Editor’s Pick
JANUARY 20, 2009 12:12AM
Rate: 10
Thomas Hill painting, Yosemite Valley, 1865
Yosemite Valley 2006
Happy inauguration! Today's foodie treat is courtesy of the new President's luncheon. The original recipe is a complicated (only a pastry chef would love) dessert, called Cinnamon Apple Sponge Cake. Our version is a bit easier, gluten free, and you can have it ready in about an hour. In keeping with the Abe Lincoln theme for this inauguration, the Yosemite painting is a nice touch. This painting, on loan from the New York Historical Society is in the room where the luncheon will take place. Abe was the one who in 1864 set aside the Yosemite Valley and surrounding Mariposa Grove full of sequois, tall then and much taller now, as a public place. Thank goodness! Yosemite is one of our favorite places to go. The time between Thanksgiving and Christmas is a well kept secret. No one is there. Truly. It is cold, but there are no crowds anywhere. It almost seems sometimes like you are there alone with the majestic rocks. The photos that we took show Half Dome and the long stretch down the valley that is pretty much the scene in the painting, but about 160 something years later.
half dome, Yosemite 2006
Inauguration Day Apple & Pear Sponge Cakes
For our dessert, we used pears because we had them on hand, but apples are perfect too. We used gluten free waffles instead of Brioche, but both are tasty. 
our gluten free easy verision
cast of characters
(adapted from the official inauguration luncheon
dessert, Apple Cinnamon Sponge Cake)
Serves 4Butter and coat 4 large ramekins with white sugar, set aside
Preheat oven to 400 degrees
Ingredients
- 8 gluten free waffles
- 2lbs of apples or pears or a mix with enough leftover for the finish sauce
- 6 tablespoons butter
- scant 1/4 sugar (less is good)
- pinch salt
- pinch cinnamon
- pinch nutmeg
- pinch lemon zest
- 1/4 cup applesauce
- pinch of vanilla
- bourbon
- your favorite caramel sauce
waffle side pieces
cutting the disks and side pieces
Set aside.
Melt 2 tablespoons butter in a medium sauce pan. Add the thinly sliced fruit and caramelize. Add the sugar, lemon, nutmeg, cinnamon, salt, and applesauce and let it cook until most of the liquid is evaporated about 10 minutes depending on the ripeness of the fruit. You want it to be soft but not mushy. Add a touch of vanilla when you set it aside to cool.
cooking the apple pear mixture
If you are using the leftover strips of waffle, fit it in the ramekin after you brush it with butter (butter side out). Push it down to make it solid and then fill the remainder with the apple/pear mixture, heaping it a bit on top. Add the top waffle and butter it too. Grate some fresh nutmeg on top with a bit of cinnamon and bake them on a baking sheet for about 20 minutes. 
spoon in the filling
festive patriotic cakes baking
Be sure to save about a half to one cup of the filling for the finish sauce!Cool for about fifteen minutes and if you used waffle sides, then run a knife around the edge and invert on a plate. If you didn't use the waffle sides, just serve in the ramekin. Either way is just as delicious.
Patriotic Cakes, cooling
Take the remaining apple/pear mixture and reheat. Add a bit more applesauce, a dash (large dash) of bourbon and heat it up until it reduces a bit. Spoon in about a cup of your favorite caramel sauce and melt it all together. Reheat gently and top the finished cakes with the sauce. 
mixing in the caramel
Bourbon is a food group
Top with the caramel topping and either add a side of vanilla ice cream or a bit of whipped cream. Or none. Your choice.Happy Inauguration and Bon Appetite!
Apple Pear Sponge Cake Voila!
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Comments
I'M SO THERE!
I saved you a piece Freaky! Just the right size for a purse troll.
Damn, you're a day late on this one! I'm already up to my elbows in flour making stuff for tomorrow's Inauguration Breakfast chez moi. (This 12 noon east coast swearing in is a killer for us folks in the west, as you undoubtedly know. I'm gonna have to get up by 5 tomorrow.) This looks SO much better than what I'm making. (And you kitchen looks SO much neater!) But this recipe looks FABULOUS, and bourbon is definitely one of my food groups, so I am going to make it.
Pop by my place and check out the Inauguration Tree. Bring some apple pear sponge cake while you're at it!
Pop by my place and check out the Inauguration Tree. Bring some apple pear sponge cake while you're at it!
LnL - you are ambitious girlfriend! I will be in pjs for the west coast version....it is sooo early for us. Well, sort of early.
What are you making? And take a photo of the tree!
What are you making? And take a photo of the tree!
You can float a ship in my mouth right now!
This looks good, but I'm not sure what you have against the original recipe, other than its gluten content. It's just a gussied-up apple charlotte.
Oh man. I am coming over to your place. That looks delish! Your dogs are adorable btw. I always wanted a Boston. Instead I have two fine examples of Canis Crazius.
looks yummy
"bourbon is a food group" - lol
"bourbon is a food group" - lol
bourbon... a sometimes food...pause occasionally to get a clean glass.
As the millions file out of the Mall area, word is out that they can all come to your place for a slice of inaugural cake.... save a slice for me, please - that looks amazing.
So do you strain all of the chunky stuff and just drink the sauce? I'm heading to the food/liquor stores right now. Thanks!
Mmmmmmmm! Slurp! And it looks simple too!
Maybe I'll try this on the weekend, signed, Working Mom with no Time to Cook on Weekdays.
Maybe I'll try this on the weekend, signed, Working Mom with no Time to Cook on Weekdays.
Funny thing. When I saw the luncheon (before Teddy Kennedy left in a hurry - heard he is doing fine now) I was hoping for a shot of the dessert but I only saw empty plates. I guess it was good!
This you can certainly strain and drink, although you should take the time to reduce the liquid....and it really only took an hour to do from start to finish.
L&P say thanks Juli! Don't they know it, the divas.
Molly - not a thing except it is three pages long and takes a bit longer and I didn't have apples, only pears. I merely made it gluten free and a bit easier to whip up.
gmgaston - one piece left! (Freaky?)
Thanks everyone. I was never happier than when the shurb left in the whirly bird....
This you can certainly strain and drink, although you should take the time to reduce the liquid....and it really only took an hour to do from start to finish.
L&P say thanks Juli! Don't they know it, the divas.
Molly - not a thing except it is three pages long and takes a bit longer and I didn't have apples, only pears. I merely made it gluten free and a bit easier to whip up.
gmgaston - one piece left! (Freaky?)
Thanks everyone. I was never happier than when the shurb left in the whirly bird....
I think the pears would be really good.
What a great piece---bourbon as a food group YES! And the pics but then this---
I was never happier than when the shrub left in the whirly bird....
Molly Ivins herself couldn't have said THAT better
I was never happier than when the shrub left in the whirly bird....
Molly Ivins herself couldn't have said THAT better
Thanks Roger!
Where do you live? If it's anywhere near Pennsylvania, I'm coming over. This looks so elegant. I can't believe you make it with GF waffles!
Thanks Lisa - I'm just a little jet ride away from PA. After I read the official luncheon recipe and it calls for brioche, the gf in me had to improvise....bread is not our friend, nor are there easy or tasty substitutes, so voila! gf waffles. They hold up pretty well. You can make the whole thing pretty quickly and they do taste great warm, right from the oven.
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