if you are not talking to your

family and telling stories and stopping

every five seconds to interject into

their conversation because who

wants to be forgotten about in

the kitchen?

but still, it's an easy enough cake,

and just the kind i love:

a spiced thick batter,

studded heavily with

golden raisins and toasted walnuts,

then strands of grated apple.

the glossy meringue is thickly spread

over the batter and baked

until the top is crisp

and the whole house smells of

sugar and cinnamon.

oh, and another thing:

i was really concerned about the

top cracking. you see, i wanted

it to crack. for me, that was the

charm behind the cake, the

reason for wanting to make it

in the first place. so how nice

for once, after years of fretting over

cheesecakes garnished with

deep top pockets, to pull the pan

out of the oven, watch the top

crack down the center and just

not care? well, i'll tell you:

it was nice.

but i shouldn't have been so

worried about the top - or

about baking it at my mom's,

hours before serving,

just to be sure it would crack.

because it did. the moment

the knife hit the surface that

evening, the cake set out to

prove that it would not conform

to perfect just-so squares. no,

this cake was going to form

its own lines, fracturing here

and fissuring there and looking

like it was cut by a small child

with a plastic knife. and i loved it.

but the thing about this cake -

which by the way was so good:

moist, sweetly spiced, textured,

and, in fact, topped with a snow cap -

is that i shouldn't

have worried so much

about the cracking.

in spite of

what the instructions said,

the next day, the top still

splintered on its own

when we cut off

an experimental sliver.

in fact, it took a few days for

a knife to

cut smoothly through.

but now,

crack or no crack,

i would make this cake again -

not for the novelty,

or the double use of brown sugar -

but because, frankly,

it would be a shame not to.

this cake is delicious.

spiced apple cake with brown sugar meringue

adapted from betteirene via food52

well, i'm sad to say that i know one reason why this cake was so good - i realized way too late (like looking at the recipe again after the cake was already served late), that i doubled the butter. yes, doubled. i cannot believe it either. for some reason that day, with the rain and the wind and the people (my family) talking and me worried about my chanukah harry gift and trying to make a meringue with crazy weather, i had what i'll just call, a moment, and read 1/2 cup to mean 2 sticks. i know. but, below, i've written the recipe with the true 1/2 cup.

also - and maybe i'll just say right now that this was not the day to prove i'm a good reader - i somehow missed the part that said to add all dry ingredients and then the flour. i had already packed a resealable plastic bag with all dry ingredients combined - so i crossed my breath and stirred only a couple times with great intent. nothing suffered. maybe it was all that butter.

oh, and i'm sorry, but i have one more thing to tell you. when the recipe was made on food52, they baked the cake in a round cake pan (if you haven't looked yet, the picture is here again, for good measure). i loved that idea - especially because this is obviously not a fancy cake plate-cake, but a serve out of the pan confection that maybe only works for after-lunch slices, teas or family dinners. i, however, stuck with the square pan - only because all my round pans are not so easy to get to. ok, now i'm done.

brown sugar meringue

2 large egg whites

1 1/2 cups firmly packed brown sugar (i had dark - it worked well)

2 tablespoons water

position rack in center of oven. heat oven to 350˚f.

prepare a double boiler or small saucepot by filling it with 1 to 2-inches of water. over high heat, bring to a boil. in top of double boiler or a small heatproof mixing bowl that can sit on saucepot without touching water, combine egg whites, brown sugar and water. using electric mixer, beat egg white mixture 3-5 minutes, or until peaks form. set aside. (just a note - if you're using the bowl/saucepot setup, have an oven mitt nearby in case the now-hot bowl begins to tip - you might need to hold it.)

apple spice cake

1/2 cup unsalted butter, at room temperature (1 stick)

1 cup firmly packed brown sugar

2 large egg yolks

1 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1/2 teaspoon ground ginger

1/4 teaspoon ground cloves (optional - i did not have)

2 large meaty apples (i used huge fuji apples)

1/2 cup chopped walnuts, toasted

1/2 cup golden raisins

2 large meaty apples (i used huge fuji apples)

2 cups all-purpose flour

grease 9 x 9 baking pan.

in mixing bowl using electric mixer, beat together butter and brown sugar 2 minutes, or until fluffy. add egg yolks and beat 30 seconds, or until completely blended. using a wooden spoon, stir in baking soda, salt, cinnamon, ginger, cloves, walnuts and raisins.

peel apples. grate apples on the large holes of a box grater; add to batter. fold in flour, just until combined, taking care not to over mix.

transfer batter to prepared pan; smooth the top. spread brown sugar meringue evenly over batter, smoothing. bake 45 minutes, or until top is crisp.

(as i said, at this point, the recipe instructs to serve it the first day for a meringue that cracks; the next day for neat slices. i say, just enjoy it whenever you're ready.)