sunken apple cake with caramelized walnuts & calvados

cold(er) (sort of) weather makes me dream up a life that evolves around apples. it makes me want to be a farmer, growing fruit, with rows upon rows of apple trees. and the odd pumpkin patch, for good measure. i'd throw apple picking parties. and it would be fabulous.

in the meantime, i'll probably have to put up with turning apples into my (main) 'diet'. sweetness.

sunken apple cake with caramelized walnuts & calvados

recipe from annemarie wildeisen's magazine

rezept auf deutsch auf si style

ingredients:

125 g walnuts

100 g sugar (1)

1 lemon, juice and zest

750 g sour apples (or about 6 pieces)

200 g warm butter

125 g sugar (2)

4 eggs, room temperature

250 g flour

2 tsp. baking powder

1 pinch salt

4 tbsp. calvados (or milk, but i mean…)

2 tbsp. brown sugar (i ommitted this)

maybe 1/2 glass of apricot jam, for the glaze (addition by moi)

confectioners' sugar for dusting

directions:

start by preparing the caramelized walnuts. break the walnuts into chunks. slowly caramelize the sugar in a pan on medium heat, without stirring, until the sugar turns brown. add the nuts and stir well until all the nuts are evenly coated with the caramel. spread onto a parchment paper. cover with an other parchment paper, then break into small chunks with the help of a rolling pin, pan or hammer (haha).

peel and quarter the apples, remove the core and cut - but only half way through - into fine horizontal stripes. coat with the lemon juice and put aside.

butter and flour a large round spring form. preheat the oven to 180 c / 360 f. combine butter and sugar and cream together until fluffy. add eggs one by one and combine well. in another bowl, combine flour, baking powder, lemon peel and salt. now add flour mix and calvados alternatingly to the wet mix. revision: fold in the caramelized walnuts (thank you, dear readers, for pointing this out below,  btw). fill the dough into the form. arrange the apples on top with the cut sides on top. sprinkle with brown sugar (if using) and bake for about 50 minutes on the bottom rack of the oven. 

if you want to add some extra shine to the cake, heat the apricot jam and brush the still hot cake with the jam. leave to cool completely, then remove from the pan. dust with confectioners' sugar before serving. 

jolly good, this apple recipe number one. fall is just fabulous.