50-year apple cake
Emily Luchetti
Farallon Restaurant, San Francisco
Ingredients
2 large eggs
2 cups sugar
2 tsp. ground cinnamon
1/2 cup oil
1 3/4 oz. (1/2 cup) chopped walnuts
2 cups sifted all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons baking soda
1 cup golden raisins
3 cups diced apples
Directions
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Grease the bottom of a 9-by-13-inch baking pan and line it with parchment paper.
In a large bowl, lightly whisk the eggs. Stir in the sugar, cinnamon, oil and walnuts.
Sift together the flour, salt and baking soda and add to the mixture. Stir in the raisins. Stir in the apple pieces. The batter will be thick. Spread the batter into the prepared pan. Bake until a skewer inserted in the middle comes out clean, about 45 minutes.
Cool completely at room temperature. Run a knife around the inside edge of the pan to loosen the edges of the cake from the pan. Place a cutting board on top of the pan. Invert the cake and the board. Remove the pan and carefully peel off the parchment paper. Cut into 12 pieces. Place right side up. Serve with vanilla ice cream, crème fraiche or whipped cream. Caramel sauce tastes great too.
Serves 8
A Passion for Desserts (Chronicle Books 2003)