Apple Soft Pound Cake/ Kek Paun Epal

So I have a few apples in the fridge the other day and I started to imagine what I could do with them. I decided on muffins because I saw some fabulous recipes of apple pie muffins on Pinterest and a streusel topping on a muffin could do no wrong in my eyes. And then I started to get a little bit imaginative and try to be adventurous with those recipes. I was thinking maybe I could use brown butter for the muffin and streusel topping or swirl in some caramel sauce into the batter before baking...or maybe not. I don't think my family could tolerate something that sweet and fancy. They are more butter and pound cakes kinda people. So I decided on this recipe instead. Studded with apples and oh-so-moist and soft, this recipe is a keeper!

Apple Soft Pound Cake
Source: Ancoo Journal

Ingredients:
220g butter (room temperature)
170g sugar
3 large eggs (about 210g) - separated
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
180g plain flour
30g corn flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
250g green apple, peeled and cubed and mix with 1 1/2 tbsp lemon juice *I used red and green apples
Lemon zest from 1 large lemon

My lovely mum helped to prep the ingredients for me and she did so like in a cooking show, so I just had to take a photo. A lazy me would probably just use one container for all the ingredients. 

Method:

1. Spray Non-stick spray evenly in  9 inch bundt pan or line two loaf pans and set aside.
2. Cream butter and sugar till fluffy and pale then add vanilla extract, mix well.
3. Add egg yolks into the batter one at a time and mix well before adding in another then slowly add in egg whites and mix well, stop machine.
4. Sift plain flour, corn flour and baking powder together and fold into butter mixture with a rubber spatula.
5. Lastly pour in lemon zest and apple cubes, mix well.
6. Pour the batter into the prepared pan and place in the preheated oven at 180C and bake for 35-40 mins* or skewer comes out clean. 
7. Leave pound cake to cool in pan for 30 mins and remove cake then place on to rack to cool completely. Chill the cake before slicing it.
*I used a silicone mould to bake my cake and after 40 mins, the centre of my cake is still jiggly. I had to continue baking for another 25 mins at a lowered temperature of 170C.

Kek Paun Epal
Sumber: Ancoo Journal 

Bahan-bahan:
220g mentega (suhu bilik)
170g gula
3 biji telur saiz A (anggaran 210g) - asingkan putih dan kuning telur
1 sudu kecil esen vanilla
180g tepung gandum
30g tepung jagung
1 sudu kecil baking powder
250g epal hijau atau merah - kupas, potong kiub dan gaul dengan 1 1/2 sudu besar jus lemon
Parutan kulit lemon dari sebiji lemon 

Cara-cara:

1. Gris loyang bundt berukuran 9 inci dengan mentega. Ketepikan.
2. Pukul mentega dan gula hingga berkrim, ringan dan gebu. Masukkan esen vanilla dan kacau sebati.
3. Masukkan kuning telur satu persatu dan pukul hingga sebati. Selepas itu, masukkan putih telur sedikit demi sedikit dan pukul lagi hingga adunan ringan dan gebu.
4. Satukan tepung gandum, tepung jagung dan baking powder dan ayak ke dalam adunan. Kacau dengan kaedah kaup balik menggunakan spatula.
5. Akhir sekali, masukkan epal yang dipotong kiub tadi dan parutan kulit lemon. Kacau sebati.
6. Tuang adunan ke dalam loyang dan bakar dalam oven yang telah dipanaskan pada suhu 180C selama 35-40 minit* atau sehingga masak sempurna. 
7. Sejukkan kek di dalam loyang selama30 minit sebelum dikeluarkan dan dipotong.  
*Saya guna bekas silikon untuk bakar kek. Selepas 40 minit, bahagian tengah kek masih tak masak. Saya sambung bakar selama 25 minit lagi pada suhu 170C sampai kek betul-betul masak.