MARIE HELENE

sylvia

Well-known member
MARIE HELENE’s APPLE CAKE (from Dorie Greenspan)

3/4 cup all-purpose flour

3/4 tsp baking powder

pinch of salt

4 large apples (any kind you like, mix and match)

2 large eggs

3/4 cup sugar

3 Tbs rum (or apple schnapps, or Calvados)

1/2 tsp vanilla extract

1 stick butter, melted and cooled

Heat the oven to 350F.  Butter a 8-inch springform type pan with butter and set aside.

Peel and core the apples, cut them roughly in 1 inch chunks. Reserve.

In a small bowl, mix the flour, baking powder, and salt.   In a large bowl, beat the eggs with a whisker until frothy, add the sugar and whisk until smooth. Add the rum, vanilla extract, and mix well.  Add half of the flour mixture, mix until fully incorporated, pour half of the butter and whisk to combine.   Add the rest of the flour, then the rest of the butter.

Pour the thick batter over the apples, and use a silicone or plastic spatula to mix them gently, trying to cover each piece with some of the batter.   The mixture will seem too thick, and you will be tempted to use less apples.  Do not.  Trust Dorie. Pour the mixture in the prepared pan, use a fork to level the apples as much as possible, but don’t worry too much about it.

Bake for 50 to 60 minutes, until golden and a cake tester comes out clean when inserted at the center of the cake. 

Remove the pan to a rack and let it cool for 5 minutes before opening the sides.

 
those extra characters can be edited out by Sylvia--they're

remnants for the text encoding.

I'd edit them out, but sometimes that makes me the owner of the thread and I don't want to lock Sylvia out of her own post.

 
I've edited the recipe. Sally, if I nabbed this review from your blog please accept my apologies for

not giving you credit.

 
I love both, I think Balzano has the "elegant" edge with the sliced apples vs chunks

So I just augment Balzano with the Calvados element from Marie-Helene

 
MoNJ, I agree with your comment about the Balzano cake being more elegant.

However, the Marie Helene version is a touch easier to make and an option when apple chunks will do.

 
I'm glad I finally followed thru to the recipe for this cake. It is similar to the way I make the

pear and walnut cake, with butter - less oil, extra fresh nutmeg though, and lots of dark rum, in a bundt pan. I"d really like to mess around with this recipe, maybe subbing pears, but it always seems that I eat most of what I make (90% anyway) and it is starting to show. I guess my excuse can be that it's the right season.

And I'm looking forward to the "less cakey and more custardy".

 
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