Skillet Apple Cake
Another King Arthur Flour Co. dessert recipe; tried first time, edited slightly, turned out very nicely. The recipe calls for baking in a cast-iron skillet or 9" square baking pan
Topping
1-1/2 lbs tart apples, cored and sliced (4 or 5 large, about 18oz., 5.5 to 6 cups) if your apples aren't fresh or aren't tart, you can add a teaspoon or two of lemon juice to the apple mixture while you are mixing up the other ingredients
1/3 cup brown sugar
3 Tablespoons boiled cider, optional (can find at ka flour online or other specialty stores, or make yourself (boil cider gently and reduce to 1/7th it's starting volume)
1 teaspoon apple pie spice, or 2:1 cinnamon/nutmeg
1/4 teaspoon salt
Cake
1-1/3 cups king arthur unbleached all-purpose flour
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1-1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
2/3 cup lukewarm milk, or 50:50 yogurt and milk, maybe slightly more milk to end up with a little more than 2/3 cup liquid
1 large egg
6 tablespoons melted butter
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
coarse sprinkling or pure cane sugar to sprinkle on top, optional
Preheat the oven to 350˚F. Butter a 9-1/2 to 10" (2" deep) cast-iron skillet or a 9" cake pan
Combine the apples with the brown sugar, boiled cider, spices, and salt. Set aside.
Combine the flour, sugar, baking powder, and salt. Sift, set aside.
Melt the butter in a glass container, add the milk (and yogurt) and stir quickly until well blended. Add eggs, stir until well blended and do the same with the vanilla. Add to the flour mixture, stir to combine. Pour into buttered skillet. Spoon the apple mixture onto the batter and press down into the batter if the batter is a bit thick. Sprinkle with coarse sugar if desired.
Bake the cake for about 50 to 60 minutes, until it's light brown and a cake tester inserted into the center comes out clean. Remove it from the oven, and cool for about 5 minutes. Loosen the edges of the cake from the pan, and cool for another 20 minutes or so before serving.
Yield: 8 to 10 servings
I used 6 cups of apples and could have used 5.5 cups instead, or made the cake batter a little thinner by using some more milk, or I could have put the apples into the pan first and then poured the batter over the top. Adding the yogurt the way I did, it didn't rise up as much as in the pictures I saw, but it was very good.
step-by-step illustrated instructions: kingarthurflour.com/recipes . Search: Skillet Apple Cake