Sweet Sunday: Apple Cake - via Dorie Greenspan and Her Friend Marie-Hélène

As I dive into the sweet and yeasty side of cooking where I once believed, "hic sunt monstra" (here, be monsters), I have become more relaxed and a little more confident, but when I saw what the cake batter looked like after the apples were added, I kinda freaked out, thinking I'd made some egregious and fatal error because it looked like there were too many apples and not enough batter.

The good news is that I had absolutely no reason to freak out. This is one fine and delicious cake.  The liquid that comes out of the baking apples mixes with the batter to make an apple-y, custard-y delight.

This is the first recipe I chose to make from Ms. Greenspan's book, "Around My French Table: More Than 300 Recipes from My Home to Yours", but it is definitely not the last. I'm not the first to make and blog about this cake - or a host of other of Ms. Greenspan's recipes.

This is a recipe that Ms. Greenspan developed based on her friend, Marie-Hélène's cake and Ms. Greenspan encourages anybody who makes this not to futz with the recipe the first time around and I concur. There are so few ingredients that come together to make something so wonderful. Also, I think using several different types of apples is important in this recipe. I learned that same lesson about apple pie. When it comes to apple sauce (or apple butter) sticking to a single type is generally better.

Oh - and I think the addition of the dark rum is a key ingredient, if you have some. If not, brandy would do the trick.

The only quibble I had was (as I have had with other recipes) the old, "How big is big?" question when it comes to apple size. The recipe calls for four large apples of different types. I suspect that it's not a cooking crime with this recipe if your apples vary a little in size but I really had a wide range of apple sizes. I actually did some research on what is considered a large apple (*cough*NERD*cough*) and came up with a weight one-half pound (8 oz) per apple. Plus or minus a few ounces isn't going to hurt.

RECIPE: MARIE-HÉLÈNE'S APPLE CAKE
From Dorie Greenspan's book,  "Around My French Table: More Than 300 Recipes from My Home to Yours"
Makes 1 8" cake.
Equipment: baking sheet, 8" springform pan, parchment paper or silicone baking mat (Silpat)

Ingredients:

• 3/4 cup all-purpose flour
• 3/4 teaspoon baking powder
• pinch of salt
• 4 large apples, (2 lbs) of apples - choose different types if possible
• 2 large eggs
• 3/4 cup sugar
• 3 tablespoons dark rum
• 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 8 tablespoons (1/4 lb) unsalted butter, melted and cooled + more to grease the pan

Preparation
Preheat the oven to 350F, rack in the middle.


Prepare for baking by lining a baking sheet with parchment paper or a silicone baking mat. Thoroughly butter an 8" round springform pan and place it on the lined baking sheet. I also covered the bottom of the buttered springform pan with parchment and then buttered the parchment. This makes separating the springform pan bottom from the cake a no-brainer.


In a small bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder and salt and set aside.


Peel, core and cut the apples into 1-2" pieces. Uniformity of shape isn't important here.


In a medium bowl, beat the eggs until foamy. Pour in the sugar and whisk for about a minute, or until the sugar and eggs are blended then whisk in the rum and vanilla.


Whisk in one-half of the flour/baking powder/salt mixture, thoroughly incorporating it. Add half the melted, cooled butter and whisk. Add the remaining flour and butter mixing after each addition. The batter should be smooth and thick. It reminded me of waffle batter. Using a large spatula, fold in the apples, making sure that all of the pieces are thoroughly coated. Pour the batter/apple mixture into the prepared pan, scraping the bowl. Use the spatula to make sure the mixture is more or less even.


Place the pan (on the baking sheet) into the oven and bake for 50 - 60 minutes.  When you test it, use a knife and insert it deep into the center. It should be clean - or really, really close. The top will be golden brown and darker brown on the top edges. The edges will probably pull away a little from the sides of the pan. Transfer the cake pan to a cooling rack and let it sit for 5 minutes.


Use a blunt knife - or the non-cutting edge of a dinner knife - to run around the edge of the cake and loosen the sides of the springform pan. Open the pan slowly and make sure there aren't any apples stuck to the side. Continue cooling the cake until it is just warm or at room temperature.


Ms. Greenspan advises using a long spatula to remove the bottom of the springform pan (running it between the cake and the pan) and then inverting the cake onto the rack to remove the bottom. I found that if I line the generously buttered springform and then line the bottom with parchment and butter that, then the bottom lifts right off and the parchment paper liner does too.


