Apple Streusel Cake with Almonds

The Beats! 

It's only been two years since I graduated from Montana State University, and sometimes I can't figure out whether the time has passed in a flash or in what I call metric time, when it feels like there are 100 seconds to a minute and 100 minutes to an hour (i.e. the clock hand just isn't moving).  Regardless of my perception of time, so much has changed.  My friends and family are on their own life adventures, traveling, trying new careers, getting married ... pretty exciting stuff.  This weekend is one of my favorite girlfriend's bachelorette party and even though I can't go, it's made me stop and think about our friendship.  We, along with our third partner in crime, were inseparable by the end of our senior year.  The stress of being a midst the final classes in our engineering education was overwhelming, so we countered that and general life drama with plenty of frozen yogurt dates, high heel & sweatpants parties, and late night debauchery downtown.  I'll always remember having a rough day, telling one friend (who threw me in her truck and made a phone call) and doing a drive by kidnapping of our third (the bride-to-be) who was supposed to be working on a computer programming assignment.  Three pitchers later, that didn't matter anymore (well at that point, nothing seemed to matter anymore, haha) but her lack of hesitation to help a friend over homework wasn't lost on me.  This hasn't been about "the beats" at all I guess, but this playlist has a bunch of the songs that remind me of our good times ... and if John Denver seems to stick out, well, so did we when we had our karaoke debut with Country Roads...



  

The Treats!  

   

This is the dish that I made for her bridal shower, but I can't report on the results because, unfortunately, I didn't make it to that either (this is getting embarrassing).  I think I would have heard if it poisoned someone, although my friends are probably too nice to admit it, so we're going to go ahead with it.  Plus, it's just fun to say "apple streusel" really fast over and over again.  It's incredible easy and quick to put together and coming from Cooking Light, it's probably more "healthy" than anything else I've put on this site so far ...  

Apple Streusel Cake with Almonds   (makes 9 servings)              

From Cooking Light Complete Cookbook

What you'll need ...

Streusel:
2 Tablespoons all-purpose flour
2 Tablespoons brown sugar
1/8 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 Tablespoon butter
2 Tablespoons sliced almonds


Cake:
3/4 cup granulated sugar
1/4 cup (2 oz.) 1/3 fat cream cheese, softened
1/4 cup butter, softened
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/2 teaspoon almond extract
1 egg
1 1/4 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/4  teaspoon salt
3/4 cup low-fat buttermilk
Cooking spray
1 1/2 cups thinly sliced crisp apple (about 3/4 pound)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  To prepare streusel, combine first three ingredients in a medium bowl; cut in 1 Tablespoon butter with a pastry blender or two knives until mixture resembles coarse meal.  Stir in almonds.


To prepare cake, beat granulated sugar, cream cheese, and 1/4 cup butter in a large bowl with a mixer at medium speed until smooth.  Add extracts (vanilla and almond) and egg, beating well.





Lightly spoon flour into dry measuring cups, level with a knife.  Combine flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt in a medium bowl, stirring well with a whisk.  Add flour mixture and buttermilk alternatively to egg mixture, beginning and ending with flour mixture.

Pour batter into a 9-inch round cake pan coated with cooking spray; sharply tap pan once on counter to remove air bubbles (BAM!).  Arrange apple slices (I used two big apples, because my theory is always the more the merrier) over batter; sprinkle with streusel.  

Bake at 350 degrees for 45 minutes of wooden pick inserted in center comes out clean.  Cool completely on wire rack.  Cut into wedges.  Apple streusel, applestreusel, applesussel!!