Ginger Skillet Apple Cake

It’s probably been 4 weeks since that time I posted on Facebook that I was making a Ginger Skillet Apple Cake in order to let apples have their 15 minutes of fame.

That cake was not for slicing and photographing. The trouble with blogging about cake is that you never want to through the effort of the photoshoot before you know it actually tastes good, but you can’t go cutting into it and eating some before you actually shoot it. That cake was for bringing over to a friend’s house, to see if it passed the test. And once it did, I set out to make another. Blogging about cake always involves making at least two cakes.

Not that anyone around here really minded. This moist, tender cake with juicy apples and dark fall spices was nothing to turn away, mid-afternoon or after-dinner for a treat. With a simple mix of hearty, gluten-free flours it’s easy to throw together and something everyone will like. (I promise, I didn’t hear anything from the gluten-eaters but, “more, please!”) And because it’s free of refined sugar and flours, you can even go ahead and convince yourself it’s “not so bad.”

Things happened, and I didn’t get this post up in quite the short amount of time I wanted to. Hopefully apples are still enjoying center stage in your home. They definitely are here, where a certain little someone has started to beg for “app-uh” at snack time.

And not only did I have to make a second cake, I also needed to make a second batch of this sin-less cinnamon ice cream. Let’s just say, it pushes it over the top, as ice cream tends to do for cake. This one got raves all around, from dairy-eaters and non-dairy-eaters alike. I’m toying with sharing it as an exclusive feature on another venue – Facebook, Instagram, Google +? What do you think?

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Ginger Skillet Apple Cake

Yield: 10 servings

A moist and tender dark cake baked with molasses and spices, topped with fresh fall apples to welcome fall.

Ingredients:

3/4 cup blanched almond flour
3/4 cup buckwheat flour
3/4 cup potato starch or arrowroot starch
1 teaspoon salt
1 1/2 teaspoons ground ginger
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1/4 teaspoon ground cloves
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 cup boiling water or brewed chai tea
1/2 cup coconut oil, melted and cooled, plus extra for greasing skillet
1/4 cup applesauce
1/2 cup coconut sugar
1/4 cup molasses
1/2 cup almond milk "buttermilk"*
1 tablespoons grated fresh ginger
1 large egg
2 medium apples, peeled, cored and thinly sliced

*Add 1/2 tablespoon cider vinegar to a measuring cup and add enough almond milk to reach 1/2 cup. Set aside for 5-10 minutes.

Directions:

Preheat oven to 325ºF and grease a 12" cast iron skillet with coconut oil.

In a medium bowl, whisk together almond flour, buckwheat flour, potato starch, salt, ground ginger, cinnamon, nutmeg and cloves.

Dissolve the baking soda in the boiling water or tea.

In the bowl of a stand mixer, combine coconut oil, applesauce, coconut sugar, molasses, buttermilk, ginger and egg. Beat on medium speed until well combined. Reduce speed to low and add half of the flour mixture. Add baking soda mixture, then remaining flour mixture.

Pour the batter into the greased skillet. Lay apples on top of cake batter in concentric circles. Bake for 50-60 minutes, until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.

Cool completely before serving.

Cara Lyons, www.carascravings.com, adapted from Farmers' Market Desserts