When I was a little girl, I loved apples. I remember eating at least
one each day. And I loved the tart green apple best of all.
But
my love for apples were only for the fresh chilled fruit. I distinctly
disliked apples in any other form except fresh, chilled and without the
skin! So while my mom's apple pie was possibly the best, I ate little
of it
(although to be fair, it was the only apple pie I would eat). I did
not like apple cake at all, except (recently) this
apple upside-down cake.
As
I grew older, I grew less fond of apples. But this did not mean that I
did not try to use them for baking! Especially since I (usually) get a
lot of apples in December, so I baked a lot of apple desserts...
mommy's apple pie (at least trying it), apple tarts, apple muffins,
apple cakes... all of which everyone else would eat.
Then last week, as I was browsing Dorie Greenspan's Around My French Table, I discovered her recipe for
Marie-Helene's Apple Cake.
And,
as usual I made little changes... like using a mandolin to slice the
apples instead of slicing them into chunks (it was really faster to use
the mandolin!)... adding apple pie spice... reducing the sugar (just a bit) and
using light brown sugar (and then sprinkling the top with more light
brown sugar and more apple pie spice)... and finally, using 2 6-inch
Springform pans instead of a single 9-inch.
I
used a mix of Fuji apples and Gala apples, although I think I might
have overdone the apples. Dorie Greenspan's recipe called for 4 apples
(varying kinds). What I had was 1 medium Fuji apple and about 6 small
Gala apples. I thought 2 small apples would be equivalent to a medium
one...
I
love, love, love this cake!!! It's more apple than cake, I would say,
and I really like the the apple slices still have a crunch to it!
Hubby had his cake with vanilla ice cream and he was so happy with the cake that he got a second and a third helping!
