Rustic Skillet Apple Cake

Every fall, I posted at least one recipe where I use apple, which is so delicious in season during fall.

I bought a bag of apples from farmer's market, thinking... I should bake something homey and rustic. Rustic? What could be more rustic than heavy duty cast iron skillet? I decided to bake apple cakes in the skillet with regular soft cake batter and marinated apple slices.

The cake itself is really soft and moist, and the texture contrasts and complements the baked apple slices that are still crisp. Cinnamon, nutmeg and clove... and all the other spices from the spiced apple cider make this cake a perfect fall dessert!

Wine Pairing Idea:
1997 Moulin Touchais Coteaux du Layon, Loire Valley, France

This sweet wine was made with late harvested Chenin Blanc grape from Coteaux du Layon, a region of sweet wine in Loire Valley, France. Chenin Blanc has high acidity in nature, and this character still remains in the super ripe grape. High acidity plays a very important role in sweet wines, balancing out the sweetness. If a sweet wine lacks acidity, it will taste just like sweet syrup, very one dimensional.

1997 Moulin Touchais Coteaux du Layon has cooked apple, orange, lemon curd, dried fig and raisin notes on the nose - sweet but somewhat refreshing as well. On palate, the sweetness kicks in and gives you more stone fruits, such as cooked apricot and peach, rather than orchard fruit... along with the distinctive Chenin Blanc's honey note.

All the cooked and dried fruit notes will complement the taste of the Skillet Apple Cake. Probably, you don't feel this wine is very sweet, because of its strong acidity. Yet, this wine IS sweet and definitely holds its ground against the sweetness in apple cake.

Skillet Apple Cake
(Yield: one 10 1/4" skillet cake / Cooking time: 1.5 hours)

Ingredients:

Apple Filling + 4-5 apples + 1/4 cup light browned sugar + 2 Tbsp spiced apple cider + 1/2 tsp cinnamon powder + 1/4 tsp nutmeg + 1/8 tsp clove + 1/4 tsp salt

Cake Batter + 1.5 cups unbleached all-purpose flour + 1/2 cup granulated sugar + 1.5 tsp baking powder + 1/2 tsp salt + 3/4 cup milk + 1 large egg + 6 Tbsp unsalted butter, melted (+ little more butter to butter skillet) + 1 tsp vanilla extract

Procedures:
1. Preheat your oven at 350°F(177°C), and butter a 10" skillet.


2. Peel apples and slice them into wedges, 0.4" thick or thinner. Then, combine the apples with light brown sugar, spiced apple cider, cinnamon, nutmeg, clove and salt. Set aside the apples to marinate for about 15 minutes. Strain the apple pieces to separate the juice and reserve it.


3. Now, make a cake batter. First, mix all the dry ingredients (flour, sugar, baking powder, and salt). And, mix all the wet ingredients (milk, egg, melted butter, vanilla extract, and juice from apple mix reserved in step #2). Pour the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients and stir well just enough to combine.


4. Pour the cake batter into the buttered skillet. Pour the marinated apple wedges all over the batter.


5. Bake the cake for 50-60 minutes until the top is golden brown and cake tester inserted into the center of the cake comes out clean.


6. When the cake is baked, take it out from the oven and let it rest for at least 20 minutes before slicing. If you want, top the cake with powdered sugar and enjoy with a scoop of vanilla ice cream or whip cream.



Enjoy~