Tasty French Apple Cake, from Gael

Tasty French Apple Cake, from Gael

From this Web site. They adapted from "The Apple Lady Apple Cake in the Paris Cookbook" by Patricia Wells

CAKE
1/2 cup all-purpose flour
1/3 cup sugar
1 tablespoon baking powder
1/4 tsp kosher salt
1/2 tsp pure vanilla extract
2 large eggs, lightly beaten
2 tbsp vegetable oil
1/3 cup 1% or 2% milk
3 - 4 large apples, cored,peeled,and cut into thin wedges — she used 2 Gala and 1 Pacific Rose apple

TOPPING
1/3 packed brown sugar

1 large egg, lightly beaten

3 tbsp unsalted butter, melted

1/4 cup roughly chopped walnuts

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F. Butter a 9-inch springform pan and set it aside. A regular 9-inch cake pan worked for me. I buttered and floured well (actually, I used Pam for baking!) and I had no problem getting the cake out. You’ll just need to flip upside-down onto a plate and then flip again onto another plate to get the right side up. More on that later…

In a large bowl, combine the flour, sugar, baking powder, and salt. Stir to blend. Add the vanilla extract, eggs, oil, and milk, and stir until well blended.

Add the apples and stir to thoroughly coat them with the batter. Your bowl will contain mostly apples, covered with a bit of batter.

Spoon the mixture into the prepared cake pan. Place the pan in the center of the oven and bake until fairly firm and golden, about 35 minutes.

Meanwhile, prepare the topping: In a small bowl, combine the sugar, egg, and melted butter, and stir to blend. Set it aside.

Remove the cake from the oven and turn the oven down to 350 degrees F. Pour the topping mixture over the cake and sprinkle with the walnuts.

Return the cake to the oven and bake until the top is a deep golden brown and the cake feels quite firm when pressed with a fingertip, about 15 minutes. After 10 minutes take a peek and make sure the brown sugar is not burning.

Mine was fine, but I was a little worried. Also, make sure you are baking the cake in the lower-middle of the oven and not a rack near the very top of the oven. Transfer the cake pan to a rack and allow to cool for 10 minutes.

Then run a knife around the sides of the pan, and release and remove the springform side, leaving the cake on the pan base. Or, after running the knife along the edges, put a plate over the top of the cake and flip onto the plate. The cake will be upside down. Take another plate and put that on top of the cake and flip again. The cake should now be right-side up on the 2nd plate.

Serve warm or at room temperature, cut into thin wedges. Very good with a little vanilla frozen yogurt on top while still warm!