It should be known that Fall is my favorite season. As a lifelong vegetarian, I have never even had Thanksgiving turkey, but yet I still crave fall food with a hunger no carnivore can match. I start thinking about Fall food as soon as August 1st rolls around. In particular, any dessert that contains pumpkin, apple or ginger. This delicious Apple Walnut loaf cake is my favorite!
2 cups all-purpose flour
1 1/2 tsp baking soda
2 eggs
1 1/2 sticks salted butter, melted and cooled*
1 cup sugar
3 large apples, peeled and sliced**
2 tsp cinnamon
1/2 cup chopped walnuts
1 tsp vanilla extract
Pre-heat oven to 350 degrees.
Sift together the flour, cinnamon and baking soda. In a separate bowl, mix the butter, sugar, eggs, and vanilla until well incorporated. Stir in apple slices. Add the flour mixture all at once and mix until JUST COMBINED. The biggest mistake people make with muffins and loaf cake are overmixing. If you need the science behind this, I suggest watching Alton Brown’s episode on blueberry muffins. There is no need to remove lumps or even use an electric mixer. Fold in walnuts. Pour batter into a well-greased non-stick 5×9 loaf pan. Bake for 1hr 15 minutes, or until a toothpick comes out clean.
*If you would like this parve, you can substitute with vegetable oil.
**Any apples are fine – I usually pick Fuji or Gala. I have a special technique for cutting my apples for this bread. After peeling the apples, I use the vegetable peeler to cut thin slices of apple. I find that this lets the apples naturally dissolve into the batter and saves you the potential nicking of a finger.