FRENCH APPLE CAKE

 

26.09.2020: About 5 years ago, I had come across the recipe for the French Apple Cake which I had saved on my phone. During one particularly tiresome day, when I was feeding a fussy 3-year old Skip and not even his favourite Red Riding Hood video came to the rescue, I handed over the phone to him only to later find my entire folder of recipes deleted!

Out of sight, out of mind. This recipe had completely slipped my mind until...

A few days ago, when I opened the fridge for a regular inspection to check what items were left ignored or hidden away behind frequently used items, I found apples, nestled amongst little cartons of spices. In no mood to eat apples as is, I decided to bake a cake with them instead.

As I scrolled through many recipes, wondering which one would work best, I decided to bake the one from ‘Pardon your French’.

Then began the search for the liquor. We hardly ever have Dark Rum, Cognac or Brandy at home. After a little looksie here and there, Sky got a little bottle of Armagnac. After a quick search on liquor substitutes, I decided to go ahead with the Armagnac but poured a negligible quantity (about 10ml) to the cake. (I should have poured more). If you do not want to use alcohol, you may substitute it with apple juice but a classic French Apple Cake is one with a buttery, Rum flavoured crumb.

This cake is the most delicious of all the apple cakes I’ve ever baked. The melted butter forms a wonderful crust on the cake, the sugar sprinkled on top adds a lovely crunch (though it doesn’t help aesthetically, in my opinion) and the cake in itself is buttery and crumbly and fluffy with sweet, softened apples.

I am not a big fan of apples, but I do love them in desserts!

FRENCH APPLE CAKE

Ingredients:

Apples- 2 regular sized

Unsalted butter – ½ cup (125 gms)

All-purpose flour (maida) – 1 cup (125 gms)

Baking powder – 1 tsp

Salt – a pinch 

Eggs – 2

Granulated sugar – ¾ cup (150 gms) + 2 tbsps

Vanilla essence – 1 tsp

Dark rum/cognac – 3 tbsps (45 ml)

 

Method:

1.     Preheat your oven to 180C and prepare your baking dish. (I used an 8 inch pan).

2.     Melt the butter. Set aside and let it cool.

3.     Peel and core the apples and chop them into tiny pieces (about ½ an inch). (If you like your cake to have chunky pieces, dice the applies into bite sized portions).

4.     Sieve the flour, baking powder and salt.

5.     In a mixing bowl, beat the eggs with the 150 gms sugar for about 8 minutes until it is light and fluffy and doubles in volume. (I used an electric beater for this).

6.     With a rubber spatula or a whisk, gently stir in the vanilla and the alcohol.

7.     To this, add half the flour mixture and gently stir. Add in half the melted butter and stir. Stir in the remaining flour mixture, stir and then the remaining melted butter. DO NOT OVERMIX.

8.     Fold in the apples and stir until the pieces are evenly coated with the batter.

9.     Pour into the baking dish and sprinkle the 2 tbsps sugar evenly on top of the batter. Bake at 180C for about 40 minutes or until done.

10. Done.