Apple Fancy Cake

Whoever said that we bloggers had to be cool? Receiving a reward, "it's so nice of you". Hitting 50 comments, "Oooh thank you". And baking an awesome cake, "it wasn't easy but i did it". That's like pasting wings and a halo on a bull making it fly, singing "red bull gives you wiiiiiiiings". I'm the furthest person from cool.

You see, when i receive a reward, i dance my victory dance! And when i hit 50 comments, I sing my victory song! Oh and when I bake a pretty cake, I parade with it, wearing it on my head because it was hell of a hardwork! Well, that's the truth, folks... ok... My victory song and dance may have been the Hippo and Dog song... (weeeeeeeeeeee...we-um-um-um-a-weh) eherm*. But oh sweet mother of everything victorious, I'm never "cool" when hearing news!

So, I took the liberty of this awesome cake to ask for votes:
Pineapple Upside-down cake VS Apple etc etc etc cake, aka Apple Fancy Cake.
This does not mean I don't love pineapples, I love them. But this apple cake, oh boy, ooohhhh bu-oy..

Apple Fancy Cake

Chunky apples and cream cheese in a moist coffee and rum cake. The apples caramelized, with a hint of cinnamon and cooked to gooey perfection. The cake, light, moist but with rum. And for the final kick in the pants, cubes of Cream Cheese combining all the flavors together.


Topping
350 g apples (sliced in big chunks)
45 g butter
3 g cinnamon powder
80 g demerara / brown / palm sugar (or molasses)
90 g cream cheese (in big chunks)
Coffee cake
200 g all-purpose flour
3 g cinnamon powder
9 g baking powder
2 g salt
100 g butter
120 g sugar
2 eggs
3 ml coffee emulsion*
30 ml rum
60 ml brewed coffee
60 ml milk
1. Preheat oven to 350F or 175C. Combine all topping ingredients (except cream cheese) and cook over a medium heat until apple softens. Excess caramel mixture will be poured into the cake batter. Put aside.
2. Sift together flour, cinnamon, baking powder and salt. In another bowl, combine coffee, milk, rum, emulsion and the excess caramel.
3. Cream butter 'til soft. Add sugar and mix on high until fluffy. Add eggs one at a time, mixing well. The batter should be fluffy and not gritty.
4. To the creamed butter add half of the dry ingredients. Mix. Add the wet ingredients. Mix. Pour in the remaining dry ingredients. Mix just until incorporated
5. Into a preferred pan, pour the batter and top with apples. Press down chunks of cream cheese into the batter randomly. As the cake bakes, the batter will rise covering and above the toppings.
6. Bake the cake for 40 - 45 minutes or until a skewer inserted comes out clean. Depending on the type of sugar used, palm and molasses will take additional 5 minutes of baking time.
7. Take pan out of the oven, let rest for 15 minutes before lifting or turning the cake. Brush rather generously with Rum or coffee or cinnamon sugar water. Let rest overnight for all the flavors to soak in.

Indeed, this Apple Fancy cake breaks rules of simplicity and tradition. It sounds so overly intricate with thousands of flavors, too much to catch up. But dear oh dear, after a bite, it all comes together. The warmth of winter with rum and cheese, sleepy mornings with coffee and cinnamon, then, apples for those quaint afternoons we miss. What more can I say.

So, vote: Pineapple Upside-down cake VS Apple Fancy Cake. Pick one!

Jes