Peace and Love in the Kitchen

In  Comfort Me with Apples , Ruth Reichl writes of her journey from living in a Berkley commune to her life as a New York Times food critic. The book is about how her passions for life and food are linked by love. Each tale is told in connection with food, recipes included.  There is the chocolate cake she made for her new love’s birthday; the mushroom soup she made when her father died, and the meals she made for prospective pregnant mothers as she sought to adopt a child. The title of her book says it all.

Yesterday, one of my children was crying inconsolably on the way home from school.  When this sweet child was finally able to tell me what was wrong, it became clear that the real problem was exhaustion. You know how being tired makes everything look grim. A good dinner and an early bedtime would make it better, but I didn’t tell him that.  I just listened. “Comfort me with apples” says King Solomon and Ruth Reichl. Tonight,  I will comfort my child with an apple cake.

Note:  I usually make this cake with whole wheat pastry flour, but the original recipe calls for all-purpose flour.

1 1/4 cup vegetable oil
2 cups sugar
3 eggs
1 tsp vanilla
3 cups whole wheat pastry flour or all purpose flour
1 1/4 tsp baking soda
1 tsp salt
3/4 tsp nutmeg
3/4 tsp cinnamon
3 cups Granny Smith apples, peeled and chopped- about 2 large
1 cup walnuts, chopped

Caramel Glaze:
1 stick butter
1/4 cup cream
1 cup dark brown sugar
1 tsp vanilla



1.  MIX WET INGREDIENTS:  Preheat oven to 350.  Butter and flour a tube/bundt pan.  In a large bowl, combine oil and sugar.  Add eggs, one at a time, beating each one well.  Add vanilla.


2.  MIX DRY INGREDIENTS:  Sift together and then mix the flour, soda, salt, nutmeg, and cinnamon.  Add wet ingredients to dry a little bit at a time, stirring to combine after each addition.  Fold in the apples and the nuts.

3.  BAKE:  Pour batter into the pan and bake 1 hour and 15 minutes.

About 5 minutes before cake is done, combine butter, brown sugar, vanilla, and cream and bring to a boil.  When cake is done, spoon caramel sauce over top of cake.  Poke holes in the top of the cake with a skewer or a toothpick so the glaze can seep down into the cake.  Let cake cool about 2 hours and then turn out onto a plate. Turn cake again onto a second plate so that caramel sauce is face-up.  Cut and serve.