Spring Sprung; bright green new leaves on the trees, all kinds of flowers are blooming, warm air and birds are busy looking for lovers… spring is in full swing in the Bay Area. Particularly where I reside, south of San Francisco, has the most mild weather around. It is not only in Bay Area’s best but it’s the best in the entire California.
Local strawberries are beautifully displayed in the produce markets now, yet their taste is not so great at the moment…cherries should be coming soon. Apples are not in season, also nowadays, many apples available in supermarkets here are coming from Washington State, harvested last year. I found local apples for Sale at my neighbor’s Whole Foods Market, and they looked great and had a nice “apple smell”, so I immediately purchased them home.
Coincidentally, I was looking at an old Italian cooking book a few days ago and there was similar recipe to this mine. In fact I had the cake over a decade ago in Veneto, Italy when I was driving up to Vienna, Austria in the beginning of fall. It was a rustic looking dessert in a roadside small bakery, but the smell was so attractive “real apple fragrance ” and it was very delicious. This is a very simple recipe but you would enjoy baking it and get very happy results. I wanted to have vanilla ice cream serve with it, but I decided to serve it with a simple lemon curd sauce. It became perfectly springy dessert. You will be jubilated!
Apple Cake / Torta di Mele
Recipe adapted from TRATTORIA by Patricia Wells
For one 9-inch cake (8 to 12 servings)
4 ounces (125g) unsalted butter, soft at room temperature
1 cup (200g) Vanilla sugar
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
3 tablespoons milk
grated zest (yellow peel) of 1 lemon
3 large eggs (150g) at room temperature
1½ cups (200g) all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
⅛ teaspoon fine sea salt
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
3 golden delicious apples (about 1.5 lb/750g)
Preheat the oven to 350F (180C).
Generously butter and dust flour a 9-inch springform pan, tapping out any excess flour. Set aside.
In a large mixing bowl, cream butter, ¾ cup (150g) of the vanilla sugar, vanilla extract, milk, and lemon zest until light and fluffy. Add the eggs one by one, beating thoroughly after each addition.
Sift the flour, baking powder and salt into another bowl. Spoon the mixture into the batter and mix until thoroughly blended. Pour the batter into a prepared spring cake pan, smoothing out the top with a spatula. Set aside.
In a large bowl, toss together 2 tablespoons of the vanilla sugar and ½ teaspoon cinnamon. Peel and core the apples, and cut each lengthwise into 16 even wedges. Transfer the apples to the bowl, tossing with cinnamon sugar.
Starting just inside the edge of the pan, overlap the wedges of apples–thicker curved outer side against the side of the pan–in 2 or 3 concentric circles, working toward the center. Fill in the center with remaining apples. Toss together the remaining 2 tablespoons sugar and ½ teaspoon cinnamon, and spring over the apples.
Place the pan in the center of the oven. Bake until the apples are a deep golden brown and the cake feels quite firm wheel pressed with a fingertip, about 1 hour. Remove to the wire rack to cool for about 10 minutes. Gently run a knife along the sides of the pan. Release and remove the side of the springform pan, leaving the cake on the pan base. Serve at room temperature, cutting into 8 or 12 wages.
Note. You may place a round piece of parchment paper at the bottom of the pan, butter and flour.
Lemon Curd Sauce
Makes about 1 cup (225 grams)
2 large egg yolks
⅓ cup (70g) granulated sugar
2 lemons (1 lemon of fine zest, two for juicer about 60 ml)
A pinch of salt
2 tablespoons (30g) cold unsalted butter, cut into small pieces
In a large glass or porcelain bowl, mix the egg yolks, sugar lemon juice and salt; stirring constantly with a whisk over gently simmering water (double boiler) for about 7 to 8 minutes.
Remove from the heat and wait a few minutes to cool the sauce down.
Whisk in 1 tablespoon of butter at the time until completely combined to another 1 tablespoon butter. Transfer to a clean container and refrigerate until ready to serve. It will be good for a few days in the refrigerator.
