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Gluten-Free Dairy-Free Apple Cake

by Becky
A tasty and moist sweet cake full of thinly sliced apples and broken pecans.
Print Recipe
Prep Time 55 mins
Cook Time 1 hr 5 mins
Total Time 2 hrs
Course Breakfast, Dessert
Servings 1 loaf

Equipment

  • Kitchen Aid Mixer
  • Sifter
  • Measuring Cups
  • Silicon Spatula
  • Glass measuring cup for apple slices
  • Metal bread loaf pan
  • Mixing Bowl

Ingredients
  

Dry Ingredients

  • 1 cup White Sugar
  • 1½ cups Gluten-Free Flour *I used ½ a cup of flour blend #1 and 1 cup of flour blend #3 see the notes below for blend info.
  • ½ tsp Baking Powder
  • ½ tsp Baking Soda
  • ½ tsp Salt
  • ¼ tsp Ground Saigon Cinnamon
  • ½ tsp Cream of Tartar
  • ½ tsp Xanthan Gum
  • ½ cup Chopped Pecans

Wet Ingredients

  • ½ cup Vegetable Oil
  • 1 Egg *if making recipe vegan follow egg replacer directions for 1 whole egg
  • ½ tsp Vanilla Extract

Sliced Apples

  • 2 cups Apples (Gala, Red Delicious, or your favorite) *thinly sliced
  • ½ cup White Sugar *as you slice the apples, top with sugar. Mix intermittently.

Optional Streusel Topping

  • ⅓ cup Flour Blend #1
  • ½ tsp Ground Saigon Cinnamon
  • ¼ tsp Baking Soda
  • ½ cup Brown Sugar
  • 1 Tbsp Vegetable Oil
  • ⅓ cup Chopped Pecans

Instructions
 

Prep

  • Pre heat the oven to 325° (I wait to pre heat until I am done slicing the apples)
  • Grease (with vegetable oil) and flour(I use plain coconut flour) your pan

Slicing the apples

  • Slice the apples. As you slice them add them to your glass measuring cup. Toss in a thin layer of sugar as you slice. That way you have some apple juice to help moisten the batter. I usually end up using about 2 full apples which can yield 2+ cups of apples which is fine. More is ok, less is not.

The Batter

  • Cream your oil and sugar (I use my Kitchen Aid). Then add your egg.
  • Sift the dry ingredients into separate bowl. Mix and add to mixer. Add vanilla.
  • Gently mix in apples and juice. Add pecans.
  • Pour batter into greased and floured pan. Smooth top with spatula.

Optional Streusel Topping

  • In the bowl you used to sift dry ingredients, put together your topping. Add all ingredients and mix with a spatula. Using your hand or spatula create a thin topping over the top of the batter. If you have extra, I keep it in a container to use for pancakes or another sweet breakfast item.

Notes

So a few things...this apple cake is basically a Dutch Apple Cake. It is originally a recipe my Aunt Debbie used to serve at her restaurant in Sam Marcos, Texas. Alpha Sprouts was the restaurant and it was just off the square in downtown. Alpha Sprouts was across the street from my Grandpa Fields  old furniture store. 
Anyway, I halved the recipe and made it gluten-free. It was originally dairy-free which is great! I also added a streusel topping. I augmented this topping recipe from my Gluten-Free Baking book. The recipe called for cold butter, however I use a little vegetable oil instead and it works just fine.
 
Flour Blend #1
  • White Rice Flour - 1 ¾ cups
  • Potato Strach - 2 cups
  • Tapioca Starch - 1 ½ cups
Total yield 5 ½ cups
Sift and mix throughly. I always label the container with what mix it is and the actual ingredients. 
Flour Blend #3 + Coconut Flour*
  • White Rice Flour - ¾ cups
  • Potato Starch - 1 ½ cups
  • Coconut Flour - 2 ½ cups
  • Guar Gum - 3 ½ tablespoons
  • Albumen (egg replacer) - ½ cup
Total yield 5 ½ cups
Sift and mix throughly. I always label the container with what mix it is and the actual ingredients. 
So...my book did not call for coconut flour. However, one time when I was craving apple cake, much of central Texas was stuck inside due to a week-long snow/ice storm. And I had only one bag of potato starch-which is NOT enough to make both a batch of blend #1 and blend #3 so I made due.
I previously used coconut, white rice and almond flour for my baking before I read about these excellent flour blends-which is why I was happy adding coconut flour to blend #3. But back to the books blends, they really are amazing. The go into the science behind each blend and explain which blend is better for different items (cake vs muffins vs bread). If you want a copy of the book, the link to buy it from Amazon is here and posted above as well!
Keyword baked goods, dairy-free, gluten-free, sweets, vegan