Marie-Helene's Apple Cake is a cake which is as delicious as it is easy, which makes it a winner in every sense. Brimming with apples, buttery and custardy, not too sweet and perfect on its own or with a dollop of whipped cream, this cake would be prefect for tea as well as after dinner.
Dorie encourages using a variety of apples; I chose a honeycrisp, fuji, gala, and I think an empire.
These are peeled, cored, and cut into cubes. This was the hardest part of the recipe.
Butter is melted and cooled to room temperature. Flour, salt, and baking powder are mixed together and set aside. Two eggs are whisked, sugar is mixed in, the butter is alternated with the flour, and the apples folded in.
It looks a little concerning, as there are more apples than batter. But not to worry.
Oh, did I mention that this cake has 3 tablespoons of dark rum? That was exciting. I used the rum in which I have been stashing my used vanilla bean pods.
The cake bakes for almost an hour.
I had some leftover heavy cream so I whipped that up with a little sugar and some more of that rum. I brought this to work, where I shared it with a couple of friends. It didn't even last 12 hours, we loved this cake so much!
And omigosh! How could I forget? Cookie and I met Dorie when she was in Portland last week promoting her book! She signed my books and was kind enough to let Cookie snap this photo of us. Look how fabulous Dorie is!
Ohhhh jealous you meet Dorie! Booktours don't include little old Tampa town in their list - boo hoo.
ReplyDeleteAnd seriously this cake is like Awesonvile!
Beauty!! How cool that you met Dorie!
ReplyDeleteWasn't that cake delicious?! Love your photos. Great natural light! Isn't Dorie the sweetest?
ReplyDeleteMonica, aw bummer--you would love Dorie. She's as personable and awesome, just like this cake!
ReplyDeleteraiuchka, it was cool! hey by the way, I am still trying to blog our russian weekend...it will be published!
Katrina, yes, the cake was fabulous! i gotta say, the cloudy oregon days make for great photos. dorie is the sweetest, and so stylish too!
OH how fun and what a great thing to do with the bean pods. Gosh I've seen so many great ideas from our group of French Chefs!
ReplyDeleteTrevor Sis Boom.
Your photos are beautiful...great work!
ReplyDeleteThanks for sharing your Dorie photo!
ReplyDeleteYour cake looks absolutely perfect!! And what a great idea to use vanilla-infused rum. Nice job.
ReplyDeleteOh my gosh, I LOVE the close-up of the crumb edge of your cake! So golden and yummy! Awesome job!
ReplyDeleteI left a comment earlier, looks like it never made it.
ReplyDeleteSo cool that you met Dorie. You two look cute :). Your cake is beautiful! I'm glad you like it.
Oh ... so ... beautiful! AND you met Dorie. Awesome!
ReplyDeleteOh, your cake looks wonderful. And I loooove your picture with Dorie! :)
ReplyDeleteYour cake is lovely, love the golden crust! And your picture with Dorie is such a perfect memento of the meeting. :)
ReplyDeletewhat a beautiful cake. i too would have worried about the batter to apples ratio. good to know it works. how did you measure the flour for this recipe? I'm such a scale freak :o)
ReplyDeleteYour cake is gorgeous! Love the photos too and am completely jealous that you had the opportunity to meet Dorie!
ReplyDelete:-) Looking forward to reading it. Let me know if you want any help/recipes!
ReplyDeleteYour cake looks so beautiful! And that's a great idea for your used vanilla beans.
ReplyDeleteI saw your question on my post - I used an all-purpose gluten-free flour mix that my food co-op sells: white rice flour, potato starch and tapioca flour. It works really well for recipes like this.
thanks everybody for all your nice comments!
ReplyDeleteraiuchka, thanks, i may be contacting you for the recipes!!
Jenn, you left a comment on the other blog! i know this is all so confusing :)
onewetfoot, thank you! that's my basic mix too. can't wait to try it out.