Apple Cider Pound Cake

It's been a while since we've featured a recipe from the Richard Simmons Collection of Dazzling Desserts. So far, we've made a vegan coconut-carob pie, a purple sticky rice tart, a pomegranate-dream bundt cake, fortune cookies (though, they didn't turn out so well), and a strawberry-pear faux pie.


Today's recipe comes from page 60. It's actually for a lime pound cake ("It's a Fine-Lime Pound Cake," as he calls it), but as I mentioned in my last post, all the fall ingredients were bursting out of the aisles in Wegmans this weekend. So, I had to use apple cider instead of lime. Cinnamon instead of lime zest.

And vanilla instead of lemon extract. And though I used Greek yogurt in my cake, it's the only non-vegan ingredient in the mix. Just substitute your favorite vegan yogurt (I imagine the coconut varieties would work incredibly well!).


Here's what Richard has to say about this recipe:

When you eat a regular pound cake, you're walking a fine line, because you're starting with a pound of butter, a pound of sugar, a pound of . . . a pound of . . . But with my cake, you're just eating fine limes, and you'll be divine.

APPLE CIDER POUND CAKE

What you'll need . . .

• 1-3/4 cups wheat pastry flour
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1 cup Greek yogurt (or non-dairy, I just didn't have any on hand)
• 3/4 cups sugar (I used Sugar in the Raw pulsed a couple times in my food processor)
• 2 tablespoons canola oil
• 2 tablespoons unsalted butter (I used Earth Balance, non-soy kind and omitted salt)
• 1 large egg (I used 1 tablespoon Bob's Red Mill egg replacer plus 3 tablespoons wateR)
• 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
• 1/4 teaspoon nutmeg
• 1-1/2 tablespoon apple cider

Method . . .

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Lightly coat an 8x8x2-inch square baking pan with nonstick cooking spray.
2. In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, and nutmeg.
3. In another bowl, whisk together the yogurt (or replacement), sugar, oil, butter (or replacement), egg (or replacement), and apple cider.
4. Stir flour mixture into the wet mixture. Stir until just moistened.
5. Spoon into the prepared pan. (I was worried that the batter seemed to stiff -- but it won't pour. And it's OK. It turns out beautifully!)
6. Bake until golden -- just around 30 to 35 minutes. Cool cake completely on a wire rack.

If you'd like to make the glaze (but it's seriously not necessary), just whisk together 1/2 cup of confectioners' sugar, 2 teaspoons Greek yogurt (or substitute), 3 teaspoons of apple cider, and a dash of cinnamon. We stored ours in a little dish and spooned it out as desired.


Don't forget to check out our other Richard-inspired recipes!

• Coconut-Carob Pie
• Purple Sticky Rice Tart
• Pomegranate-Dream Bundt Cake
• Fortune Cookies (though, they didn't turn out so well)
• Pear-Strawberry Faux-Pie

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