Apple Spice Cake with Roasted Garlic
Ingredients:
- unbleached flour - 1 ½ cups plus 2 tbsp.
- baking soda - 1 tsp.
- salt - 1 tsp.
- ground cinnamon - ½ tsp.
- ground ginger - ¼ tsp.
- Grated zest of 1 large lemon -
- Juice of 1 large lemon -
- large, tart apples, peeled, cored and chopped medium-fine - 3
- unsalted butter, softened - 8 tbsp.
- sugar - 2/3 c.
- frozen Ontario garlic cloves oven roasted (see below) - 12
- ruby red port wine or applejack - 2 tbsp.
- large egg - 1
- milk - ½ c.
- finely chopped pecans - 2/3 c.
- confectioners’ sugar - 2 tbsp.
Instructions:
Rinse and pat dry garlic cloves. Toss with 1 tsp. cooking oil, place in foil and form a loose sack around cloves.
Bake in 325F oven about 30 minutes or until tender. May open foil pouch near end of roasting
to brown further. Set aside.
Turn up oven to 350. Thoroughly butter a 9-inch round cake pan.
Sift together flour, baking soda, salt and spices. Set aside.
Combine lemon zest, lemon juice and apple pieces in a bowl. Set aside.
In a mixing bowl cream butter thoroughly with electric mixer, adding sugar until well incorporated.
Beat in garlic and port, scraping sides of bowl. Add egg and beat until mixture is smooth.
Gradually add flour mixture to butter mixture, alternating with milk. Blend at low speed, scraping sides of bowl several times. Hand stir in apple mixture and pecans until well blended.
Pour batter into prepared pan, smoothing top. Bake until cake shrinks from sides, about 60-75 minutes or tooth pick inserted comes out clean.
Transfer to a rack and cool. Invert onto a platter, dust with confectioners’ sugar
