Wet apple and walnut cake recipe

Guayaquil is sweet: we love to enjoy the wide variety of cakes, pais, biscuits, creams and more offered by the dozens of pastry shops that the city has, or the hundreds of businesses that offer us their increasingly creative products from home.

There is one that, despite the years, remains one of the most requested cakes. It is the famous wet apple and walnut cake, which is already a classic guayaco dessert. There is no family that has not tasted that moist and spongy texture, which is mixed with the pieces of apple and the crunch of the walnuts, with all the flavor and at the same time the simplicity of quality products, which is what should stand out.

For this reason, together with our pastry teacher Johanna Echeverría, we have selected this dessert for today, which is already a tradition in Guayaquil.

For the cake:

• 1 and ¼ cups of brown sugar
• ½ teaspoon of salt
• ⅓ cup of oil
• ⅓ cup unsalted butter
• 5 eggs
• 2 teaspoons of vanilla essence
• 2 cups flour
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• ½ teaspoon baking soda
• 2 green apples
• 2 cups of walnuts

sugar sauce:

• ½ liter of milk
• ¾ cup brown sugar
• 3 cinnamon sticks
• 2 tablespoons cocoa liquor
• 2 tablespoons of amaretto

caramel sauce:

• 1 and ¼ cups of sugar
• ¼ cup of water
• 1 tablespoon of glucose
• 1 cup of heavy cream

Praline:

• ½ cup sugar
• ¾ cup walnuts

Preparation:

For the cake:

1. Use two bowls. In the first, mix the brown sugar, salt, oil and butter.
2. Add the eggs, one by one, and mix well.
3. Then add the vanilla essence and reserve.
4. In the second bowl, mix the flour, baking powder, baking soda.
5. Add the apples with skin, cut into small cubes, and the toasted and chopped nuts.
6. Incorporate the mixture of the second bowl with that of the first bowl with enveloping movements, slowly.
7. Place in a previously greased and floured mold, bake at 160 degrees for approximately 30 to 40 minutes.
8. Once the cake is ready, remove from the oven, let cool for 10 minutes, unmold onto a rack and let cool completely.

Brown sugar sauce:

1. In a saucepan, bring milk, brown sugar, and cinnamon to a boil. Once it boils, remove from the burner, add the liquor, cover and let infuse for 15 minutes.
2. While still warm, pour it little by little over the cake, which must be cold, and place it back in the clean mold.

caramel sauce:

1. Make a golden caramel with sugar, water and glucose.
2. Add the hot milk cream very carefully, stir, leave on the heat for 2 to 4 more minutes.
3. Remove and chill in a bowl over ice.

Praline:

1. Make a golden caramel with the sugar and add the nuts, taking care to mix well. Then, put this preparation on a silicone mat until cool.

Mounting:

1. Unmold the cake on a slightly deep plate, cover with caramel sauce and cover with the cold and finely chopped praline.

2. Keep refrigerated.