A Work In Progress...

I saw this Rustic Apple Cake from Eat Good 4 Life recently and knew it would soon become a regular visitor around here. It's been cold and wet the last several days and the thought of a hot steamy apple treat sounded just about right last night. The original recipe called for whole wheat flour so I knew there was going to be some conversion and experimenting needed to make it right for my family. Lately I've been drawn to grinding raw buckwheat groats into a whole grain flour replacement, so I knew right off that I'd be substituting buckwheat flour for the whole wheat flour. I also knew that I wanted to do this in a cast iron skillet rather than a spring form pan, rustic just screams for a skillet in my mind. So groats and apples in hand I got right to work. Luckily our backyard chickens have slowly started laying again so I was able to use our own fresh eggs in this recipe too. Don't you just love it when you have a calling to make something and you actually have everything on hand? This is a pretty quick and low key dessert to pull together, and rustic is the best describer as there is just enough batter to coat the apples and hold the whole cake together. I am still always a bit unsure when faced with converting a traditional recipe into a gluten free one, so I held my breath a bit as I pulled the cake from the oven and waited what I thought was a very patient 10 minutes before cutting into it for the first sample. I loved the nutty flavor of the buckwheat with the apples and absolute simplicity of taste, it really is all about the apple with the buckwheat just giving a small shout-out in the background. There are a few small improvements I plan to make next time around, but for now I am taking the fact that the last couple slices promptly disappeared on breakfast plates this morning as a good sign. This cake is going to become a regular around our house, though next time I might increase the batter by half and cut the apples a bit thiner, mostly to improve appearances and make cutting and serving a little easier. I think teff flour would also be another fantastic substitute for the whole wheat flour, teff has such a great nutty quality to it as well. I could also see making this as part of a morning brunch for guests, with a dusting of cinnamon and sugar I think it would make for a lovely coffee cake replacement. Ok, now all I can think about is my favorite Stumptown coffee along side a wedge of this cake and some eggs, potatoes and a couple really great slices of bacon...