Fresh Apple Coffee Cake

In case you were wondering, these past few days have been a bit hectic. I started volunteering weekly at the local soup kitchen, which always exhausts me and then on Friday, one of my girls had to go to the emergency room. I was with her all of Friday and spent Shabbat in the hospital as well. I visited her again for a while yesterday and went today to the soup kitchen. I'm basically zonked. Thank G-d, she's home and her eye, the reason she was hospitalized, is on the mend. On top of that, the school is going for a three day trip up north. This is going to be a craaaazy week. Amidst of all this, I have a pile of apples on my counter, super ripe bananas in my fridge and I've been receiving numerous complaints that I haven't baked in ages. So yesterday, in need of some serious down time, I baked. Two cakes. The first one was this Fresh Apple Coffee Cake from Beth Henspberger's the Bread Bible. I'll just admit straight off the bat that this is an underused book. It hides behind a whole other row of books so I never see it but for some reason I pulled it off the shelf and was reminded that it has a coffee cake and quick bread chapter. It was there that I found this recipe... and other inspirations for a later date! Anyway, I had all of the ingredients on hand for this recipe so I set out to make it. Not only was it easy, but it was delicious! When I came back from the hospital, this cake was gone as in gone  and all of the girls bombarded me with, That was amazing, that was delicious! So I'm going to take their word for it. To me, this cake really is a good with coffee-cake as opposed to the other apple cake on this blog. While both good, this one is both lighter in color and texture and just screams for coffee or tea. Honestly, I have no notes to make about this cake because I made it exactly as is, and it turned out perfectly. I hope it will for you, too.

Fresh Apple Coffee Cake
from Hensperger's The Bread Bible

4 cups peeled, cored and chopped Granny Smith apples
1/3 cup brown sugar
1 1/2 tbsp cinnamon
3 cups flour
1 3/4 cups sugar
1 tbsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
grated zest of 1 orange
4 eggs
1 cup vegetable oil
1/2 cup fresh or frozen orange juice

Preheat you oven to 350. Grease a ten inch tube pan. Set aside.

Place the apples in a bowl and toss with the brown sugar and cinnamon. Set aside.

Sift together all of the dry ingredients, including the zest.Whisk and set aside.

Place the eggs and oil in a mixing bowl.

Using a whisk, beat for two minutes. It's quite a work out, but you'll manage. Use a hand mixer, if desired.

Add the dry ingredients along with the orange juice.

Blend until combined without over mixing.

Place a third of the batter in the pan, spreading it around and top with half of the apples.

Repeat with the remaining batter and apples, ending with the batter. It's okay if it's not perfect. It'll add to its rustic appeal.

Bake for 60-75 minutes or until a tester inserted comes out clean. Cool in the pan and hour.

Unmold the cake from its pan and finish cooling completely. Turn it over onto a serving plate for a more rustic presentation.