The slump

I feel like I've hit a bit of one. I've been tampering with go-to recipes, to see if I could make them easier/better. As it turns out, I've just been messing up a good thing. So it's back to basics! Or, well, not using substitute products when the real thing does it perfectly fine.

New post (with successful results) soon :)

French Apple Cake

A week ago, a friend hosted a brunch and everyone brought a little something for the table. It all turned out really great, as you can see :). My contribution was the French Apple Cake, which you can see front left. It's adapted from a Dorie Greenspan recipe on David Lebovitz's site (you can see it at http://www.davidlebovitz.com/2010/11/dorie-greenspan-french-apple-cake-recipe/). 

I put my own little twist on it, making 2 loaf cakes instead of one round cake this time around. I have also made half the recipe previously with great success as well. And I've made it as a standard round cake too, which worked fantastically. It's easily adaptable! 

I'm going to post photos of the process as well - don't judge me on the (bad) quality of the pics! 

Le Ingredients: 

4-5 large apples (a mix of varieties)

2 large eggs

pinch of salt

150g sugar 

3 tbs vanilla extract (or essence if you don't have extract on hand)

110g flour
3/4 tsp baking powder 

85g melted butter, salted or unsalted (note that this is a reduction from the original recipe's 115g. I prefer it with less, it's a little less oily and still tastes great. Do increase this to the original quantity if preferred.)

Le method: 

Start with the apples, but make sure you have everything in place to work quickly, as you don't want to take too long and allow the apples to brown. 

Peel and core the apples, then chop them up in varying sizes - the recipe suggests 3cm pieces, but I prefer a mix of that size and many smaller pieces, which then just melt into the cake. This time around, I only had 4 medium apples; I usually end up with a lot more chopped apple, which is how I prefer it. This is what I ended up with this time around.


Note on the apples: You can use a mix of any apples. A mix is great as you have the different  flavours playing together. This time was a mix of Granny Smith, Golden Delicious and Fuji. Do play around with it and try a different mix each time.

Beat the eggs until light and foamy. Then add the sugar and whisk until thick and fluffy, and add in the vanilla and beat. You will see the colour transformation when you add the vanilla. And you'll be able to smell it too :) 

Stir in half the flour, and half of the melted butter. Then stir in the rest of the flour, the baking powder and the rest of the melted butter. Don't beat to vigorously at this point - just make sure it's all mixed in.

Add the apples and fold in until all of the apple pieces are well coated by the batter. Usually, I get a batter that just coats the apples; this time around, I had a lot more batter because of the lesser apples. 

If you're putting the batter straight into the pan, butter the sides of the pan (quite generously) first. I chose to use parchment paper to make it easier to get out this time (I usually make it in a springform pan), so I buttered the parchment paper. Pour the batter into the pan and smooth the top with the back of the spoon. If using parchment paper, this is the time to cut it down (I find it a better to do this after pouring the batter in than before, as it's easy for it to slip around in the pan). 

Go for a 20-23 springform pan or, as I did this time around, 2 loaf pans.

This goes into an oven pre-heated to 180ºC for about 40 to 50 minutes (one pan will need the 50 minutes, you want to start checking around the 35 minute mark for 2 loaf pans, but it should be done around the 40-45 minute mark).You can also test to see if the cake is done using a toothpick/knife/insert preferred method here.
Once you've got a nice colour on the cake and it's scented up your kitchen, remove from the oven and allow to cool for 10-15 minutes. Then remove from the springform pan/loaf tin, making sure the apples are not sticking to the sides when you do so (I left one side sticking so I could show you what would happen to the cake if the apples stuck - that's my story and I'm sticking to it!)

When it's cool, decorate if you'd like - I went with an icing sugar/water glaze this time, but usually prefer it unadorned. 

The cake is great on its own, slightly warmed or room temperature, or with a little bit of vanilla ice cream (particularly when warmed).

 The finished product: