Going Dutch

The number of recipes that arrive in my inbox each week is astronomical. I can barely keep up with the various newsletters and one-offs, but I try to skim them all and weed out those with the most potential. I probably file away at least half a dozen a week with good intentions to give them a shot, but more often than not they disappear into the abyss of that folder labeled "Recipes."

Every so often, however, I come across an email with a recipe I have to make immediately. And for reasons I can't quite explain, this Dutch Apple Cake was one of them.

I first made this cake about a year ago when I saw the recipe in an email from Taste of Home. I'm a sucker for anything involving apples, but I'm sometimes skeptical of those Taste of Home recipes ... perhaps America's housewives have different taste than we do, but their dishes don't always fare well in my home. This was certainly the exception!

I'm in love with this cake because it's super moist, and apple-icious. It's also super dense and egg-y, resembling something closer to bread pudding than cake. I've made it multiple times now, and it's consistently amazing (and it makes a great gift ... this is the treat I left for the owner of the cottage we rented in the Hamptons and she loved it!).

Dutch Apple Cake
Ingredients:

3 medium tart apples, peeled and sliced

3 tablespoons plus 1 cup sugar, divided

1 teaspoon cinnamon

2/3 cup butter, softened

4 eggs

1 teaspoon vanilla

2 cups flour

1/8 teaspoon salt

Directions:
Preheat oven to 300 degrees. In a large bowl, combine apples, 3 tablespoons sugar and cinnamon. Set aside.

In a separate bowl, beat butter and remaining sugar until light and fluffy. Add eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition. Add vanilla. Combine flour and salt and gradually add to butter mixture. Beat until smooth. Fold in apples and transfer batter to greased loaf pan. 

Bake 1 to 1 1/2 hours or until toothpick inserted near center comes out clean. Cool in pan 10 minutes, then transfer loaf to wire rack.