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

English Muffins

       Everyone knows breakfast is the most important meals of the day. It is bad for our body to skip it as it places extra stress on our blood sugar, metabolism and cognitive abilities. I want to talk care of my body, nourish it and ensure it's working at a comfortable state. Therefore, I eat breakfast. However, that is hardly the reason I really commit to eating breakfast. On the inside truth: I will never skip breakfast, because it's honestly the most delicious meal of the day. A few of my favorites are of course eggs, cheese, veggies, fruit, pastries, oatmeal, hashes, waffles, oh my! But none of these things hold a stomach pleading-grumble to the almighty toast.

       Warm, spread thick with butter, then top with a fried egg, or better yet a gooey layer of jam. Bread is a comfort to the soul. Seriously, the smell of toast has been proven to calm a stressed mind! I practically insist on eating toast or warm bread every day. Today we don't even have just plain bread (which honestly, is alone still happiness for me) but english muffins. Oh God, english muffins make my heart melt as much as they do the butter I put on them right off the griddle.

      Nooks and crannies! You cannot beat nooks in crannies in breakfast potential. My personal favorite is an english muffin, with just browned edges and peaks; butter melting deep into the pockets, slathered with honey, and served with a glass of milk. When your teeth bite into that and you have a satisfying crunch and the warm sinks into you, you know no matter what, life is ok and the day started well.

      If sweet is not your thing in the morning, I dare you to turn down a english muffin you just took off the griddle, broken open with your fork along the soft middle, topped with a slice of cheddar melting from the warmth, and a poached egg, sprinkled with pepper plopped on top. When that yolk breaks and you use the edges to swipe up the running goo, you savory breakfast lovers, will also know life is good and the day started well. So good morning, I know you want an english muffin now.

Barely adapted from "The Boston Cooking School Cookbook" by Fannie Farmer

Ingredients:
1/2 C scalded milk
1 C water
1 TSP salt
1 TSP sugar
1 packet of active dry yeast (.25 oz)
1 TBSP water (to dissolve yeast)
3 TBSP unsalted butter, room temperature, in small chunks
4 C bread flour

Instructions: 

1. Scald milk and then allow it to cool to lukewarm.
2. Dissolve the yeast packet in 1 TBSP of lukewarm water, until it begins to become very fragrant and slightly bubble.
3. Stir in the water, salt, sugar, and dissolved yeast to the milk.

4. Add 2 C of the flour, using a paddle attachment (if working on a stand mixer) beat well until combined. This is a sticky dough.

5. Remove the bowl from the mixer, cover with plastic wrap and let the dough rest until it doubles in volume. 

6. Place the bowl back on the stand mixer and add in the butter and two more cups of flour. Using the kneading attachment, knead the dough until it comes together in a ball with a smooth surface (make sure all the butter is incorporated).
7. Covering the bowl again with plastic wrap, allow it to once again double in volume. Then gently "punch it down" to remove air pockets. Cover once again, and allow it to rise again.

8. Remove the dough from the bowl, and using a rolling pin, roll it out to 3/4" to about the size of a 9x13 rectangular pan. Let the dough rest for a final rise of 30 minutes (again, cover with plastic wrap to avoid spots drying out). 

9. Cut the muffins out with a 2-3" ring mold. 

10. In a hot buttered skillet, place the muffins down, on low-medium heat, cooking for about 6-8 minutes and flipping back and forth every few minutes. 
11. Remove from the skillet and muffins to cool slightly. Puncture through with a fork and indulge in buttery, delicious goodness.