This cake stores very well but store it on the counter and don't cover it - it's too moist to wrap up.

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Sweet Sunday: Roasted Pear Tart

Once you've roasted pears that make their own caramel sauce (see: Roasted Caramel Pears with Crème Fraîche and Toasted Pistachios), it's a short, easy ride to make this roasted pear tart.

I used a sweet tart dough (from Mark Bittman's "How to Cook Everything Vegetarian" I highly recommend his cookbooks), 4 ounces each crème fraîche and fromage frais as the filling, drizzled the caramel sauce from the roasted pears over the fruit and garnished with toasted ground pistachios. All-in-all pretty simple. You can roast the pears the day before as well as make the tart dough and refrigerate that until the next day.

The assembled tart needs to chill in the refrigerator for a few hours before you serve it; the extra sliver I stashed in the refrigerator tasted great the next day, too. After chilling the tart, take it out of the refrigerator about an hour before serving.

Crème fraîche and fromage blanc, combined.

What is this "fromage blanc", you may ask? Fromage blanc is a creamy soft cheese made with cows milk. and not cream (like crème fraîche) and as Cowgirl Creamery makes it, it is what American grocery store cream cheese can only dream it could be but never will be. It has about 30% less fat than regular U.S. cream cheese and I think it's exponentially better. I wanted the tartness and rich, creamy taste of the crème fraîche to be there but not so forward. The fromage blanc was the perfect pairing. Look for it in your neighborhood from a good purveyor, buy and taste some and I'll bet you like it. A lot.

RECIPE: ROASTED CARAMEL PEAR TART

Serves: 8
Sweet Tart Shell recipe from: "How to Cook Everything Vegetarian", by Mark Bittman


CARAMEL ROASTED PEARS-------------------------------------------------------
Equipment: Refer to: Roasted Caramel Pears with Crème Fraîche and Toasted Pistachios
Ingredients:

• 3/4 cups light brown sugar, lightly packed
  
• 4 medium bosc pears, just ripe - at room temperature
• 3/4 cups apple cider, or water (may not be necessary)

Preparation:

• Follow STEPS 1 and 2 for roasting the pears in this recipe: Roasted Caramel Pears with Crème Fraîche and Toasted Pistachios
• After the pears halves have cooled, remove them;  drain off and reserve the caramel sauce. Store the pears and sauce in separate covered bowls or containers. If you are making the pears the day ahead, store the pears and sauce covered, separately in the refrigerator in air-tight containers.
  
• When you assemble the tart, the caramel sauce should be the consistency of warmed honey - viscous, yet free-flowing. If your sauce is too thin or thick, follow the recommendations in STEP 3 of  Roasted Caramel Pears with Crème Fraîche and Toasted Pistachios to make any necessary adjustments.

SWEET TART SHELL---------------------------------------------------------------
Equipment:  1 - 9" or 10" tart pan, a little flour in order to roll-out the dough, foil, a little butter to grease the foil  and 2 cups of raw rice, dried beans or pie weights and a pastry scraper to lift the dough. If you don't have a pastry scraper, you can use a length of dental floss and slide it under the dough to loosen it from your board.

Ingredients: Sweet Tart Shell

• 3/4 cup all purpose flour
• 1/2 cup ground almond meal (or other ground nuts)
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 2 tablespoons sugar
• 10 tablespoons frozen or very cold butter, cut into 1/3" chunks
• 1 egg yolk
• 3 tablespoons ice water (more or less may be required)

Preparation: Sweet Tart Shell

1. In the bowl of a food processor, add the flour, salt and sugar. Pulse once or twice to combine. Add the chilled or frozen butter all at once and process until the mixture is uniform (no more than 10 seconds). Add the egg yolk and process for 4 more seconds.
2. Remove this mixture to a bowl and add the ice water until you can form the dough into a ball. If it's too dry (the dough ball cracks or doesn't hold together), add more ice water 1 tablespoon at a time.
3. Form the dough into a ball, slightly flattened, wrap tightly in plastic and chile in the refrigerator for  at least 1 hour. You can refrigerate up to a couple of days, or freeze for up to a couple of weeks.

