JEWISH APPLE CAKE

It is mostly gentiles who cook something called Jewish apple cake; Jews more likely will refer to it as German apple cake or simply apple cake or apple bundt cake. The name may come from the fact that it is a recipe of German-Jewish origin; its lack of milk, cream, and butter makes it suitable for dessert at a kosher meal that is either meat or dairy. Juice from the profusion of apple bits it contains as well as a good measure of vegetable oil make it extremely moist; its flavors usually include cinnamon, orange juice, and vanilla extract; chopped walnuts are an option. It is both a hearty dessert and an ideal coffee companion; in the latter role, it is sometimes made as individual muffins.

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Jewish apple cake at the Dutch Kitchen, Frackville, Pennsylvania.

For reasons unknown, Jewish apple cake is a term that is fairly well known throughout eastern Pennsylvania and into Maryland, but almost nonexistent elsewhere—except in places to which Pennsylvanians and Marylanders have moved.