Making use of my Cookbook Collection

I love buying cookbooks so when a favourite cookbook author has a new book, I almost always have to buy them. Don’t get me wrong, I don’t normally pre-order. I go through the process of whether I need it, will use it but in the end always reward myself with it. In the end, it normally just sits on the shelf with all my other books waiting to be used. However, I have now decided that if I don’t use more of the books I currently own, I won’t allow myself to buy more. I’ve owned a few of Dorie Greenspan’s baking books and jumped on the chance to buy her current cookbook – Around My French Table. I’m happy to say I’ve used one of her chicken recipes and it was delicious and easy to make.

After realizing I had four apples way past its prime but still edible, I remember seeing this Apple cake recipe in Dorie’s book. I took it out and love that it had very few ingredients. I think preparing the apples took the longest for me. I agree with Dorie that the appeal of this cake is that it’s simple but satisfying. So if you have four extra apples lying around, please make this cake. I’m sure you’ll love it!

Marie-Helene’s apple cake – makes one 8inch cake
Adapted from Dorie Greenspan’s Around my French Table

Ingredients
¾ cup all purpose flour
¾ tsp baking powder
Pinch of salt
4 large apples (if you can, choose 4 different kinds)
2 large eggs
¾ cup sugar
3 tbsp dark rum (I omitted this as I didn’t have any)
½ tsp pure vanilla extra (also omitted as I don’t like using it)
8 tbsp (1 stick) unsalted butter, melted and cooled

Center a rack in the oven and preheat oven to 350F. Butter the springform cake pan and place on baking sheet.
1. Whisk flour, baking powder and salt together
2. Peel , core and cut apples into 1 to 2” chunks
3. In a medium bowl, beat eggs with whisk until foamy. Pour in sugar and whisk for a minute or so to blend. Whisk in rum and vanilla extract. Whisk in half of flour mixture, when incorporated, add half of melted butter, followed by rest of the flour and the remaining butter. Mix gently after each addition so you have a smooth, rather thick batter.
4. Switch to a rubber spatula and fold in apples. Turn fruit so it’s coasted with batter and scrape evenly into prepared pan.
5. Bake cake for 50-60 minutes or until top of the cake is golden brown and a knife inserted in comes out. Cake also pulls away from sides of the pan. Transfer to a cooling rack and rest for 5 minutes. Serve warm or at room temperature. This cake keeps at room temperate for about 2 days.

Enjoy!