Recipe – Light Cinnamon Apple Cake

I have been eating alot of apple tart lately and was craving for it. I wanted to bake something to destress but didn’t want too heavy cakes. So I googled for recipes on light apple cake and found this recipe at Cooking Light website.

I have actually researched on other recipes and in one of the recipes I found, they said to use “cooking apples”. I don’t really know what are cooking apples. Are there different brands of apples and only some can be used for cooking? I went to the supermarket to ask the staff but one of them just looked at me with a weird face and told me all apples can be eaten! DUH.

So I gave up and decided to use the apples found in my fridge. A chef I met previously was recommending me to use green apples for baking, because the tangy and crunchy green apples give a balance to the sweetness from the sugar. But I didn’t have any at home, so I just make do with any red ones.

It is rather unique (at least to me) to see cream cheese being used instead of butter. The cream cheese in the batter give this cake lots of moisture. Because it’s so tender, use a serrated knife for cutting. Enjoy baking!

Ingredients (makes 8 inch cake):
Adapted from Cooking Light 

• 1 1/4 cups sugar
• 180g cream cheese, softened
• 120 unsalted butter, softened
• 2 eggs
• 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour, sifted
• 1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
• 2 large apples, peeled and chopped

Method:

1. 1. Preheat oven to 170 degree celsius.
2. 2. Cream butter. Then add in cream cheese and beat till smooth.
3. 3. Add 1 cup of sugar gradually and beat until well blended. Add eggs, 1 at a time, beating well after each addition, set aside.
4. 4. Sift the flour and baking powder together. Combine with salt.
5. 5. Add flour mixture to creamed mixture, and beat at low speed until blended.
6. 6. In another bowl, combine 1/4 cup sugar and cinnamon. Add 2 tablespoons of the cinnamon mixture and apple in a bowl. Stir apple mixture into batter.
7. 7. Pour batter into an 8-inch baking pan, and sprinkle with remaining cinnamon mixture.
8. 8. Bake at 170 degree celsius for 1 hour and 15 minutes or until cake pulls away from the sides of pan. Cool cake completely on a wire rack, and cut using a serrated knife.