Rolling-Out and Pre-baking the Tart Shell

1. If the dough was frozen, remove the dough - the day or night before you plan to assemble the tart - to the refrigerator. When you remove the dough from the refrigerator bash it gently just enough (not like you're swinging hammer!) 4 to 6 times in order to be able to roll it out.
2. Lightly dust your surface with flour place the dough on the surface and roll in one direction, making a 1/4 turn after each roll until the dough is 2" in diameter larger than your tart pan. If your dough is sticking to the rolling surface, pick up the dough (this is where the pastry (or bench) scraper or length of dental floss may comes in handy) on each side and dust your surface with a little flour.
   
3. Drape 1/2 of the dough over the rolling pin (again, have the pastry or bench scraper or dental floss nearby) and place it on top of the tart pan, centering it.
4. Press the dough into the pan gently, including all of the nooks and crannies. If there is some cracking, or thin parts, patch with dough scraps being careful not to make your patched areas thicker than the rest of the the dough.
5. When you are done, use a knife to cut-off the excess. 
6. Wrap the tart pan with plastic wrap and refrigerate for 1 hour. I have tried freezing the tart dough for 30 minutes, but my tart shells tend to shrink when I use that method, but not when I refrigerate the dough for an entire hour - or up to two hours. If you're in a rush and cannot wait for an hour, wrap and freeze the dough for 30 minute and accept the shrinkage.
7. While the dough is chilling down, pre-heat the oven to 425F, rack in the middle. When the oven has pre-heated, remove the tart pan with the dough from the refrigerator and remove the plastic wrap. Prick (dock) the dough all over with a fork, evenly spaced (10 to 15 times). .Butter a length of foil and place it into the pan butter side down on top of the dough pressing very gently to get it into the shape of the dough in the pan. Place the pie weights (raw rice, dried beans or pie weights) on top of the foil.
8. Place the prepared tart shell on the middle rack and bake for 12 minutes. Remove the tart pan from the oven and remove the foil and the weights. Return the tart shell to the oven, reduce the temperature to 350F and continue to back until the crust is entirely golden brown as this tart recipe requires no additional baking.
9. Cool the tart shell  completely on a wire rack (in the tart pan) before assembling the tart.

TART FILLING--------------------------------------------------------------- 
Ingredients:

• 4 oz crème fraîche
• 4 oz fromage blanc (substitute: whole milk ricotta, beaten smooth or cream cheese)

Preparation:
Combine crème fraîche and fromage blanc until smooth and homogenous

GROUND OR CHOPPED PISTACHIO GARNISH-------------------
Ingredients: Pistachio Garnish

• 1/3 cup shelled, toasted pistachios coarsely ground or chopped (See the method for toasting at the end of the recipe:  Roasted Caramel Pears with Crème Fraîche and Toasted Pistachios)

ASSEMBLING THE TART---------------------------------------------------------------
Have ready:

• Pre-baked and cooled tart shell
• Crème fraîche and fromage blanc filling
• Roasted pears and caramel sauce
• Ground or chopped pistachio garnish

1. Spread the filling in the tart shell
2. Slice the roasted pears into 1/4" vertical slices and arrange, starting at the outside, in circles on top of the filling.
3. Drizzle around 1/3 cup of the caramel syrup evenly over top of the roasted pear slices
4. Garnish with the toasted, ground or finely chopped pistachios
5. Wrap the tart with plastic wrap and chill in the refrigerator for a couple of hours. Remove 1 hour before serving to come up to room temperature.

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Sweet Sunday: Whole Wheat Apple Muffins and Camera Advice

So, on my second weekend of cooking something dessert-y for my friend to take to her church, I was scrambling a little to get them made and cooled -- all the while shooting lovely (or as lovely as I can manage), informative pictures.  Except...

...when I checked on the images, there was nothing. I'd forgotten to take the card out of my laptop and put it back in the camera. Yes, the display clearly shows, a "NO CARD" message, but once I got my settings for the pictures, I wasn't looking at the display. What's the lesson?

Stand-in apples - taken this week as I made the apple muffins a week ago last Sunday.

There is a setting to enable notification in the viewfinder - big and bright, flashing, yellow CARD, that I have since changed from "Disabled" to "Enabled". You might want to check that out on your own camera.

Fortunately, I had set a couple of the muffins aside for Lynn and was able to memorialize the muffin. For me, an inconvenience - these aren't professional photo shoots - just a pain in the hiney.

Anyway, these are very good muffins that I made pretty much as specified by Deb Perelman over at Smitten Kitchen. The only change I made was to, right after the muffins came out, sprinkle yet a little more brown sugar on top. A few people mentioned that they liked the extra crunch. As Mr. Perelman states in the recipe (which she adapted), the original recipe says you'll get a dozen, but you're likely to get more, from a standard-size muffin tin - I got 18.

