Longing for apple cake

The Germans have got it right.  They have their apple cakes (aka Kuchen), crumb cakes, strudel and of course the famous black forest cake, just to name a few.

Last weekend, at a reputable Western suburb cafe, I spied a Sicilian apple cake.  I'm not one to go past an apple cake, or any other extremely moist looking cake....and so my equally cake obssessed friends were kind enough to order me a slice. 

The Delectable Jo then declared that the cake was not as good as the apple spice cake she had eaten the day before en route back from Broome.  Well, I dont think I could justify travelling ALL that way for cake...but it did give me a very acute longing for a decent apple cake.

Enter Vogue Entertaining.

The Making of

 the Creme Fraiche Apple Cake with Honey Toffee

  

Don't ask me what edition it was......I must've had the recipe sitting in my "to make" file for at least a year.

Apple & Honey Toffee Cake
Ingredients:

750g Apples

180g Butter

1/4 cup Apple juice

180g Caster sugar

3 Eggs (60g)

190g Self Raising Flour

50g Plain flour

1/2 cup Creme Fraiche

1/3 cup Honey

Grease and line a 20cm springform tin.

Peel and core apples.  Slice into even sized slices.

Melt 30g of the butter in a pan on medium heat.  Add apples and cook for a few minutes without browning the apples.  Add the apple juice and cook until all the liquid has evaporated.  Set aside to cool completely.

Cream butter with sugar until light and fluffy

Add eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition, try not to curdle the mixture.

Stir in Creme fraiche once eggs are mixed in.

Add half of the cooked apples to the batter

Stir flours to combine and sift into batter mixture.

Fold in flour until combined.

Bake at 170 degrees Celcius for about 45-55 minutes.  Test with a cake tester or skewer after 45 minutes.

Remove from oven and let cake sit in tin for 5 minutes on a wire rack.

Heat the honey in a saucepan until it starts to simmer.  It is ready when its just starts to turn colour and smells like honeycomb. 

Remove sides of springform tin and pour hot honey toffee over the cake evenly.

Serve cold or warm with a sprinkle of icing sugar and extra creme fraiche as desired.

my critique;
The cake has an incredibly light crumb, but stays amazingly moist from the creme fraiche and honey syrup.  Coming out of the oven, the cake has a delicious crispy crust which should be savoured whilst warm.  Next time I would add a touch of cinnamon to the cooking of the apples. Oh, and the honey toffee!  Oh my, its amazing..... I used Pohutukawa honey, which is one of the worlds' whitest honeys.

If you can't get hold of it, then a good quality honey would be fine.  Now I have to think of more uses for honey toffee! 

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I also had the great pleasure this week to make a cake for Isabella's First Holy Communion.

A lovely pink bible cake along with rosary beads, the chalice and little Isabella.

I hope Isabella had a memorable day!

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And last but not least, a big CONGRATULATIONS to Mel and Dave on the arrival of their babies, Caleb and Landon.  A very big welcome to your two perfect bundles of joy.

photo coutesy of Mel via facebook

I look forward to being their offical birthday cake maker!

Congrats Mel & Dave, the boys are so lucky to have such great parents!