Whole Wheat Apple Cake

A whole wheat apple cake that's moist and choke-full of apples.  I love making easy cake like this because it's flavorful and light enough for after weekdays after dinner desserts.  We eat it for breakfast, of course, because the recipe said that it was for that time of day :)

Any apples will do for this cake, I had some homegrown Fuji and Gala that I used.  It's a recipe that uses spices that are so wonderful this time of year.  The house smells so fragrant while I baked this cake.

The cake is slightly darker here because I didn't cover it after 45 minutes of baking.  Oops...it's something that I missed, as usual, for not reading too carefully towards the end.  The color is pretty dark on top but the inside is still moist. 

So here is the recipe for your enjoyment!

Whole Wheat Apple Cake

Makes 1 9-inch cake


3 apples, Granny Smith, peeled, cored, and cut into 1/2-inch pieces
3/4 cup packed light brown sugar
2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
Pinch of ground cloves
1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
1 1/4 cups whole wheat flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
10 tablespoons (1 1/4 stick) unsalted butter, room temperature, plus more for pan
1 cup granulated sugar
3 large eggs
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1 1/4 cups plain whole-milk yogurt


Preheat oven to 350 degree F.  In a medium bowl, combine apples, 1/2 cup light-brown sugar, cinnamon, and cloves; set aside.  Sift together the flours, baking soda, baking powder, and salt into a medium bowl; set aside.  Butter a 9-inch springform pan.

In the bowl of an electric mixer, cream butter and granulated sugar until light and fluffy, about 4 minutes.  Add eggs, one at a time, until well combined.  Add vanilla extract, and combine.  Add reserved flour mixture and yogurt; stir until well combined.  Fold in two-thirds of the reserved apple mixture.

Spoon half of the batter into prepared pan.  Sprinkle remaining apple mixture evenly over batter.  Top with remaining batter; smooth with a spatula.  Sprinkle top with remaining 1/4 cup brown sugar.

Bake cake until golden brown and a cake tester inserted in center comes out clean, 1 hour 10 minutes to 1 hour 20 minutes.  Cover with foil after 45 minutes of baking.  Let cool 20 minutes before releasing cake from the pan.


Source:  adapted from The Martha Stewart Living Christmas Cookbook

A study in contrast

There was a Marie Claire magazine to read and there was a plate of tape uli ketan hitam to savor.  Marie Claire guided my eyes toward the girlie things in life; clothes, shoes, accessories, all things that are fluid in life.  They keep changing each season.

Tape uli ketan hitam moved me in a different direction.  This was something that was so old and constant; I cannot reinvent it in different way.  Change the way it is made, it will not be tape ketan hitam and uli anymore.

Tape ketan hitam (tah-peh k'tan hee-tum) is fermented sweet glutinous black  rice.  The process of fermentation started with mixing and inoculating crushed sweet yeast into partially cooked sweet glutinous black rice, which then left to ferment in a covered bowl in 30 degree C for 1-3 days.  Sugar is commonly added as well as to make it somewhat sweeter.  There is a small amount of alcohol present in the final product, and how much it is will depend on the duration of the fermentation.  To stop the fermentation process, it is kept in the refrigerator.

Uli (oo-lee) is made by cooking sweet glutinous rice with coconut milk and salt, which then is mixed with grated coconut and shaped into a rectangular- or oblong-shape portion.  It is generally wrapped in banana leaves.

To understand why these two are still made and eaten up to this point in my life is to understand that I grew up in Jakarta, Indonesia and this was what I grew accustomed to eat, my parents and their parents ate this as well.  There is still part of me that will not change, I live my life according to past recollections.