As a child, I looked forward to Tuesday nights when my mother had her card game at our home. A variety of coffee and teacakes sat on the buffet table, along with a beautiful tray of sliced fruit. Needless to say, I would gravitate toward the sweet cakes scented with chocolate, cinnamon, walnuts, apples or pears. My favorite was the spiced streusel cake.
This recipe is the taste memory of that cake. My mom was not a cook at all, so all of our desserts came from local bakeries. That meant I had to develop each recipe I liked from scratch. I worked on this for quite awhile to achieve a moist crumb cake layered with cinnamon and nut streusel. The apple nuggets and spicy, sweet crystalized ginger gems hidden inside are a welcome surprise. The sweetened ginger punches up the apple spice batter and adds a zing.
Topped with a golden crispy streusel, this is a perfect brunch coffeecake that will adapt to whatever menu you’re serving. It is also good for breakfast, afternoon tea or a light dessert after dinner. I prefer to bake it in a bundt pan because it cooks more evenly and has a pretty presentation, but a 9-by-13-inch baking dish can be used.
Helpful tips:
• Look for crystalized ginger in specialty food stores, at Trader Joe’s or in the spice or bakery section of the market.
• Use pears instead of apples.
• Use pecans or almonds instead of walnuts.
• Use baking spray that includes both oil and flour to butter and flour the pan.
Ginger Apple Streusel Cake
Serves 10 to 12
Streusel:
1/2 cup brown sugar
1 teaspoon ground ginger
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 cup all purpose flour
1/4 cup cold unsalted butter, cut into small pieces
1/2 cup finely chopped walnuts
Cake:
2 1/4 cups all purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
3/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 cup finely chopped crystallized ginger
8 tablespoons (1/2 cup) unsalted butter, room temperature
3/4 cup firmly packed dark-brown sugar
1/2 cup sugar
3 large eggs
1 large apple, (Granny Smith or Golden Delicious), peeled, cored and roughly chopped
1 1/4 cups buttermilk, mixed with 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
Powdered sugar, for dusting
Directions:
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Butter and flour a 10-cup bundt pan or a 9-by-13-inch baking dish and set aside.
Make the streusel: In a medium bowl, combine the brown sugar, ginger, cinnamon, flour and butter, and cut together with two knives, your fingers or a pastry blender until the mixture resembles large bread crumbs. Mix in the walnuts, and set aside in the refrigerator until ready to use.
Prepare the cake: Sift together the flour, ginger, cinnamon, nutmeg, baking powder, baking soda and salt into a medium bowl. Stir in the crystallized ginger and set aside.
In a large mixing bowl, beat the butter with an electric mixer until light and fluffy. Gradually add the sugars, continuing to beat until very light. Add the eggs one at a time, beating well before adding the next. (Don’t overbeat, or the cake will be tough.) Gently stir in the chopped apples. With the mixer on low speed, alternately beat in the flour mixture and the buttermilk, beating until the batter is just mixed.
Spoon half of the batter into the pan, and sprinkle with 1/3 of the streusel. Spoon on the remaining batter, and smooth out to an even layer. Sprinkle the remaining streusel evenly on top. Pat it down gently.
Bake until the top of the cake is firm and the streusel is crisp and golden brown, (a skewer inserted into the center of the cake should come out clean), about 40 to 45 minutes. Cool for 15 minutes in the pan on a wire rack. If using a bundt pan, invert the cake onto a wire rack, and then invert it back onto a serving platter so that the streusel side is on top. Dust with powdered sugar and serve warm.
Advance preparation: Can be prepared up to 1 day ahead, covered and kept at room temperature.
Diane Rossen Worthington is an authority on new American cooking. She is the author of 18 cookbooks, including Seriously Simple Parties, and is a James Beard Award-winning radio-show host. Contact her at www.seriouslysimple.com.