French Apple and Rum Cake

There’s already a tried and tested Apple and Sultana cake on Eating for Ireland, https://eatingforireland.com/recipe/apple-and-sultana-cake/  but when I saw this unusual little French Apple Cake on a site called ‘Pardon your French‘, I thought it was worth a go. It was the strange way that the batter was made that attracted my attention, plus the fact that it appears to be made with what we would consider to be ‘eating’ apples. Perhaps they don’t have Bramleys in France – or Canada – which is where this lady hails from. I thought it would be handy to have a cake where you could just use up the apples in the fruit bowl. On its second day, the cake part becomes rather  soft and ‘custardy’ for want of a better description – I really liked it like that too!

It’s best if you follow the METHOD as it’s written here, because there are lots of pitfalls along the way.. I speak  as one who made this cake for the first time, and realised that she walked straight into said pitfalls – however, the cake appears to have survived!

Allons y!!

EQUIPMENT:

•  A medium sized microwaveable jug
• A medium-sized bowl
• a sieve
• A hand-held, or stand-alone electric beater
•  A 23cm spring-release cake tin, fully lined, including the base.
• A tablespoon and a teaspoon for measuring
• A weighing scales.

INGREDIENTS:                                

• 125g unsalted butter
• 125g plain flour
• 1 tsp baking powder
• ¼ tsp salt
• 2 large eggs
• 2-3 large eating apples – to give 300g when peeled, cored etc.
• 150g Golden caster sugar
• 1 or 2 tbsp of Demerara sugar – for sprinkling
• 1 tsp Vanilla extract
• 3 tbsp (45ml) dark Rum (or Cognac)

METHOD: Try it my way!!

• Melt the butter in a microwavable jug and allow to cool.
• Heat the oven to 160 Fan.
• Butter and line the cake tin. Put to one side.
• Sift the flour, baking powder and salt into a medium-sized bowl.
• Put the eggs and sugar into the bowl of the electric beater, and whip until they have doubled in size and become pale and airy – this takes about 5-10 minutes.

• While the eggs are beating, peel, core and chop the apples into 1cm chunks – enough to give 300g of prepared apple.

• When the egg/ sugar mixture is ready, add the Vanilla extract and Rum while the beater is still on.
• Bring the bowl with the eggs mixture to a work surface, and sift in half the flour. Fold in gently.
• Pour in half of the cooled, melted butter, and fold in gently.
• Add the second half of the flour, and fold in.
• Then add the last of the melted butter, and fold in.
• Add the chopped apples to the batter – it will look as if there is far too much apple, but don’t worry, it’s meant to look like that.

• Pour the whole lot into the prepared tin, and  level the top as much as you can.
• Sprinkle over 2 tablespoons of Demerara sugar, and place into the oven.
• Bake for 45 minutes, or until a tester comes out clean. Check also that the apple appears to be cooked, bearing in mind that they won’t melt down like Bramleys.
• Leave the cake to cool in the tin for at least 30 minutes. Like the other Apple Cake on this site, it’s pretty delicate when it first comes out of the oven.
• Serve warm or cold, with a dollop of  Crème Fraiche (the traditional accompaniment), lightly-whipped cream or some lovely vanilla ice-cream.

NOTES:

• I’m not great with repetitive tasks, so the cake was in the oven before I realised that I’d forgotten the second lot of melted butter – and today’s lesson is:  Do as I say, not as I do.. 😉
• The cake itself doesn’t actually rise that much – I suppose if you were carrying 300g of apples, you mightn’t rise too much either.
• The Rum was a revelation to me – I had a bottle of Havana Rum left over from last Christmas, so was happy to add the 3 tablespoons required by the recipe. It adds a very interesting flavour. I’d certainly recommend that you  give it a go. Most of it probably bakes off, but perhaps it’s not suitable for the kids.. Apple juice, or even Cider,  is a decent family-friendly alternative.
• Audrey, that’s the lady from Pardon my French has lots of lovely recipes – do check her out; she lives in Niagara-on-the-Lake – one of the cutest towns in Canada. We actually stayed there on holiday one time, and we loved it. It’s a few miles’ drive from Niagara Falls, and couldn’t be more different. If you’re thinking of visiting, we stayed in the Pillar and Post Inn – it’s lovely too, and where we first ate Sweet Potato fries!