Dried Apple Cakes

These apple cakes are rolled sourdough pinwheels stuffed with rehydrated dried apples, then baked in a bubbling syrup made from the apple cooking liquid, brown sugar, cinnamon, nutmeg, and butter.

The dried apples cook down in water first, and that cooking liquid is liquid gold. It’s concentrated apple flavor that becomes the base of the syrup the cakes bake in. Don’t pour it out. Measure your two cups and save every drop.

The dough uses baking mix moistened with sourdough starter, giving it a tangy backbone that plays against all that sweetness. A quick knead, roll it out, scatter the apples, and roll it up like a jelly roll. Cut into slices and lower them into the hot syrup in the skillet.

As the cakes bake, the syrup bubbles up around them, soaking into the bottom while the tops turn golden. They come out sticky, fragrant, and swimming in spiced apple caramel.

Kitchen Tips

• Lower the slices gently into the hot syrup. Dropping them splashes boiling sugar, and that’s a burn you don’t want.
• Don’t crowd the skillet. The slices expand as they bake and need room to rise. A deep skillet or cast iron pan works best.
• Serve warm with a scoop of vanilla ice cream. The hot syrup against cold ice cream is a thing of beauty.

Variations

• Pecan sticky buns: Scatter pecans in the bottom of the skillet before adding the syrup for a nutty, caramelized base.
• Cranberry apple: Mix dried cranberries in with the apples for a tart, festive version.
• Maple syrup swap: Replace some of the sugar in the syrup with maple syrup for a deeper, woodsier sweetness.