Amish Recipe: Apple Sponge Pudding
In which I use far too many italics, and redefine “pudding.”
I just plain do not understand how this is pudding, except in the way that most jumbled-up things in Amish cooking are, in fact, referred to as “puddings.”
This is not an insult.
This is an observation that my Apple Sponge Pudding does not resemble Jello-Brand Whatever-Flavor Instant Pudding in any discernible way.
What it does resemble is a beautiful mess of warm apple chunks, crispy brown sugar crust and fluffy bundles of cream-absorbent cake in a pan. This, my friends, is vastly superior to the smooth, fat-free-sugar-free stuff that I plop in a bowl with Cool Whip and call desert. This pudding is — dare I say it? — hearty. Heart-warming. It fills the kitchen with that unmistakable aroma of “We’re having real desert tonight.”
For actual bakers (myself absolutely not included), prep time could probably be cut in half. But I’m slow, and had to do things like search for the beater-mixers, slice my thumb on the apple-corer, scratch my head and wonder what “stiffly-beaten” egg whites looked like . . . you get the idea.
Amish Apple Sponge Pudding
Prep: 25 minutes
Bake: 45 minutes
Ingredients:
6 medium-sized apples 1tsp baking powder
2 eggs, separated 1/2 cup water
1 cup white sugar 1 tsp vanilla or lemon extract
1 cup flour 2 tbsp butter
1/2 tsp salt 2 cups brown sugar
Method:
(text lifted directly from the Mennonite Community Cookbook, notes in parentheses my own)
Wash, pare and slice apples. (I chose to peel mine with a carrot peeler, core them with an apple corer, and dice them into bite-size chunks. And by “chose,” I mean that’s all that I knew how to do)
To make batter, beat egg yolks and add sugar.
Sift dry ingredients together and add alternately with water and flavoring. (I mixed with a fork because it seemed reasonable, and accidentally used 1/4c extra water. No harm, no foul)
Fold in stiffly beaten egg whites. (If by “stiff,” she means “foamy,” then I nailed it)
Melt butter and brown sugar in bottom of large, flat baking dish. (I stuck the butter & unpacked brown sugar in the same bowl in the microwave for a minute. I pressed the resulting mixture into the bottom of the pan because the consistency reminded me of graham-cracker crust)
Add sliced apples.
Pour batter over top of apples. (If I made this again, I would use half the apples or double the batter — or maybe very thinly slice the same amount of apples. As it was, the batter didn’t come close to covering the surface of the apples, even after spreading it around)
Bake at 350 for 45 minutes.
Turn upside down to serve.***
Serve with cream. (We used Cookies n’ Cream ice cream because, you know, same idea, right?)
Makes 8 servings.
*** This sounded simple. It was not. I waited about fifteen minutes for the pan to cool a bit (possibly my first mistake?), then tipped it over into an identical pan — high sides, same dimensions, etc. I then enlisted my other half to hold the original pan while I mercilessly scrapped the gooey brown sugar and butter mixture from the bottom of the original & onto the top of the finished pudding. Many dangling bits of delicious cake and apples fell to the floor, to the excessive delight of my dog.
All in all, I am beyond pleased with this new idea of “pudding” — I feel like it means “a big dish of a bunch of good stuff that goes well together — grab a spoon and enjoy at will.” I hope that you give it a try, and tell us your experience!
- 2 eggs, seperated
- 2 cups brown sugar
- 1 cup white sugar
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 1 cup flour
- 2 apples
- 1 tsp baking powder
- 1/2 cup water
- 1 tsp vanilla or lemon extract
- 2 tbsp butter
- Wash, pare and slice apples.
- To make batter, beat egg yolks and add sugar.
- Sift dry ingredients together and add alternately with water and flavoring.
- Fold in stiffly beaten egg whites.
- Melt butter and brown sugar in bottom of large, flat baking dish.
- Add sliced apples.
- Pour batter over top of apples.
- Bake at 350 for 45 minutes.
- Serve with cream.
It was delicious!
In the top recipe it calls for 6 apples but in the bottom (same recipe) it calls for 2 apples. Can you tell me which is correct? Thanks! It looks marvelous!
Hi there, Cathy!
It should be six apples, all the way! Honestly, though, I ended up with *way* too much apple vs. batter! I assume you are far more experienced than I am, will likely slice or chunk the apples a little thinner, at which point 6 will probably work well.
If you’re feeling thumbs-y, with big apples, maybe go down to four? Let me know how you fare!
Thanks Jayca! I’ll just split the difference and go with 4 apples. Can’t wait to try it!
This looks delish. Can’t wait to try thisPudding can also be an English world for dessert. In the U.K. you see that a lot.
This was AMAZING!!!
Glad you enjoyed it, Erin!
I tried this recipe, and the 2 tbs of butter , and 2 cups brown sugar got very stuck to the bottom of the pan. It would seem that there should be more butter than that. Actually that combo did seem dry upon mixing it up. And it was dry after turning over.
Hi Patt,
Thank you for trying out the Apple Sponge Pudding recipe and offering input. Sorry to hear it came out dry. Here is the link to the Mennonite Community Cookbook it came from if you’d like to try another recipe. Thanks for sharing.
https://www.amazon.com/Mennonite-Community-Cookbook-65th-Anniversary/dp/0836199456/ref=sr_1_1?keywords=mennonite+community+cookbook&qid=1554321135&s=books&sr=1-1
Taste is good. The instructions are a little vague, like what size pan to use. If using a standard cake pan then it does seem thin. I might use a 9×9 pan therefore get a thicker cake consistency. For me, less brown sugar. Two cups is a lot for the crust. Thanks for sharing, I like trying new things.
Hi Tim,
Thanks for reading and trying out the apple sponge pudding recipe. The recommended pan size is 13 x 9, but a 9 x 9 is fine! Using less sugar is fine too. Both are good suggestions.
I don’t know if I did this wrong but we ended up with a thick layer of sugar on the top. I managed to remove the sugar from most of the cake but if I made it again I would leave the ‘topping’ off completely as it was way too sweet for our tastes.
Hello Fiona,
Thank you for your input and for visiting Timber to Table!