Apple Tea Cake
Apple Tea Cake
By: Samantha Musil
Yields 1 (10 inch) cake
The cake is spectacularly moist and will keep for several days. Enjoy with a dollop of whipped cream or scoop of vanilla ice cream on the side, for a more decadent treat.
Tea
- 1 cup water
- 3 tablespoons STEAP’s Spiced Apple tea leaves**
Cake Ingredients:
- 3/4 cup of brewed tea
- 3/4 cup Applesauce
- 2 cups granulated sugar
- 2 sticks cold, unsalted butter*
- 2 eggs
- 2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
- 1½ teaspoons cinnamon
- ¼ teaspoon ground ginger
- ¼ teaspoon ground nutmeg
- ½ teaspoon fine sea salt
- 1 1/4 - 1 1/2 cups peeled dessert apples, thinly sliced and roughly chopped into small pieces
Pecan topping:
- 1/3 cup packed light brown sugar
- 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- 2/3 cup coarsely chopped, lightly toasted pecans
- 5 tablespoons cold, unsalted butter,* cut into 5 pieces
Prep
- Chop pecans and lightly roast in a skillet on the stovetop. Set aside for later.
- Lightly grease or spray a 10-inch springform cake pan.
- Brew Tea: Measure 3 tablespoons of tea leaves into a brewing vessel. Using an electric kettle or stove, heat 1 cup water to 200F. Pour over tea leaves and steep for 5 minutes. Strain. This yields approximately 3/4 cup of brewed tea. Stir in 3/4 cup applesauce.
- Preheat the oven to 325°F.
Batter
- In a medium bowl, sift together flour and baking powder. Add cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg, and salt. Combine well and set aside.
- Using an electric mixer, cream the butter and sugar. Take care not to over mix, it should be very stiff. Beat in the eggs, one at a time, just until smooth.
- Alternately add the dry ingredients and tea/applesauce mixture, starting and ending with the dry ingredients. Add ⅓ of the dry mixture, mix until just incorporated. Add ½ the tea/applesauce mix, again mixing just until incorporated. Scrap the sides of the bowl as needed. Continue on using all of both mixtures. Mix until the batter is smooth, taking care not to over mix.
- Gently fold in the apples by hand. Spread the batter into the prepared pan.
Finish Topping
- Combine the roasted pecans, brown sugar, and cinnamon.
- Add the butter pieces, “cutting” them into the mixture with a fork. Or use your hands. The topping should be crumbly.
- Crumble the pecan topping evenly over the batter. It will not fully cover the cake.
Bake for 80 to 90 minutes until firm and a tester comes out moist but clean. Serve warm or at room temperature.
NOTES:
* If using salted butter, do not add salt to the batter.
** You could use any strongly brewed black or rooibos tea. Nilgiri, Ceylon, or Rooibos would work. If choose something flavored or blended, be sure to select complimentary flavors.
Samantha's Tips
I used one extremely large apple, roughly 1 1/3 cups.
I used Parchment paper on the bottom of the springform pan instead of greasing it.
I baked it for 95 minutes.
