One of the two desserts I made for this year’s Thanksgiving (TGV 2016) was 16-52: Apple Nut Saucepan Torte (the other was 15-49: Chocolate Pudding Deluxe). I wanted something “of the season”, and this seemed like a cross between apple pie and fruitcake.
This was the second dish I made, starting off the Wednesday 11/23 portion of my holiday cooking marathon. Since this cake holds well at room temperature, I planned to just slightly underbake it, and then finish it off for 5-10 minutes in a preheated oven to warm it up for dessert on the day of the holiday.
If I hadn’t made this for Thanksgiving, I think it’d make a great gift (mailed or delivered in person) or potluck dish, especially for an office or somewhere where it would sit for a while. Even though Thanksgiving is over for the year, it’s totally still the season for a cake like this one.
Other dishes I made on this night (Wed. 11/23): the dressing for 1-10: Seafood Louisiana Cocktail, cranberry sauce, 15-49: Chocolate Pudding Deluxe, and a roasted garlic & herb butter to serve with 17-5: Hot Seedy Rolls.
Googling hasn’t told me much about the difference between tortes and cakes–best I can figure out is that there isn’t much of a difference besides cakes usually being larger and airier than what’s considered a torte.
Since this is a torte and not a cake, and a glance at the ingredients and recipe tells me not to expect a lot of delicateness or lift from this dish, I’m going to go rustic and bake this in a cast-iron pan. I think it’ll help it retain moisture while giving it a nice crust, as well as making it easy to store, reheat, and serve.
Ingredients. Used what I believe was a Braeburn apple for this dish, and 3 was way too many–2 would have been just fine. That’s also way too many fruit bits, but I hit up the bulk bins for these and the price was good.
Close-up of the fruit bits. This mix had cherries, papaya, and pineapple in it, along with regular and golden raisins. Probably some other things in there, but it’s all good together.
Cored/sliced/peeled all three apples.
Diced my way through 2 of them before I realized I probably already had more than a cup of apple.
Zested a whole orange, kept some of the zest aside for my cranberries.
3 eggs I forgot to include in the original ingredients shot.
(1) ¼ cup of brown sugar and (4) ¼ cups of granulated (white) sugar poured into a stick’s worth of melted butter.
Sugary, buttery goodness.
Mixed in the apple, orange rind, and vanilla extract.
Eventually it all melted down into a consistent butter-sugar sauce coating the apples.
Cracked & whisked in the eggs, one by one.
Dry ingredients ready to be combined.
Chopped my nuts.
Coated the soaked fruit bits with the dry mixture–now we’re ready to combine dry & wet.
Gave the cast-iron pan an extra-thorough greasing with vegetable shortening to make sure that there wouldn’t be any undue sticking.
Batter mixed and poured into the pan–off to bake for ~45 minutes. Remember, the last few minutes are going to be done the day of, to warm it up and make it extra golden.
I neglected to take a picture of it the first time it came out of the oven, but this was the second time, right before I put it out for the diners to enjoy. It came out of the pan with a knife and spatula, and tasted GREAT with a scoop of vanilla ice cream on the side.
Grade: A
Interested in the full list of Simply Delicious dishes I made for 2016’s Thanksgiving feast?
- 4-27: Mushroom-Parsnip Au Gratin
- 16-52: Apple Nut Saucepan Torte
- 15-49: Chocolate Pudding Deluxe
- 1-10: Seafood Cocktail Louisiana
- 17-5: Hot Seedy Rolls
- 1-5: Pigs in a Blanket
- 6-29: Stuffed Turkey (includes gravy & stuffing)
