Spanish apple cake
A whole weekend full of birthday celebrations is over! One day to prepare the cakes (which somehow literally takes a whole day for me) and another day to eat those cakes within 5 minutes and talking about the weather all the rest of the time. (No, I'm kidding, the party was fun! We spent almost the whole day fixing a puzzle with nieces and nephews and talking about.. well, the weather mainly. I'm sure it's worse than in those good ol' days!)
After all that baking and partying all weekend long, you find yourself caught up in working really hard and achieving nothing whatsoever. And then you realize it's really about time you get down to making that post, and why didn't anyone give you 5 minutes so you could only just write it down?! But don't worry, during all that busy-ness, I had cake by my side! Not this one, everyone ate that at the party. It was famous. It was gone.
I have to admit this is one of the oddest cakes I've ever had. I noticed I am really used to the apple-cinnamon combination so the addition of rum and cocoa was a really new experience. With the tang of the lemon topping though, it worked perfectly.
I'm currently debating the Spanish-ness of this recipe. The recipe claims to be Spanish, but somewhere I'm doubting it. I also can't find anything that looks like a replica on the internet (you know, after that 5 minute search I did). Any Spanish people know the answer?
After all that baking and partying all weekend long, you find yourself caught up in working really hard and achieving nothing whatsoever. And then you realize it's really about time you get down to making that post, and why didn't anyone give you 5 minutes so you could only just write it down?! But don't worry, during all that busy-ness, I had cake by my side! Not this one, everyone ate that at the party. It was famous. It was gone.
Spanish apple cake
26cm/10inch round cake - Het Superdikke Taartenboek
800 grams apples (3-4 large)
5 tablespoons rum
200 grams butter
200 grams sugar
1 teaspoon cinnamon
pinch of salt (optional)
4 eggs
200 grams flour
125 ground hazelnuts or almonds *
1 teaspoon baking powder
2 tablespoons cocoa
200 grams powdered sugar
1 lemon
nougatine (crumbs)
1. Peel and core the apples and chop into chunks. Put them in a bowl, cover with rum and set them aside, covered, at room temperature.
2. Cream the butter and the sugar with the cinnamon (and salt if using unsalted butter).
3. Beat in the eggs one at a time, not adding another until the previous is fully incorporated.
4. Whisk the flour with the ground hazelnuts or almonds, baking powder and cocoa.
5. Add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients in several small additions.
6. Lastly, add the apples with rum and pour the batter into a greased tin.
7. Bake in a preheated oven of 160 degrees Celsius or 320 degrees Fahrenheit for about 1 hour. A skewer will most likely come out wet; since this cake has a lot of apple it will stay quite wet. Keep an eye on the cake from 40 minutes onwards and take out of the oven when the top is dry and dark brown. Leave to cool completely before removing from the tin.
8. Sieve the powdered sugar to make sure there are no lumps. Add lemon juice, 1 spoon at a time until you get a very thick, but still spreadable consistency. Spread this out over the cake and sprinkle the nougatine on top. Leave to dry for around 20 minutes.
9. Slice and serve!
* You can do this yourself in a kitchen machine; anything from coarse to fine grains work.
26cm/10inch round cake - Het Superdikke Taartenboek
800 grams apples (3-4 large)
5 tablespoons rum
200 grams butter
200 grams sugar
1 teaspoon cinnamon
pinch of salt (optional)
4 eggs
200 grams flour
125 ground hazelnuts or almonds *
1 teaspoon baking powder
2 tablespoons cocoa
200 grams powdered sugar
1 lemon
nougatine (crumbs)
1. Peel and core the apples and chop into chunks. Put them in a bowl, cover with rum and set them aside, covered, at room temperature.
2. Cream the butter and the sugar with the cinnamon (and salt if using unsalted butter).
3. Beat in the eggs one at a time, not adding another until the previous is fully incorporated.
4. Whisk the flour with the ground hazelnuts or almonds, baking powder and cocoa.
5. Add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients in several small additions.
6. Lastly, add the apples with rum and pour the batter into a greased tin.
7. Bake in a preheated oven of 160 degrees Celsius or 320 degrees Fahrenheit for about 1 hour. A skewer will most likely come out wet; since this cake has a lot of apple it will stay quite wet. Keep an eye on the cake from 40 minutes onwards and take out of the oven when the top is dry and dark brown. Leave to cool completely before removing from the tin.
8. Sieve the powdered sugar to make sure there are no lumps. Add lemon juice, 1 spoon at a time until you get a very thick, but still spreadable consistency. Spread this out over the cake and sprinkle the nougatine on top. Leave to dry for around 20 minutes.
9. Slice and serve!
* You can do this yourself in a kitchen machine; anything from coarse to fine grains work.
I have to admit this is one of the oddest cakes I've ever had. I noticed I am really used to the apple-cinnamon combination so the addition of rum and cocoa was a really new experience. With the tang of the lemon topping though, it worked perfectly.
I'm currently debating the Spanish-ness of this recipe. The recipe claims to be Spanish, but somewhere I'm doubting it. I also can't find anything that looks like a replica on the internet (you know, after that 5 minute search I did). Any Spanish people know the answer?
Love the flavor of hazelnuts and apples together. This is one decadent dessert:)
ReplyDeleteCheers,
J+C
They do go together really well don't they? It's a pity I had to use almonds since they're cheaper than hazelnuts and the cake was for a family party, so it's not like anyone would notice much :P Hazelnut chunks would work better though. Oh, you made me want to bake it all over again!
DeleteWow! I'm a bit behind on reading some of my fave blogs (like yours!) and I see I've really missed a lot! I'm so intrigued by the flavor combination of this cake and just love the look of those big, luscious chunks of apple! Was it your birthday you were celebrating over the weekend?? Oh ... and your new Facebook page looks great - of course THK gave you a "like" straightaway!
ReplyDeleteOh don't worry, I've been around and about a few days only to realize you've posted a few more posts again! I'm a somewhat unreliable fan of your blog it seems :P
DeleteAnd woah! Thank you, I really need to start using that Facebook more. How about I start with liking you back? ;)
I can't really explain the flavour combination, but how about: at the (not mine) birthday celebration everyone picked this apple cake and my brownies were left untouched. Except for by me, because brownies with chocolate frosting. I got to eat all the leftovers of both cakes anyway, so I'm not complaining ;)
Apple cake is one of my favourites but the addition of hazelnut flour has me intrigued, i bet it's delicious!
ReplyDeleteOh, I wish I could tell you if it was! I used almond flour + coarsly chopped almonds myself, but I'll definitely let you know once I get my hands on hazelnuts! Or let me know if you get around to making it before I do ;)
Delete