Apples! There are glorious apples in the market and a Granny Smith isn't your only option for baking when you want an apple that will hold its form. The picture at the top of this post has Northern Spy, Fameuse and Skaar, but the apples I used for these muffins were, per the farmer, "mystery" apples and holy buckets they were good eating AND good bakers.

Beyond the addition of the additional brown sugar after the muffins came out of the oven, I did not change this recipe and so click the link below to go to Smitten Kitchen for the recipe.

RECIPE: WHOLE WHEAT APPLE MUFFINS at SMITTEN KITCHEN
Makes 12 - 18 muffins.

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Sweet Sunday: Orange Ginger Torte: A Long Post for a Short Recipe

Murcott Tangerines

!WARNING!: this is a long post. You can skip down to the jump for the recipe. Or read on for:

1. How I will manage to make baked goods and desserts on a weekly basis without guilt; and
2. How I tussled through two iterations of possibly one of the shortest recipes other than, "Apple: wash, eat".

Torte Version #2 Plated: Made with Murcott tangerines. The only sugar I had was an organic unrefined,
unbleached, cane sugar which produced a deeply browned exterior. It also photographed a little darker than it actually looked.

Consider the following:

• I am much more confident in my savory cooking than in baking or desserts and I would like more practice, but... 
• I should not have left-over desserts or baked goods, hanging out in my house and calling to me like the Sirens

What to do? Until now, I'd only make desserts for a dinner party or other special occasion and send left-overs home with guests. A few weeks ago I had an ah-ha moment: the church a friend of mine attends serves food after services. A few years ago, I sent a test batch of vegan, chai cupcakes along with her (they liked them). A few weeks ago I asked her if I could make a dessert at the end of the week and send everything with her except for a serving for me to taste (and one for her). Eureka!. Now we have "Sweet Sunday".

Torte Version #1 Plated: This was made with regular white sugar and glazed with a thin mixture of
orange zest, orange juice and sugar.

Unlike savory cooking where I'm generally fearless and understand what's going on and why something works (or doesn't), I don't have that deep experience with desserts and baking. This means more copious head notes in my posts (as if I weren't wordy already!) which I hope are helpful for at least some who read. If it's all old hat to you, just nip on down to the jump link and go right to the recipe.

Torte #1 after an hour of baking. Looks fine on the outside, but the interior was mushy, still.

For the first round of Sweet Sunday, I made an orange ginger torte which has a very sexy, seductive aroma and taste. It has a short list of ingredients: oranges, eggs, sugar, almond meal, ginger (both fresh and candied) and baking powder. I ended up making it twice. The first time the end result, once I got through all of the trials and tribulations, tasted good, but I couldn't post it until I addressed the issues and questions I had or at the very least understood why I ran into problems and made it a second time with adjustments, and I will definitely make it again. I'll note this again in the recipe, but I really think this torte tastes better after the first day and on the third day it was even better - just wrap tightly and store in the refrigerator.

#1: How BIG is Small? ...Because Size Does Matter

• After I made it the first time the first thing I came to learn was that your idea of a small, medium or large orange may differ from mine and this is a perfect example of why weight is a better way to measure, especially in baking. The recipe called for 2 large or 3 small oranges. I had several Moro blood oranges and 3 of them that I considered small. The cake took two hours to fully cook instead of the one called for in the recipe. After the first hour, the insides were like oatmeal. I emailed the author (Clotilde Dusoulier of "Chocolate & Zucchini" fame - a very good blog, full of delicious, interesting recipes and good information) and she was gracious enough to update the recipe with the weight (1 1/3 lbs for the oranges) and also give a really useful description of how the crumb should appear in the post's comments. She has been blogging for years and her site and recipes are very popular - for good reason -  so there are generally many comments per post. Not all bloggers respond to questions, but she does - and did respond to mine even though the original post was from 2004!

#2 The Right Citrus for the Job

• I did some research and found that most of the similar recipes were called "Clementine Cake"  and generally called for Clementine oranges (a mandarin hybrid).  Also, I think blood oranges aren't my preferred choice for this torte. They often are a bit dear and I think the special taste and aroma qualities of a blood orange is lost in baking - at least in this torte. When you get your hands on a good blood orange, it is a wonder and not just for the beautifully hued flesh and peel. I can find essence of roses and other floral aromas in the flesh and they are wonderfully juicy.
  

