marie helene's apple cake.

I've been loving baking with fruits very frequently as of late but I've not made apple anything yet, which is strange because there are just so many delish apple desserts out there. Apple pie, apple strudel, caramel apples (ohhhhhmygosh)... you get the idea. So when I found this recipe in Dorie Greenspan's Around my French Table I knew that I had to get some apples and get cracking.

Don't be fooled by the word "cake". The "cake" portion of this dessert is really more like a firm baked custard, and I don't mean this in a bad way. And the cake is practically 90% apples and 10% batter; again, not a bad thing if you like apples and you can fool yourself into eating more since it's mostly made up of apples. Good healthy stuff.

In conclusion, apples and custard laced with a bit of rum and heavy dose of butter is dang good. Make this cake.

Marie Helene's Apple Cake
makes an 8 inch cake
adapted from Dorie Greenspan's Around my French Table

3/4 cup all-purpose flour
3/4 tsp baking powder
pinch of salt
4 large apples
2 large eggs
3/4 cup sugar
3 tbsp dark rum
1/2 tsp pure vanilla extract
1/2 cup butter, melted and cooled

Preheat oven to 350F. Butter an 8 inch springform pan.

Whisk the flour, baking powder and salt together in a small bowl.

Peel the apples, cut them in half, and remove the cores. Cut the apples into 1 to 2 inch chunks.

In a medium bowl, beat the eggs with a whisk until foamy. Pour in the sugar and whisk until smooth. Whisk in the rum and vanilla. Whisk in half of the flour mixture, and when it's incorporated, add half of the melted butter, followed by the remaining flour mixture and butter. Mix in between additions so you have a smooth, thick batter. Fold in the apples with a rubber spatula.

Pour batter into prepared pan. Spread the batter out evenly with the spatula. Bake for 50 to 60 minutes or until the top of the cake is golden brown a knife inserted in the center comes out clean. Transfer to a cooling rack and cool for five minutes.

Run a knife around the edges of the cake and remove from the pan. Cool cake until slightly warm or at room temperature.