Apple Cake with Walnut Streusel Topping + Banana Chocolate Chip Cake with Streusel Topping

     I have posted a lot of cake-like things on the blog over time and to be honest guys, it is because I absolutely love to have tea cakes, frosted cakes, snacking cakes, cupcakes, muffins, (insert any cake substance here) around. I find them to be one of the most enjoyable treats and some of the most relaxing things for me to make. I enjoy the process and the end results. Teacakes can be a wonderful thing, but sometime they are so simple it seems like just a wah-wah type item. However, once you have a truly delicious base for your teacake, it will change your mind on that completely. 

       This base is perfect! My favorite part is the really unique combination of dairy in it that produces the richest, creamiest and lightest of batters. It is to die for! Part buttermilk, stirred in and part whipped cream, folded in is apparently the key to blissful creaminess.  Plus the cake is made with canola oil instead of butter so the creaminess from the whipping cream shines through since butter is not overpowering anything. It totally transformed my expectations of banana bread a few months ago and now I have adapted it to other flavors. 

     It is delicious enough, that I trusted this simple apple cake to be a shine when I brought it in to a bakery I interviewed with last week. This is a position I have been thinking about all weekend because although I wanted it before I talked to one of the owners, the interview made me unbelievably excited for it. I am trusting this cake, and doing dances to the baking gods in hopeful wishing right now. Maybe if you make it and do a little dance next to your oven, it just might help my cause along the way!

Adapted from Shirley O. Corriher's Banana Bread in "BakeWise"

Makes one 9x5 or 10x4 loaf pan and 3 jumbo muffins or 6 standard muffins

Notes: You can also use bananas and chocolate chips or nuts (2 C mashed bananas-about 5 medium +1 C chocolate chips/nuts). Just fold them in instead of the apples in step 4. I made a double batch here, which yielded two loaves and 6 jumbo muffins. I followed the same method until the add-ins. One was apple with walnut streusel and the other was banana chocolate chip with plain streusel. You can also wrap the muffins and slice the bread and wrap it tightly in plastic wrap and they will last wonderfully in the freezer.

Cake

1 3/4 C sifted all-purpose flour

3/4 TSP baking powder-altitude (1 TSP at sea level)

1/4 TSP baking soda

1/2 TSP salt

1 1/2 C sugar

1/2 C canola oil

1 TSP vanilla extract

2 large eggs

1/2 C buttermilk

2 medium granny smith apples, pealed and diced* (see notes)

1/2 heavy cream

Topping

3/4 C walnuts

1 TBSP butter

1/4 TSP salt

1/2 C all-purpose flour

2 TBSP + 1TSP granulated sugar

3 TBSP brown sugar

1 TSP ground cinnamon

6 TBSP (3/4 stick) unsalted butter, softened

Cake

1. Preheat the oven to 350 F, and butter and flour your loaf pans and muffin tins.

2. Whisk together the flour, baking soda, powder, and salt in a medium bowl. 

3. In a larger bowl, mix together the oil and sugar until combined. Next mix in the extract, eggs, and buttermilk until everything is combined. 

4. Add the dry ingredients to the wet and making large stirs, combine the two with as few strokes as possible. Once almost all of the flour is incorporated, fold in the apple pieces.

5. In a small bowl, beat the whipping cream to medium-stiff peaks and then add a small amount to the batter and gentle fold that in using large sweeping motions around the edges. Add the rest of the whipped cream and repeat. Your goal it to keep the air in the whipped cream and not collapse it so gently folding it in is key. 

6. Divide the batter into the prepared pans and muffin tins.

Topping

7. Toast the walnuts on a sheet tray at 350 for 3-5 minutes until you can smell the nutty-ness and they are just beginning to brown. Pull them from the oven, transfer them to a bowl and toss them with the 1/4 TSP salt and 1 TBSP butter. Set aside to cool.

8. In a small bowl, whisk together the sugars, flour, and cinnamon. Using a pastry cutter, of your fingers incorporate the butter, until it is homogenous and crumbly. 

9. Sprinkle the streusel over the loaf and muffins, followed by the walnut pieces. 

10. Place the loaf and muffins in the oven and bake the muffins for 25-30 minutes, until an inserted skewer comes out clean (rotate half way through). Continue to bake the loaf for an additional 15-25 minutes until the skewer comes out clean (rotate when you pull the muffins).

11. Allow both things to cool for about 20 minutes before inverting them! Enjoy.

Love,

Boulder Butter

Buttered Bourbon Apple Pie

 A Tale of Fall: 
      Last week, my boyfriend and I were sitting on swings at Sloan's Lake, a favorite spot of mine in the Denver area, when he explained what he thought of fall colors. He said it was like the final ball before winter. The trees know the end of their season is coming, so they all adorn their most beautiful attire and nature is in one big celebration. I like that a lot. I am through and through an autumn person when it comes down to it and I particularly love October.

     The excitement of the holidays is on the horizon, but its still low key. I love fall festivals, pumpkins on people's porches, and little kids planning their costumes. I love the first warm soup of the season, getting to wear the new sweater my sister knitted me for graduation, and most particularly, I love the way the world looks.

       So the other day, I decided it was time for a fall photo tour of my neighborhood. I really enjoy getting to walk around and observe nature. Taking it in on a conscious level is a practice in my daily life that brings me peace. However, some days I find trying to see and focus on it in unusual ways is equally important. I like to focus on the individual aspects and colors while working to absorb the uniqueness of nature. In fall, the practice of appreciation of the outdoors becomes extra special for me. So right now, these are some sights I am grateful for.

      I am also grateful for some things back indoors right now too though. One of which is the increased amount of pie I get to justify making (and by making, really I mean eating). Let's all be honest, a buttery, flakey crust surrounding anything makes it taste better. However, it tastes especially better when it surrounds tart, buttery, bourbon cooked apples. This pie guys is a perfect compliment of buttery crust, buttery insides and tart delicious apples. The crust is flakey and golden, not to hard to work with and beautiful. You can see the layers when you look at the pie pieces on top as you pull it out of the oven. Believe me, your eyes and nose will quickly remind you that you just got really hungry. The butter flavor is warm and smile inducing. The filling is tart and oh so perfectly apple happy. The light flavor of bourbon comes through to add a gentle dark caramelized, woody flavor to the apples. The spices enhance the flavors, but are gentle enough again that they really only make the apples shine that much more rather than steal the show. This ladies and gentlemen, is a true buttery apple pie, ready to highlight the season's most beloved fruit. It is time to celebrate with the trees in the final ball by using the bounty they give us in the most delicious way. 

Apple Filling: 
1 double pie crust*
    I made a double batch King Arthur's Favorite Pie Crust. 
    HIGHLY Recommended-so flakey and easy to work with. 
8 small granny smith apples, pealed, cut and thinly sliced (6 large)
4 TBSP all-purpose flour, divided
1/2 TSP nutmeg
1 TSP cinnamon
4 TBSP unsalted butter
1/3 C sugar
2 TBSP heavy cream+1 TBSP (for brushing the crust)
3-4 TBSP bourbon 
1 TSP vanilla extract
1/4 TSP salt

Instructions:

1. In a medium bowl, combined prepared apples, 2 TBSP flour, nutmeg and cinnamon. Stir until all the flour is dissolved. 
--My apples were from a friend who had already prepared them for apple pie and frozen them. Therefore when I defrosted them, they already had a significant amount of moisture to work the flour in. If needed, add one less TBSP of bourbon directly into the pan and add it to the apples first.

2. In a saucepan, melt butter, and then add the sugar. Stir around and let cook for 2-3 minutes until sugar. Then add the heavy cream, bourbon, vanilla, and salt. Stir together and let the mixture continue to cook.

3. Once the mixture has translucent bubbles, and has thickened, pour the liquid over apples in the mixing bowl and stir to coat. 

4. Next pour the apple and mixture all back into the pan and add 2 TBSP of flour. Mix together to thicken, and then bring the mixture to a gentle simmer to allow the liquid to reduce. 

5. Once very little liquid is left, the mixture is thickened, pour it all back into the large mixing bowl and allow it to cool completely.
6. When the apple mixture is cooled and your pie crust is made and rested, you are ready to bake. Preheat the oven to 400F and place the rack on a middle shelf.

7. Roll out the base dough of the crust and invert it into a greased pie dish. Place the filled pan in the fridge and get out the second half of dough. 
8. Roll out the second half in the same fashion, then using a cookie cutter, cut out as many shapes as you can from the dough.

9. Working quickly, remove the base from the fridge and fill it with the cooled apple mixture.  

10. Lay the dough cut outs around the edge of the pie and work in circles moving inward until the top is covered. It is good to have small gaps as these allow the steam to vent through the crust. 
11. Brush the crush with a light coating of heavy cream. 
12.  Place the pie into the oven and cook at 400F for 20 minutes. When that is done, do not open the oven, simply lower the temperature to 375 F and continue baking for 55-65 minutes, until the top has lightly browned and the insides are bubbling up between the cracks. 

13. Remove from the oven, allowing the pie to cool for 3 hours. This will give the filling time to finish setting and ensure the inside does not run when you cut into the pie. 

14. Reheat if desired, top with whipped cream or ice cream, and dig in to the flaky, apple filled, butter-laden goodness you have created!