Every year for his birthday, my brother asks my mom to make him apple cake. And every year without fail, NOBODY eats it. I think after 364 days he forgets that it is not a good cake and he asks for it again. So this year when he asks my mom for an apple cake for his birthday I am going to make him Chef Brad’s Fresh Apple Grain Cake!  The cake itself was very tasty and moist, and the frosting was very delicious. It had cream cheese and a kick of lemon which were great accompanying flavors to the apples.

 The only change that I made to the recipe was that this recipe calls for Teff, and after looking on Chef Brad’s web site (http://www.chefbrad.com/grain/details.php?grain=Teff&grain_id=16) I found out what it was. I then could not find it any stores, and due to the fact that I live in a small town I figured I would need to pick some up at a whole foods store next time I was in Salt Lake. Because I didn’t have any Teff I substituted in more popped Amaranth in its place. The texture and taste was really good, so if you can’t find Teff then feel free to use more Amaranth. And if you CAN get your hands on Teff, then let me know where you found it and how it turned out!

 Let’s get down to business.

Get your ingredients together

Whip together: oil, sugar, eggs, heavy cream, & vanilla.

Use a fine grater to grate your apples, I used my food processor.

Then add in the rest of your ingredients: WonderFlour, popped Amaranth, baking powder, pumpkin pie spice, salt, Teff* & grated apples and pour into a “large pan”. Chef Brad didn’t say what size pan to use, so I used my jelly roll pan and it worked out great but feel free to try a bunt pan.

Bake for 35 minutes at 350 degrees.

Remove from the oven and cool before frosting.

While it’s cooling let’s make the frosting!

Gather up your ingredients

Cream your cream cheese, vanilla, melted butter, lemon zest, juice & powdered sugar until well blended and spread on cake.

This is a very good cake and I really think that my brother will like MY NEW apple cake rather than THE NASTY ONE that he ALWAYS asks for but never eats. Hopefully I can get my hands on some Teff also!

 So until next time…