Irish Apple Cake with Custard Sauce
User Reviews
5
Irish Apple Cake with Custard Sauce
Description
The Irish Apple Cake combines all-purpose flour, baking powder, salt, and warming spices like ground ginger, nutmeg, and allspice with cold diced butter to form a crumbly base. Diced Granny Smith apples are coated in this dry mixture, then mixed with a blend of milk, eggs, and vanilla to form a slightly lumpy batter. The batter is poured into a prepared springform pan and baked at 375 degrees until set.
The cake balances tart apple pieces throughout a tender, spiced crumb. The cold butter rubbed into the flour contributes to a moist yet crumbly texture. The custard sauce consists of whole milk gently cooked with egg yolks, sugar, salt, and vanilla for a rich, smooth finish, ideal for spooning over slices of cake.
This dessert is suitable for a comforting end to a meal or afternoon tea. The custard adds a creamy contrast to the spiced apple cake. The recipe avoids over-mixing to retain texture and prevent toughness, allowing the apples to retain their bite within the tender crumb.
Ingredients
Cake
- 3 cups all-purpose flour
- 1 Tbsp baking powder
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 1/4 tsp ground ginger nutmeg & allspice
- 3/4 cup butter cold, diced into small pieces, unsalted
- 1 cup granulated sugar divided, 2 Tbsp
- 1 1/2 lbs apple about 5 medium, Granny Smith variety
- 3/4 cup milk
- 2 egg large
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
Custard Sauce
- 1 1/2 cups milk whole
- 1 salt pinch
- 6 egg large yolks
- 1/2 cup granulated sugar
- 1 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
Instructions
- For the cake:
- Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Butter and flour a 9-inch springform pan, set aside.
- In a very large mixing bowl whisk together flour, baking powder, salt, ginger, nutmeg and allspice for 20 seconds. Add butter pieces and rub into mixture using fingertips until it resembles fine crumbs. Stir in 1 cup sugar.
- Peel apples, slice in half, core and stem, then laying apples on flat side, slice downward into pieces slightly less than 1/4-inch thick, then dice those pieces into smaller chunks (about 2 or 3 chunks depending on size of apples). Add apples to flour mixture and toss well to evenly coat, while working to separate any apples that may be stuck together.
- In a separate mixing bowl, whisk together milk, eggs and vanilla until well combined. Pour milk mixture over apple/flour mixture and using clean hands, toss just until combined (batter will be slightly lumpy but that's fine, just don't over-mix).
- Pour batter into prepared baking dish and spread into an even layer. In a small bowl stir together remaining 2 Tbsp sugar plus 1/2 tsp cinnamon, sprinkle evenly over cake. Bake in preheated oven 45 - 50 minutes until toothpick inserted into center comes out clean. Cool about 5 minutes on a wire rack then remove ring from springform pan and allow cake to cool to desired temperature. Serve warm drizzled with warm custard sauce (or cool with cold custard sauce, however you prefer).
- For the custard sauce:
- Heat milk with a pinch of salt over medium heat, and bring just to a light boil (keep an eye on it and remove from burner if needed before letting it rapidly boil). Meanwhile, add egg yolks and sugar to a medium mixing bowl and whisk vigorously until pale and fluffy, about 2 - 3 minutes (alternately you can do this with an electric hand mixer on high speed for about 30 seconds if you don't want to mix that long by hand). Reduce burner to medium-low heat, then while whisking egg yolk mixture, slowly pour in 1/2 cup hot milk mixture. Then, while whisking milk in saucepan slowly pour egg yolk mixture into saucepan. Cook mixture, whisking constantly, until thickened and mixture coats the back of a wooden spoon, about 3 - 4 minutes (be careful not to over-heat it, if you cook it too long or don't whisk well the eggs will curdle). Immediately pour into a glass container, stir in vanilla and whisk about 20 seconds to cool slightly, then cover with plastic wrap pressing against surface to prevent a skin from forming. Serve warm over cake (or cold). Store in refrigerator in an airtight container.
- Recipe Source: adapted with some changes from The Kitchen McCabe
User Reviews
Overall Rating
5
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