This easy apple compote cake has a taste of a leaf trip to Vermont

The snack cakes are my favorite afternoon type of treat. They are unfair, practical and always ready with a minimum of effort. Unlike a cake with a frosted layer, a snack cake does not require a ceremony. It can be cooked on a whim, left on the counter and cut into generous squares when you wish.

And at this time of year, when apples and apple compote is everywhere – the markets of apple developers, cups of apple compote from lunch boxes, pots of homemade sauce from ambitious apple picking weekends – I inevitably find myself with more complexity than I cannot eat straight. After having controlled the spoon or swirling in yogurt, I turn to this snack cake. This is one in my favorite ways to use the apple compote. And if you don’t have an apple compote at hand, it is worth buying or doing it to make this cake.

But the cooking of apple compote is delivered with its own set of challenges. Too much liquid can leave gummary and dense, while too few will not provide the apple flavor and the soft texture I want. Honey, whose floral softness completes the apple compote beautifully, adds another layer of humidity to manage. After many tests, here is how I solved these problems and I landed on a damp, tender and full of hot fall cake.

Operate the apple compote

The apple compote brings both the humidity and the subtle flavor of the apple to this cake, but it can be difficult to cook. As mentioned above, if too much is used, you may end up with a dense gum cake. Too little, and you miss the soft and tender breadcrumbs that makes a snack cake so satisfactory. Thanks to the tests, I noticed that a full cup of apple compote was the ideal quantity. Just provide a light apple flavor and a lot of humidity without weighing down the cake.

The apple compote also has a structural role in the cake. Thanks to its natural pectin (a soluble fiber found in the fruits), it helps to maintain the crumb together and maintain the soft but coherent texture instead of friable.

Just as important is the apple compote with which you start. Whether homemade or bought in stores, choose one that you would really like to eat by the spoonful – not sweet, smooth and full of real apple flavor. If the apple compote has a flat or aqueous taste in its own right, it will not have a better taste in the cake.

Addition of good fat

Although the apple compote is excellent to add humidity to the cakes, it does not do everything that fat does. The fat keeps a tender cake, prevents the mast and carries the flavor. Without that, apple compote alone can leave you with a dense or rubber crumb. To complete the natural fruity of the apple compote, I use extra virgin olive oil in this recipe. Because it is a liquid fat, it walks with the other wet ingredients – no necessary stand mixer. The oil also adds brightness to the flavor and maintains the cake bet if you serve it as an addition of a fun table during Rosh Hashanah. The result is a soft and tender cake, not gummous or with flat taste.

Manage additional humidity of honey

Honey adds a floral sweetness that goes beautifully with apple and ginger compote, but it also includes technical challenges. Honey is hygroscopic, which means that it attracts and keeps water. This helps keep the cake damp for days, but the addition of honey above the apple compote and liquid fat in this recipe even more liquid in the mixture, increasing the risk of a heavy or collapsed cake.

Sugar also adds to the problem – while it looks dry, it acts like a liquid in cooking, relying and clinging to humidity. Too much sugar, combined with honey and apple compote, would have left the damp and heavy cake. To make it work, I reduced the sugar to reduce this excess humidity and refine the sourdough so that the cake can rise properly without balloon and run. The result is a cake that remains soft, raised and humid, but not dense.

Find the balance of flavors

The apple compote has a light flavor that can fade in the background if it has no support. To build complexity, I added complementary flavors that highlight its natural fruity. Fresh ginger adds heat, while lemon zest lightens the cake. Complete vanilla in the background. And for a final touch, I sprinkle crystallized ginger chopped on top before cooking. It adds radiance, a slight chew and a punch of ginger flavor that connects the whole cake together.

Once cooked, the cake is fragrant, pleasantly sweet and complex enough to make you come back for another slice at the time of the snack.

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