1,000 Jewish Recipes (118 page)
Read 1,000 Jewish Recipes Online
Authors: Faye Levy
Apple cakes with an oil-based batter are often called Jewish apple cake, probably because the oil makes them pareve, and they are a popular Sukkot dessert. This one is studded with diced apples, walnuts, and bright red dried cranberries. You can substitute raisins for the cranberries for a more traditional taste, or use half cranberries and half golden raisins to make the cake more colorful. Often the apple slices are layered with the batter. You can do that with this cake too but I usually dice them and mix them in. It's quicker, easier, and just as delicious.
You can use just about any apple you like in this cakeâtart apples like Pippin or Granny Smith, medium-tart ones like McIntosh or Jonathan, or sweet ones like Golden Delicious.
2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
1 cup sugar
1
1
â
2
pounds apples, peeled, halved, cored, and diced
2 large eggs
2
â
3
cup vegetable oil
2 cups all-purpose flour
1
1
â
2
teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1
â
2
cup dried cranberries
1
â
2
cup walnuts, coarsely chopped
1.
Preheat oven to 350°F. Lightly grease a 13 à 9 à 2-inch cake pan, line base and sides of pan with a sheet of foil and grease foil.
2.
Mix cinnamon and
1
â
3
cup sugar in a large bowl. Add apples and toss to combine.
3.
Beat eggs with remaining
2
â
3
cup sugar in a large bowl with an electric mixer on medium speed until light. Add oil and beat until blended. Sift flour with baking powder in a medium bowl and stir into egg mixture. Stir in vanilla, cranberries, walnuts, and apple mixture. Spread in prepared cake pan. Smooth top. Bake for about 40 minutes or until a cake tester or toothpick inserted in center of cake comes out dry. Cool in pan on a rack about 20 minutes or until just warm. Turn out onto a rack. Cool to room temperature. Serve cold or at room temperature.
My brother and I often enjoyed this cake whenever my mother, Pauline Kahn, baked it, especially if she made it without nuts. Today I think it tastes even better with chopped pecans or walnuts. Carrot cake has long been popular on Jewish holiday menus because most recipes call for oil, not butter, and so the cake is pareve and convenient to serve after meat entrees. You may want to save a few pieces of it for a meatless meal and enjoy it with
Creamy Cinnamon-Honey Sauce
.
I especially like it for Sukkot because the carrots tie in with the harvest theme. The cake is easy to make and is moist and flavorful enough that it needs no frosting.
2 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
1 cup vegetable oil
2 cups sugar
4 large eggs
2 cups finely grated carrots
1
â
2
to 1 cup chopped pecans or walnuts (optional)
1.
Preheat oven to 350°F. Grease and flour a 13 à 9 à 2-inch baking pan.
2.
Sift flour with cinnamon, baking powder, baking soda, and salt in a medium bowl. In a large bowl, beat oil and sugar until well blended. Beat in eggs, one by one. Stir flour mixture and grated carrots alternately into batter. Mix well. Stir in chopped nuts, if using. Batter will be thick. Spoon into prepared pan. Bake about 45 minutes or until a cake tester inserted in cake comes out clean. Turn out onto a rack or leave in the pan; cool completely.
 or
Â
This moist, rich, chocolatey dessert is halfway between a cake and a pudding. It's best served lukewarm but it's good at room temperature too. You can bake it three days ahead and keep it covered tightly at room temperature. If you like, serve a bowl of softly whipped cream as an accompaniment. The dessert is also delicious with regular or pareve coffee ice cream, which complements the coffee flavor in the cake.
5 ounces semisweet chocolate, chopped
3 tablespoons water
1
1
â
2
teaspoons instant coffee powder or granules
1
â
2
cup (1 stick) plus 2 tablespoons unsalted butter or pareve margarine, cut into pieces, room temperature
4 large eggs, separated
1
â
2
cup plus 2 tablespoons sugar
1
â
4
teaspoon cream of tartar
1
â
3
cup all-purpose flour, sifted
1.
Preheat oven to 325°F. Lightly grease an 8-inch square baking pan. Line base with parchment paper or wax paper; grease, then flour the lined pan.
2.
Melt chocolate with water and coffee in a medium bowl set over a pan of simmering water. Stir until smooth. Add butter pieces; stir until blended. Remove from pan of water; let cool.
3.
Beat egg yolks in a large bowl with an electric mixer, then beat in
1
â
2
cup sugar. Whip at high speed about 5 minutes or until mixture is pale and very thick.
4.
Beat egg whites with cream of tartar in a large dry bowl with the mixer until soft peaks form. Gradually beat in remaining 2 tablespoons sugar. Whip at high speed until whites are stiff and shiny but not dry.
5.
Gently stir chocolate mixture into yolk mixture. Sift flour over chocolate mixture and fold it in gently. Gently fold in whites in 3 batches. Pour batter into prepared pan. Bake about 40 minutes or until a cake tester inserted in center of cake comes out clean. Cool cake in pan on a rack until lukewarm; center of cake will settle slightly.
6.
Cut cake into squares while in pan. Serve lukewarm or at room temperature.
This easy-to-make sauce is delicious with carrot cake, sponge cake, or angel food cake. You can also dip apples or bananas in it as a light snack. You can use the low-fat or nonfat versions of yogurt and sour cream if you like.
1
â
2
cup plain yogurt
1
â
2
cup sour cream
2 tablespoons honey
1
â
2
teaspoon ground cinnamon
Mix yogurt, sour cream, honey, and cinnamon in a bowl. Serve cold.
Pears, plums, and prunes in citrus-scented wine make a delicious treat. The fruits gain flavor from the wine and impart their own fruity taste to it. Both the plums and the prunes give the wine a lovely color. Serve these fruit in their wine syrup as a light dessert, as an accompaniment for honey cake, sponge cake, or pound cake, or as a topping for ice cream. You can remove the citrus zest strips and vanilla bean at serving time or leave them in, as they look interesting.
3 cups dry white wine, such as Chardonnay
3
â
4
cup sugar
Strip of orange zest
Strip of lemon zest
1 vanilla bean (optional)
4 ripe but firm medium pears (about 1
1
â
2
pounds)
1 pound ripe plums, halved and pitted
4 ounces pitted prunes
1.
Combine wine, sugar, orange zest, lemon zest, and vanilla bean, if using, in medium, heavy saucepan. Cook over low heat, stirring gently, until sugar dissolves. Raise heat to high and bring to boil. Remove from heat and cover.
2.
Peel, halve, and core pears. Bring wine syrup to boil. Add pear halves. Cover with a lid slightly smaller than diameter of saucepan to keep pears submerged. Return to simmer. Reduce heat to low and cook pears about 30 minutes or until tender when pierced with sharp knife. Carefully remove pears with slotted spoon. Add plums and prunes and poach over low heat about 12 minutes or until they are tender. Remove from heat.
3.
Return pears to syrup. Cover fruit with a small lid to keep it submerged. Cool fruit in syrup. Refrigerate fruit in syrup for at least 4 hours so they absorb flavor from syrup. Serve cold, in deep dishes.