French Apple Custard Cake

Here is the other recipe Luke made with me a couple of weeks ago that was just wonderful. French Apple Custard Cake.  I was hooked just at the sounds of Custard and Cake combined.  The cake is delicious, moist and has a custard like consistency, thus its name. This one is just in time for apple season around here, and after having eaten it, I realized I will have to make this again very soon while fresh apples are in abundance. Luke got the recipe from a magazine and wrote it down a while back, but didn't remember what magazine, thus I don't have the credit to whom it goes to.  I have looked it up on the Internet, and it seems that it is a "known" recipe; I found several recipes published, most of them very much the same, so take your pick on who to give the original credit to on this one, cook it up and enjoy.

French Apple Custard Cake

Ingredients:

1 1/2 Granny Smith apples, peeled, cored, cut into 8 wedges and sliced 1/8 of an inch thick (see the picture below)

1 Tablespoon Calvados (Apple Brandy) : we just used an ordinary inexpensive Brandy that I had on hand for cooking and baking.

1 teaspoon lemon juice

1 cup + 2 Tablespoons All Purpose flour

1 cup + 1 Tablespoon granulated sugar (we used organic, unbleached, non-gmo sugar)

2 teaspoons baking powder

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 egg plus 2 egg yolks

1 cup vegetable oil

1 cup whole milk

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

powdered sugar for dusting the cake (organic unbleached as mentioned above)

Instructions:

1. Preheat oven to 325 degrees.
2. Heat apples in a non stick pan until translucent and slightly browned.  We didn't use any butter or liquid when we did this.  Add Brandy and lemon juice and let rest for 15 minutes.
3. Whisk 1 cup flour, 1 cup sugar, baking powder and salt together in a bowl.
4. Whisk 1 egg, oil, milk and vanilla in a separate bowl.
5. Pour dry ingredients into wet and mix until well combined.
6. Transfer 1 cup of the batter into a separate bowl and set aside.
7. Add egg yolks to the remaining batter and wisk until well combined.
8. Transfer batter into a 9 inch spring form pan lined with parchment, or prepared with a natural shortening and floured (My spring form pan is out of commission, so we ended up using 2 eight inch cake pans, which, which made for two cakes that were not quite as rich in height or volume, and yet worked well, but I do believe the spring form pan is the best way to go).
9. Lay apple slices evenly onto cake.
10. Whisk remaining 2 tablespoons flour into reserved batter.
11. Spread this batter over the apples and batter in the pan.
12. Sprinkle the remaining tablespoon of granulated sugar evenly over the batter.
13. Bake 70-75 minutes in a spring form pan or 40-50 minutes if using 2  8 inch cake pans; until cake is set, top is lightly browned, and a tooth pick comes out clean when inserted.
14. Let cool, and remove from pan.
15. Dust with powdered sugar
16. Enjoy!

Crisp Granny Smith Apples work nicely for this recipe.

Peel

And slice

Heat apples in a non-stick pan until slightly translucent, and we like them slightly caramelized.

Add Apple Brandy and Lemon Juice and allow to rest 15 minutes.

Note:  (the recipe calls for Apple Brandy, but I don't see any reason you couldn't use just pure vanilla or even apple juice.  We used a little Brandy I have on hand for baking and making extracts).

Mix together batter as instructed above.  This batter is a little different than what you might be used to, and you will want to follow the instructions carefully.  It is not difficult however, so don't let the extra step or two intimidate you; it is this process that gives the extra custardy texture.   Once mixed, you will 

transfer one cup of the batter and set aside in a separate bowl.

Lay the brandy soaked apple slices over the cake batter.

Cover batter evenly with slices.

Mix remaining cup of batter with the egg yolks and whisk together well.

Pour this batter over the top of the apples.  Sprinkle the remaining Tablespoon of sugar over the top of the batter.  When it is baked, the sugar forms a nice crust over the top.

Bake at 325 degrees for 40- 50 minutes if using two cake pans, and 60 -70  minutes if using a spring form pan.  Cake is done when it is set, and a tooth pick comes out clean.