No Butter Apple Cake

Hi Dear Anectodes and Apples followers,

This is Ilke, from Ilke’s Kitchen. I am so honored to be here, writing a guest post for Monet.  I have been following her blog for over a year and I have enjoyed visiting her blog all this time. Her blog is so comfortable, touching and full of memories that I can relate to.

It is only fitting that I give you a cake recipe which brings the memories back for me as well. If you have stopped by my blog before, you would know that I am from Turkey. I had a working mom, so I used to come to my grandparents’ home after school was out at lunch time. In the old days of my childhood, my grandma had get-togethers with her friends on a regular basis.  They used to call the monthly ones “Gold coin day” as literally translated, because each person would bring a small gold coin as a gift to the host of the month. When I think about this now, I realize how great savings system it was for that person, considering all these women were homemakers and did not have any income other than what their husbands would bring. This is one of the best woman-support groups I have ever known.  I am over 35 years old, and same women still meet regularly after all those years and husbands are gone, grand and great-grand kids are born. They have cheered me through my first steps, graduations and my wedding. There is no stopping them.

Each of them had their “specialties” when they were hosting these get-togethers. These special dishes were mostly high calorie or tedious to prepare. But one day, this cake showed up on the table out of blue! Finally the group gave in to the cholesterol threat and decided to put something with no butter on the table and something so easy to make. I wish I knew who had started this cake’s reign over the other dishes but as usual, it is hard to keep track of the recipe origins in Turkey. So this stays as everyone’s favorite No Butter Apple Cake throughout Istanbul at least.

With the fall rolling in slowly, many apple varieties overtaking the farmers’ stands, it is time again for this healthy cake. Once you mix the apples in the batter, you might get a tad bit skeptical about the result, questioning if it might raise. Do not worry…the batter nicely turns into a moist cake and leaves a chewy texture in the mouth. Do not preheat the oven, turn it on when you put the cake in.

Hope you enjoy the cake and visit me time to time as well. I really enjoyed reaching out to you from this beautiful corner. Thank you Monet for having me over. Hope your arm heals soon and you are back to your baking and writing. I am missing both already!

 No Butter Apple Cake
4 eggs
1 cup of sugar
1 cup of flour
1 tablespoon baking powder
1 tablespoon cinnamon
2 medium sized golden apples (peeled, diced and mixed with 1 tablespoon flour and 2 teaspoons of cinnamon)
1/2 cups of chopped nuts (your choice: I normally go with walnuts but I have made with pecans and hazelnuts time to time)

1. Beat eggs and sugar in a mixing bowl for a minute or two until it is all well blended, and the color is very light yellow.

2. Add flour, baking powder and cinnamon, beat at medium speed.

3. With the help of a spatula, mix in the diced apples and chopped nuts.

4. Pour the batter into a greased 9-inch pan lined with parchment paper.

5. Bake for 40 min or until a toothpick comes out clean at 350 degrees.

Thank you, Ilke! This is on my must-bake list. As always, your delicious dishes and sweet anecdotes make me smile. And my readers? Thanks for all the sweet words. I’ll be