Danish Apple Cake

Danish Apple Cake

Ingredients-

{Cake}

¼ cup butter

1 cup sugar

1 egg, beaten

1 tsp vanilla extract

1 ½ cups all-purpose flour

1 tsp baking soda

1 tsp cinnamon

2 cups apples, peeled and grated

{Topping}

¼ cup sugar

1 tsp cinnamon

½ cup nuts, chopped

Directions-

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Grease 9x9 inch baking pan.

2. Cream butter and sugar together in mixing bowl. Add egg and vanilla, beating well. Add flour, baking soda, and cinnamon, and blend well. Add grated apples and beat well by hand. Pour cake batter into prepared baking pan.

3. Combine all topping ingredients and sprinkle evenly on top of cake batter. Bake at 350 degrees F for 40 minutes.

4. Remove cake from oven, and let cool. Cut 3 rows horizontal and 3 rows vertical (yielding 9 servings).

            Danish apple cake, which was originally created in Denmark, is now very popular all over Europe, America, and several other areas in the world. In the Danish language, this cake is known as “Aeblekage”. I chose this apple cake because it’s my mom’s birthday today, and apple desserts are one of her favorite treats – mine too, especially after tasting one this delicious!

            I found this recipe at the website: http://www.food.com/recipe/easy-danish-apple-cake-426636. This cake was probably the easiest recipe of all the desserts I’ve made for this blog. I had all the ingredients on hand, and the directions were really simple and easy to follow. The only thing I was a little worried about was how stiff, and hard to mix, the batter was before the apples were added. But, the grated apples were very juicy, so that added a lot of moisture into the batter, and therefore made it much easier to stir everything all together. Before I put the cake in the oven, I had to sprinkle the topping on. The nuts I chose for the topping were a mixture of chopped walnuts and chopped pecans. I also ended up using an 8x8 pan instead of a 9x9 one. I thought the time spent in the oven might go down a little, so I checked the cake at 30 minutes, instead of 40. It wasn’t done, and checked it again after five more minutes and it still wasn’t fully done. I figured out that the time between an 8x8 and a 9x9 pan is the same; 40 minutes. As the cake was baking in the oven, the whole house gradually began to smell of a delicious apple and cinnamon aroma.

            After the cake had cooled, I tried a piece and, wow. It is seriously one of the best apple desserts I have ever had. It was very moist, with a crunchy topping and a great, naturally sweet taste. The nuts and cinnamon really added to the topping, and I couldn’t stop eating it! I had about three pieces before I forced myself to sit down and write this blog. My mom, and the rest of my family, loved it! I definitely recommend this dessert, and I know that I will be making this again in the near future.