Ellie's Jewish Apple Cake

Ashkenazi Jewish (Eastern Europe / Western Russia)

Submitted by the family of Jacob Goldberg, Bigelow class of 2019

Our Story

Every year on Yom Kippur, Jacob's grandparents would host a potluck after the day of fasting (the meal is called a "break fast"). Of all the delicious food their friends would bring, Eleanor Besser's apple cake was one of our favorites. I have wonderful memories of those meals - the joy and relief of being able to eat again, finding a place to sit with a full plate on my lap, the buzz of conversations, the smell of coffee. They hosted the break fast for over 25 years, until just a few years before Jacob's Grandma Jean died. Mrs. Besser has also since died. This cake always reminds me of them.

Jenn Goldberg (mom)

Ingredients

4 cups apples, cut into chunks

1/2 cup sugar

4 tsp cinnamon

3 cups flour (unsifted)

2 cups sugar

1 tsp salt

3 tsp baking powder

4 eggs

1 cup of oil (canola or vegetable)

1/4 cup orange juice

1 Tbsp vanilla

Recipe Instructions

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease a tube pan.

Mix the sugar and cinnamon together and pour over the apples; set aside.

Blend the flour, sugar, salt and baking powder together and then add the eggs, oil orange juice and vanilla. Mix together until smooth. The batter will be thick.

Pour half the batter into the pan; use a spatula to spread if necessary.

Cover with half of apple mixture. Pour in balance of batter and cover

with balance of apple mixture. Bake for 1 1/2 hours or until toothpick comes out dry.

Notes:

* I normally use Granny Smith apples but you can use any hard, tart apple.

* Sometimes there's a liquid that collects in the bowl of the apple

mixture. Leave that out of the cake; just put in the apples.

* The cake can also be made in a rectangular, disposable aluminum pan. In that case you may only get one layer of batter and apples; just push the apples down into the batter.

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