Irish Whiskey Apple Cake

No Rosh HaShana is complete without an apple cake. I was excited and nervous to try out this new recipe, one of two I made from Marcy's A Passion for Baking (more on that later). Funny enough, the recipe that easily could have gotten overlooked if not for my need for an apple cake ended up being the favorite this holiday. Slowly, slowly, slices kept disappearing until it was mostly gone. Unfortunately, nothing ever really gets finished in this house. But we got close this time! This unassuming cake features a bunch of different flavors making you wonder what is this cake made of?!, but none of them are assertive enough to steal the show; they kind of just meld together into one deliciously moist cake. The apples aren't too dominant thanks to Marcy's advice not to use Granny Smiths. If those float your boat, though, by all means use them. Owing to my tremendous impatience when it comes to depanning cake, alot of pieces stuck to the inside of my lovingly greased pan. That's ok, because it just contributed to the rustic look that is synonymous with apple cake, anyway.

Irish Whiskey Apple Cake
from Marcy Goldman's A Passion for Baking

For the apples:
5 cups Cortland or MacIntosh apples, peeled, cored, and sliced thinly
2 tbsp fresh lemon juice
2 tsp ground cinnamon

For the cake:
2 cups sugar
1 cup margarine or butter, softened
2 tsp finely grated lemon zest
4 large eggs
1 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
1 tbsp fresh lemon juice
1/4 cup apple juice
1/4 cup Irish whiskey
3 cups flour
1 tbsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt

Finishing Touch:
2 tbsp sugar mixed with 1 tsp ground cinnamon

Preheat the oven to 350. Liberally spray or grease a bundt pan.

Slice your apples and place them in a bowl.

Add the cinnamon, lemon juice, and salt,

stir to combine and set aside while you prepare the cake batter.

Place the margarine, sugar and lemon zest in the bowl of your mixer.

Cream thorougly.

All at once add the eggs, vanilla, juices, and whiskey.

Combine well. The mixture may look curdled, but will smooth out once the dry ingredients are added.
Gently mix in the flour, baking powder and salt.

This is what you should end up with.

Pour the apple mixture atop the cake batter,

and fold super gently just to combine.

Spoon the cake into the pan and sprinkle with the cinnamon-sugar mixture. Don't omit this! It results in the most delicious crust.

Bake until golden brown and until a cake tester inserted comes out clean, anywhere from 75 minutes to an hour and a half.

Depan at your own risk!!! Have enough patience to wait until completely cool. Otherwise you'll end up with a homely and rustic, but still delicious cake.