Delicious apple cake stands the test of time

Bebe Calobrisi Barbella of Muttontown sent me her apple cake recipe last month, and a story.

We met in 2003, when she made her mother's chocolate-dipped butter cookies for a Christmas cookie story. Her cookies were a remembrance of her mother, Giuliana Calobrisi of Muttowntown, who had died two years before.

Back then, Barbella promised me a "fantastic" apple cake recipe by the fall harvest.

Seven years went by. Barbella wrote that each year she would think of sending the recipe "around Christmastime, when I make the cake, which was really too late!"

Then it arrived, just when I was thinking about apples, especially Jonathans, with lust and longing. Since Barbella says she makes this cake "with absolutely any apples I have," why not Jonathans? (Actually, Barbella said she uses "whatever is a little old in the fridge.")

Somehow, those crisp, snappy Jonathans seemed to fall out of fashion for a while. They might be making a comeback, however. Folks snatched them up at Woodside Orchards in Jamesport, and I got the very last of them around Christmastime last year.

Jonathans are sweet, yet with a tang that gives them character. They aren't long keepers compared to other apples; as with everything good that doesn't last, that adds to their allure. They are paradise eaten out of hand, or in a pie, or in Barbella's cake.

I bless Woodside and other orchards that grow them.

Barbella's recipe, another heirloom passed down from her mother, originally called for a can of sliced pie apples, but she always uses fresh fruit.

Her mother got it from "Knife Fork & Spoon," published in 1973, written by the women of the North Shore Synagogue in Syosset.

Barbella ended her letter this way:

"On the page of the recipe, there is a quote which always caught my eye: 'Tomorrow is the longest day in the week. It has to be, because of all the things we are going to do then.'"

This tomorrow - the tomorrow when Barbella finally sent along the cake recipe - was a long way off, but it was not too late.

APPLE COFFEE CAKE

5 or 6 medium apples, peeled and sliced, as for a pie

5 tablespoons plus 2 cups sugar, divided

5 teaspoons cinnamon

3 cups flour

3 teaspoons baking powder

1 teaspoon salt

1 cup vegetable oil or light olive oil

4 eggs

1/4 cup orange juice, fresh or boxed

1 tablespoon vanilla

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees.

2. In a bowl, combine apple slices with 5 tablespoons of the sugar and the cinnamon, toss and set aside.

3. Sift flour, remaining sugar, baking powder and salt in a large bowl. Make a well in center and pour in oil, eggs, orange juice and vanilla. Beat by hand with wooden spoon until well blended.

4. Spoon 1/3 of batter into a greased 9- or 10- inch-round angel food or tube pan. Drain excess moisture from apples and make a ring of the apple mixture. Do not let the apples touch the sides of the pan or they will burn.

5. Spoon another 1/3 of the batter over the apples, make a ring of the remaining apples and top with remaining batter.

6. Bake 1 hour to 1 hour and 30 minutes, until the cake tests done (a toothpick comes out clean). During baking, cover loosely with foil if cake is beginning to brown too rapidly. Makes about 14 servings.