Apple Bundt Cake

This is one of my favorite cake recipes to make. I usually make it in the fall but Jeff had to take lunch to work for a meeting and requested this cake for the dessert. I found the recipe on a Good Eats discussion board a long time ago. I went back to look for it and could not find it. I'm glad I'm finally putting this recipe online because I only have one printed copy and I always have a small heart attack when I can't find it.

Apple Bundt Cake
Bon Appetit
December 1999
Amanda Denton, Barre VT

4 medium Golden Delicious applices (about 1 1/2lbs), peeled, cored, and into 1/3 in pieces
5T plus 2 1/2 C sugar
2t ground cinnamon
4 large eggs
1C vegetable oil
1/4 orange juice
1T grated orange peel
1t vanilla extract
3C all purpose flour
3 1/2t baking powder
1/2t salt
powdered sugar

Preheat oven to 350F. Oil and flour a 12C bundt cake pan.  Mix apple pieces, 5T sugar and cinnamon in medium bowl.  Combine 2 1/2C sugar, eggs, vegetable oil, orange juce, orange peel, and vanilla in a large bowl; whisk to blend.  Stir flour, baking powder, and salt into egg mixture.  Spoon 1 1/2C of batter into prepared cake pan.  Top with half of apple mixture. Cover with another 1 1/2C batter. Top with remaining apples, then batter.

Bake cake until top is brown and tester inserted near center comes out with moist crumbs attached, about 1 hour 30 minutes.  Cool cake in pan on rack for 15 minutes. Run knife around sides of pan to loosen.  Turn cake out onto rack.  Cool at least 45 minutes.  Dust with powdered sugar. Serve lightly warm or at room temperature.

My notes
I generally use an assortment of apples. My favorite cinnamon comes from Penzeys Spices. It is their own special blend, and it's awesome. You can order from them online, honestly you can't go wrong with anything they sell. This store is dangerous! I end up spending a lot of money whenever I go but it is well worth it.

Now, I know I've said it before and I'm going to say it again..... I think it's important to own up to kitchen failures along with the successes. I had a bit of a catastrophe when making this cake. I misread the ingredients and put in 3 1/2 tablespoons of baking powder instead of 3 1/2 teaspoons. This was the result:

Isn't that fun? Hot, smoky, drippy mess. At least I had my pizza stone on the bottom rack so most of the batter dripped onto that. The cake tasted alright, but it sure didn't look pretty. So we kept the ugly cake and Jeff made rice krispy treats instead.

Evidently cinnamon can kill you?

Can the cinnamon challenge kill you?

An Internet meme with potentially risky consequences is sweeping the Web. The question is, can the brutal 'cinnamon challenge' be potentially fatal as well?

By Melissa Breyer

If someone can explain the appeal of the cinnamon challenge, can they clue in the rest of us? The dastardly dare that has the Internet aflutter involves the task of eating a teaspoon of ground cinnamon, without water, in less than a minute.

 

What could be so tough about consuming a mouthful of this innocuous-seeming spice? If cinnamon inspires thoughts of comforting apple pie and cozy cinnamon rolls, switch gears and consider Atomic Fireballs, Lava Hot Cinnamon Balls, and Hot Tamales. Cinnamon is potent, as evidenced by the reactions recorded in many a cinnamon-challenge YouTube video — coughing, choking, gagging, vomiting, crying, cursing and general signs of severe discomfort.

 

But all the panicked retching aside, can swallowing a mouthful of cinnamon be dangerous, or even deadly?

 

To understand the potency of cinnamon, ponder this: Cinnamaldehyde, the organic compound that gives the spice its distinctive flavor, is used as a pesticide and fungicide. It’s strong enough to kill little things, for heaven’s sake. The EPA warns of acute dermal toxicity; acute oral toxicity; eye irritation; dermal irritation and dermal sensitization. Granted, this is just a component of cinnamon used in concentration, but still, this demure seasoning clearly has a wicked side.

There are two species used in the ground cinnamon found in the spice aisle, Ceylon cinnamon and Cassia cinnamon. Cassia is interesting in that it contains substantial amounts of coumarin. Coumarin is the parent compound of warfarin (known by its trademarked name, Coumadin), a medication used to keep blood from clotting. Coumarin is mighty powerful and can affect blood sugar levels in people with diabetes. In people who are sensitive, coumarin might cause or worsen liver disease.

 

Due to concerns about the possible effects of coumarin, several years ago the German Federal Institute for Risk Assessment warned against consuming large amounts of Cassia cinnamon. 

 

And then there’s the burn. Parenting experts recommend keeping spices out of reach from children. One of the threats to children who play in the spice cabinet is cinnamon, which when ingested can cause severe burning of the mouth and throat, requiring immediate medical attention. The burning may be so severe that the child can suffer from swelling of the mouth or throat, blocking access to air and potentially leading to death. 

 

Obviously infants aren’t participating in the dare, and it's highly doubtful we'll witness an infant cinnamon challenge trend, but it goes to show that cinnamon is a formidable flavoring. All one needs to see is a few “cinnamon challenge fail” videos on the Web to view the effect on teens and young adults when the powder is inhaled — which is pretty much inevitable following the gasps that occur upon the initial burning. Immediate coughing and choking are de rigeuer.

In many cases, the coughing is so severe that the challengee has difficulty catching his breath. For anyone suffering from asthma or COPD, this can be very serious. And in fact, ground cinnamon can lead to a bronchial constriction — according to the University of Michigan Health System — and that can be life threatening. 

 

Cinnamon also contains as essential oil called cinnamal, which can act as an allergen in a fair amount of people. Those who are allergic to cinnamon can suffer from contact dermatitis — and according to the University of Maryland Medical Center, cinnamon can also cause a severe allergic reaction that can lead to anaphylactic shock. We can only hope that someone who knows they are allergic to cinnamon would politely decline the challenge; but for someone who wasn’t aware of the existence or severity of an allergy, the results could be … challenging.

 

So, can the cinnamon challenge kill you? Although no accounts of death by cinnamon have been reported, there are indeed risks — and it seems only a matter of time until the challenge delivers a fatal blow to some unsuspecting teen.

 

http://www.mnn.com/health/fitness-well-being/stories/can-the-cinnamon-challenge-kill-you?hpt=hp_bn12