If Wolverine were a baker he'd bake a Streusal Cake.

If Wolverine was a baker he'd have one of these funky kitchen gadgets attached to his Adamantium skeleton, a pastry blender. It cuts butter and other fats into the dough and sugar. It's so cool it allows you to mix your ingredients without warming up the chilled butter in with your body heat. One of the key things about making flaky types of dough is using a very cold fat like butter and the necessity to mix it often comes at a price with body heat melting the butter and all hopes of a flaky crust.

That's where these bad boys comes in, they sorta look like miniature rib racks attached to a handle. Don't knock them they will do miraculous things with biscuit dough and case streusal.

As the first few weeks of Fall set in there's nothing that's more seasonal in New York/Jersey other than Apple picking. Some of our favorite haunts are Masker and Terhune. This year we went back to Masker and picked us up a stuffed back of Jonas Golds and Macs. Not without a nice nap under an apple tree of course with my two ladies. It was a wonderful and only part of the fun as the upcoming weeks allow me to think of what wonderful confection to cook up with the Fall Jewels that are freshly picked.

Inspired by a Facebook post from the Joy of Baking this especially delicious cake was a first for me but a wonderful first and I think my colleagues can attest since they gobbled it all up like Fall gnomes the next day.

Here's what you'll need...

Streusel Software:

1/2 cup all purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
3 tablespoons cold unsalted butter, cut into pieces
1/4 cup brown sugar
1/4 cup toasted and coarsely chopped Macadamia Nuts

Cake Software:
1 cup all purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/8 teaspoon salt
1/4 cup unsalted butter, room temperature
1/2 cup granulated white sugar
1 large egg
1/2 teaspoon
pure vanilla extract
1/3 cup milk
2 large Granny Smith Apples or any tart firm Apple, peeled, cored, and cut into thin (1/8 inch) slices

Hardware:
8 Inch Spring Form Pan
1 Sheet of Parchment Paper
Pastry blender
Mixing Bowls
Offset Spatula
Stand Mixer

Kick off by preheating your oven to 350 degrees F. Since it will take a good 20 minutes to get your ingredients together you might get the oven nice and toasty in preparation. Butter an 8 inch spring form pan and line the bottom of the pan with parchment paper. Just in case you were wondering the difference between Parchment paper and wax paper is that parchment using a thin coat of silicone versus Wax paper. I think you can use them box pretty interchangeably but parchment holds up better in my opinon.

Streusel Topping: In a large bowl, mix together the flour and ground cinnamon. Cut in the butter with a pastry blender or fork until it resembles coarse crumbs now work with purpose here since you really don't want the butter to begin to melt. Stir in the brown sugar and chopped macadamia. Set aside in the fridge while you make the cake batter.

Cake Batter: In a separate bowl whisk together the flour, baking powder, and salt.

In the bowl of your electric mixer, with the paddle attachment, beat the butter until creamy and smooth (I can hear a "that's what she said joke" coming on). Add the sugar and beat until light and fluffy. Add the egg and vanilla extract and beat just until mixed anymore than that will cause your cake to be dry and tough. Add the flour mixture, alternately with the milk, and beat only until combined. Word of advice slow down or stop the paddle when you mix or else you will be wearing a fair amount of the dry ingredients on you. Spread the batter into the bottom of the prepared pan, smoothing the top with an offset spatula.

Evenly arrange the apple slices on top of the cake batter and then sprinkle with the streusel topping.

Bake for about 45 - 50 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center of the cake comes out clean. Remove from oven and place on a wire rack to cool slightly.