Made this the other day and it was sensational. Beautiful to look at too. And easy to make. The pastry is a breeze - took minutes to make and was really easy to roll out. I used Granny Smith apples
MARCY GOLDMAN’S -ROUGEMONT APPLE PASTRY CAKE
This is one of my favourite pastries of all time – one you will want to make again and again. Simply put, this cake, based on a pastry crust, will make you famous. The pastry crust lines a springform pan, and the filling is a mile high with apples. It is, as I always boast, worth the price of the book.
Rougmont, incidentally, is Red Mountain in French, and refers to the apple region just outside Montreal. Many apples from those orchards have met their destiny in this recipe. This dessert needs an overnight stay in the fridge before serving. If you have store-bought refrigerated or frozen pie dough on hand, using it is fine and will save you a step.
How many apples are enough? Ever find you follow a recipe for pie or anything requiring a fruit filling only to find out your filling doesn’t quite rise to the occasion? You want the filling to be almost flush with the top of your pan in any pastry or pie. To test out what is a sufficient amount of apples (or blueberries, peaches, etc.) for a specific recipe, prepare the fruit and place it in the empty pie pan and see if you require more fruit. Then prep whatever extra you need. That way, the fruit is prepped and you can be confident that you will have enough filling.
PASTRY CRUST:
2 cups all-purpose flour
1 tbsp. sugar
1/2 tsp. salt
3/4 cup unsalted butter, cut into chunks
4 to 6 tbsp. ice water or half-and-half
APPLE FILLING:
10 to 12 large apples, cored, peeled and cut into 1/4 inch slices
1/4 cup sugar
1 tbsp. cornstarch
1 tbsp. ground cinnamon
1/2 cup raisins, plumped in hot water, drained and well-dried
1 tbsp. lemon juice
VANILLA SAUCE:
1/2 cup unsalted butter, melted
1 cup sugar
2 tsp. pure vanilla extract
4 large eggs
2 tbsp. all-purpose flour
1 tsp. ground cinnamon
Finishing touches
confectioners’ sugar
apricot jam, warmed
Line a baking sheet with parchment paper. Brush bottom and sides of a 10-inch springform pan with melted butter and place on baking sheet.
For the pastry crust, place the flour, sugar, and salt in a food processor. Add butter and pulse to make a grainy mixture. Add water and pulse to make a shaggy dough. On a lightly floured work surface, gather dough together, kneading a few moments to make a smooth dough. Wrap and chill dough at least one hour before rolling out.
Meanwhile, for the apple filling, toss apples with sugar, cornstarch, cinnamon, raisins, and lemon juice.
Preheat oven to 350. Roll or press out dough evenly and fit on bottom and sides of prepared pan (dough should be 1/8 to 1/4 inch thick). Fill with apple filling, pressing gently. For final layer of apples, arrange apples in concentric circles. Apples should come to top of pan. If they don’t, prepare more to fill out the pan, tossing with 2 tablespoons sugar and a touch of cinnamon.
Cover pan lightly with aluminum foil and place on baking sheet. Bake cake 60 to 75 minutes or until apples are soft, removing foil after 20 minutes. The top apples might seem dry and browned around their edges, but interior apples should begin to feel soft – use a skewer to test apples.
For the vanilla sauce, in a small bowl, blend melted butter, sugar, vanilla, eggs, flour and cinnamon. Pour this over hot pastry cake, trying to get sauce to drip into crevices. Bake another 20 minutes. Cool on a wire rack.
Refrigerate pastry cake at least 6 hours or preferably overnight. Dust with confectioners’ sugar or brush with warmed apricot jam just before serving. Makes 12 to 16 servings.
MARCY GOLDMAN’S -ROUGEMONT APPLE PASTRY CAKE
This is one of my favourite pastries of all time – one you will want to make again and again. Simply put, this cake, based on a pastry crust, will make you famous. The pastry crust lines a springform pan, and the filling is a mile high with apples. It is, as I always boast, worth the price of the book.
Rougmont, incidentally, is Red Mountain in French, and refers to the apple region just outside Montreal. Many apples from those orchards have met their destiny in this recipe. This dessert needs an overnight stay in the fridge before serving. If you have store-bought refrigerated or frozen pie dough on hand, using it is fine and will save you a step.
How many apples are enough? Ever find you follow a recipe for pie or anything requiring a fruit filling only to find out your filling doesn’t quite rise to the occasion? You want the filling to be almost flush with the top of your pan in any pastry or pie. To test out what is a sufficient amount of apples (or blueberries, peaches, etc.) for a specific recipe, prepare the fruit and place it in the empty pie pan and see if you require more fruit. Then prep whatever extra you need. That way, the fruit is prepped and you can be confident that you will have enough filling.
PASTRY CRUST:
2 cups all-purpose flour
1 tbsp. sugar
1/2 tsp. salt
3/4 cup unsalted butter, cut into chunks
4 to 6 tbsp. ice water or half-and-half
APPLE FILLING:
10 to 12 large apples, cored, peeled and cut into 1/4 inch slices
1/4 cup sugar
1 tbsp. cornstarch
1 tbsp. ground cinnamon
1/2 cup raisins, plumped in hot water, drained and well-dried
1 tbsp. lemon juice
VANILLA SAUCE:
1/2 cup unsalted butter, melted
1 cup sugar
2 tsp. pure vanilla extract
4 large eggs
2 tbsp. all-purpose flour
1 tsp. ground cinnamon
Finishing touches
confectioners’ sugar
apricot jam, warmed
Line a baking sheet with parchment paper. Brush bottom and sides of a 10-inch springform pan with melted butter and place on baking sheet.
For the pastry crust, place the flour, sugar, and salt in a food processor. Add butter and pulse to make a grainy mixture. Add water and pulse to make a shaggy dough. On a lightly floured work surface, gather dough together, kneading a few moments to make a smooth dough. Wrap and chill dough at least one hour before rolling out.
Meanwhile, for the apple filling, toss apples with sugar, cornstarch, cinnamon, raisins, and lemon juice.
Preheat oven to 350. Roll or press out dough evenly and fit on bottom and sides of prepared pan (dough should be 1/8 to 1/4 inch thick). Fill with apple filling, pressing gently. For final layer of apples, arrange apples in concentric circles. Apples should come to top of pan. If they don’t, prepare more to fill out the pan, tossing with 2 tablespoons sugar and a touch of cinnamon.
Cover pan lightly with aluminum foil and place on baking sheet. Bake cake 60 to 75 minutes or until apples are soft, removing foil after 20 minutes. The top apples might seem dry and browned around their edges, but interior apples should begin to feel soft – use a skewer to test apples.
For the vanilla sauce, in a small bowl, blend melted butter, sugar, vanilla, eggs, flour and cinnamon. Pour this over hot pastry cake, trying to get sauce to drip into crevices. Bake another 20 minutes. Cool on a wire rack.
Refrigerate pastry cake at least 6 hours or preferably overnight. Dust with confectioners’ sugar or brush with warmed apricot jam just before serving. Makes 12 to 16 servings.