Apple-Cinnamon Tea Cake & Winner of Everyday Happy Herbivore

When I was in college, I used to make this coffee cake....it was perfect for a weekend of partying, uh, I mean studying.  I haven't made it in, literally, decades.  I thought I would attempt to re-create it, vegan-style of course, this weekend.  Since I was doing it from scratch and from memory, the odds of success were not exactly slated in my favor.  I probably should have started with a proven recipe and adapted from there, but I wanted to push my culinary comfort zone a bit.  The results were not perfect, but not bad either.  I even measured as I went, so I can tweak it later on.

The original recipe called for sour cream and had a heavy layer of streusel on top comprised of butter, cinnamon and sugar.  I opted to include apples in my new recipe just for kicks.  And since it's also now been decades since I gave up coffee, I'm calling it a "tea cake".

Apple-Cinnamon Tea Cake

1 1/2 t baking powder
1/4 t baking soda
1/4 t salt
2 C flour (I always use whole wheat, but a pastry whole wheat would be an option for lighter texture)
1 t cinnamon
1/3 C maple syrup
1 1/2 large apples (I steamed these in just a bit of water and sprinkled with cinnamon---I love cinnamon!)
1 C vegan sour cream (from Lindsay Nixon's Happy Herbivore)

Topping:  coarse chopped pecans sprinkled with, (what else), cinnamon.  I used probably a cup of pecans and at least a tablespoon of cinnamon.

Mix dry ingredients.  I mashed up the apples (peeled them) and tossed them, the syrup and the sour cream into the dry mix.  Mixed gently until well blended.  The batter was very thick.  I dropped it by spoonful into this cute heart-shaped baking pan I picked up post-Valentine's clearance.

The rest of the batter I split in half and spread one half in a baking pan---sprinkled half the topping on ---then topped that with the 2nd half of the batter.  More topping on that.  I baked at 340 degrees ---heart-shaped baking pan was done in about 20 minutes.  The larger pan took about 30 minutes.

This was not a very sweet cake, but that was what I wanted.  Just a bit of a treat without sending me into sugar overload.  I debated on trying dates for the sweetener that I would blend up.  I may do that next time.  It is more of a chewy cake than a light airy cake, but does make a decent snack---and is lovely with a cup of tea, dahling.

Apple-Cinnamon Tea Cake

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Winner of Lindsay Nixon's new book, Everyday Happy Herbivore is:

KIM!

Congratulations, Kim!  E-mail me your shipping info:  sunnyhawklane@gmail.com.  Thanks to everyone for entering.  Watch for another giveaway later in the week!

Sue, making-it-up-as-I-go, in Ohio