  

  Torte Version #2: The recipe from which I started called for a topping of pearl sugar combined with lemon juice and zest. I opted for a glaze made with powdered sugar, orange juice and zest, topped with toasted almonds.

  
  I think this cake tastes better using an orange with less pith. Less pith=larger ratio of flesh and outside skin (zest) to pith. The second time around, I used 1 1/4 lbs of Murcott tangerines. Murcott tangerines are marketed in some areas as "Honey Tangerines" and are sometimes called Murcott Mandarins (see: UCR College of Natural and Agricultural Science's Citrus Variety Collection- I love this reference site). They are delicious to eat with a bright, sweet flavor and a great aroma. I rarely encounter a seed but cut mine in half horizontally to look for any before I pureed them. I think any thin-skinned mandarin or tangerine with great taste and a thin pith would work just fine.

#3 What is it supposed to look like?

• Ms. Dusoulier's comment, "...one thing I want to note is that this cake remains a very moist one, even when fully baked. The crumb should feel like it's been soaked in syrup" was so helpful because I wasn't sure. I know tortes made with nut meals or flours will not have the same kind of crumb as a cake or quick bread, but I really didn't know what to expect. Her comment made perfect sense to me and I knew, for my second go-round that it was properly finished.

#4 One last thing - I swear it's the last note.

• The first time I made it I used a coarse-ground almond meal and the second time, I used a fine-ground almond meal - more flour-like. I didn't see an appreciable difference so use what you have or can get your hands on. I used Bob's Red Mill almond meal both times. 

On to the...
RECIPE: ORANGE GINGER TORTE
Makes 1 8" cake
Equipment: 1 8" spring-form pan. I've seen similar recipes where a 9" spring-form pan was used with nearly identical ingredients, but make sure you check the cake at 30 minutes.

Notes: 

• I did not have any candied ginger and used more fresh ginger than was called for. I grated about 2/3 of the fresh ginger on a microplane and the remainder on the large-hole side of a box grater and really liked the occasional extra ginger-y punch.
• This cake is very moist and the crumb should appear as if it's soaked in syrup. It keeps beautifully in the refrigerator. Wrap it very tightly in plastic wrap and bring it to room temperature before serving. I think it just gets better on the second and third day.
• Even after adjusting the amount of orange, the cake still took 80 minutes instead of the 60 specified in the original recipe.

Ingredients

• 3 small / 1 1/3 lbs oranges (2/3 kg) (Clementines or Murcott tangerines), preferably organic
• 6 large eggs
• 1 1/4 cups (8 3/4 oz or 250 grams) sugar
• 2 1/3 cups (8 3/4 ounces or 250 grams) almond meal (fine or coarse grind)
• 1 3-4" piece of ginger, approximately 1" in diameter
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• Scant 1/4 teaspoon salt
• butter to grease the spring-form pan

Preparation
Preheat the oven to 375F / rack in the middle

• Wash the oranges well and remove the little green stem-end if it is there. Place them in a deep 2-3 quart, saucepan and cover with water + an extra inch. Place the sauce pan on a burner set to medium-high heat. Bring to a boil, reduce the head and simmer for two hours, adding boiling water if necessary to keep the oranges covered. Drain and cool completely. Cut into quarters (over a bowl) and check for seeds. Puree until completely smooth in a food processor and set aside.
• Using a microplane grater, grate 2 1/4 " of the fresh ginger into a large bowl. Using the large holes on a box grater, grate the remaining ginger. Add the eggs and beat lightly with a fork. Whisk in the orange puree, the sugar, the almond meal and the backing powder until all the ingredients are thoroughly combined.
• Pour the batter in the greased spring-form pan. Bake for 40 minutes and check. If it is getting too brown, cover the top with a piece of foil. Continue to cook for 1 hour or if necessary, longer. Cook in additions of 10-15 minutes and check after each period. You should be able to stick a toothpick or slim skewer into the cake and just see a few crumbs when it's done. If it gets too brown on top, cover it with foil and continue.
• When complete, let the cake cool on the rack for 5 minutes. Run a knife (I use a very flat, plastic spatula to avoid scratching the pan), loosen the outer round and remove it. Allow the cake to rest on a rack until completely cooled.
• To keep, wrap it tightly in plastic wrap and store in the refrigerator. Serve at room temperature.

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