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It is a truth universally acknowledged, that… once you buy apples at the Gravenstein Apple Fair, cake baking should follow. And so it did. Not only did I bake my family’s favorite apple cake (a well known recipe around Italy) in its original version, but also in an upside down one.
Both version are equally delicious, and I only have a slight preference for one. Most of all, even in two versions, this recipe is really easy, and the resulting cake is intensely good and satisfying, especially eaten with a side of good vanilla ice cream.
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I just had to open with that line, I am not sure why, but that is what popped insistently into my head when I sat down to write this blog post. Maybe because a friend has recently started reading Pride and Prejudice for the first time (she is not sure she likes it). I am sure they had apple cakes at the Bennet’s table. Maybe even with a side of ice cream!
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Now, about ice cream…
I know there is an obsession with gelato, but as an Italian that is getting frustrated over what is called gelato outside of Italy, let me clear something up. That divine, creamy deliciousness called gelato that everyone obsesses over (with good reason) once they have had the real thing is only available in artisanal Italian gelaterie (ice cream parlors) in Italy. If it makes you feel better, even in Italy, ice cream that is bought from the freezer section at the grocery store is just like the good, creamy ice creams you buy in grocery stores right here in the U.S. – and likely anywhere else.
In the past few years, I have been sampling various brands of so-called gelato, and I am finding that, in an attempt to imitate that inimitable glorious creaminess of freshly-made gelato, manufacturers are going overboard with adding weird stuff and turning an otherwise good ice cream into something that, to my Italian palate, has a very unpleasant texture, and that I have tossed into the trash more than once.
My suggestion to you: just buy a good quality basic ice cream without any particular claims and enjoy. Anything that says organic and that lists very few basic ingredients (around five) is usually a good choice. Recently, my favorite ice cream brands available in American grocery stores are:
1. Alden’s Organic (they have 3 versions of Vanilla)
2. Alec’s (also organic). Their Tahitian Vanilla is heavenly!
3. 365 brand by Whole Foods
All of these are delicious and creamy and don’t feature a list of ingredients as long as your arm.
Of course, now I will have to go downstairs and have a slice of apple cake with ice cream to relieve the sweltering heat of this over-the-top hot summer day.
This double recipe has become part of my Curated Recipes collection and is available for purchase as a beautifully designed, downloadable PDF file – in either English or Italian – at the links below.
Thank you for supporting this blog and happy baking!
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If you are interested in more cake recipes, you can find them here:
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O. M. G.olly….;-)
Either of these sound wonderful!
Back in the mid ’80s, I used to make a spiced apple-almond cake from a recipe that I found in a Hellmann’s Mayonaise add in a Southern Living Magazine. Through the years and a couple of moves, I lost track of the recipe and tried to get a copy by contacting both Southern Living Magazine and Hellmann Company…neither could recall the recipe 🙁
It called for chopped Granny Smith apples, sliced almonds, spices such as cinnamon, ginger and cloves and mayo, plus the flour, sugar, eggs, etc. Through the years I changed it a bit and used chunky apple sauce instead of the apples and mayo, and it still worked.
I wish I could find it, mainly for the proportions of the ingredients…but either of your two versions of this would make up for having lost mine…
Don’t you just hate it when that happens, Sonia?! I had never heard of a cake made with mayonnaise before, but it sounds like it was delicious since it became a favorite of yours. I am glad my cake(s) could make up for the loss of that one. If you bake it, in either version, let me know what you think! 🙂
Will certainly do…
I had never heard of using the mayo instead of oil either, but through the years as I changed it, using the chunky apple sauce instead of the mayo was a huge difference in fat content, or so I felt.