ANGELA’S APPLE CAKE
TORTA DI MELE DI ANGELA
⇐ Image and recipe from Tortellini At Midnight by Emiko Davies, published by Hardie Grant, RRP $52.00. Available in stores nationally.
Food photography by Lauren Bamford
Lifestyle Photography by Emiko Davies
“I suspect this version is not even Tuscan at all, as it requires quite a good amount of butter. The cake on the bottom is rather dense and crumbly – a support for all the apples that melt down into a surprisingly thin layer, toppled with a veil of butter and sugar. It’s absolutely delicious just out of the oven, still warm, and I would say always does better with a bit of warming up even the next day or so.”
Serves: 8
Ingredients
CAKE
200g butter, softened, plus extra for greasing
60g sugar
1 egg
1 cup plain (all-purpose) flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
Zest and juice of 1 lemon
650g (about 4) green apples, peeled and sliced
Splash of brandy or rum
TOPPING
80g butter, softened
80g sugar
50g plain (all-purpose) flour
TO SERVE
250ml freshly whipped cream
Method
1. Preheat the oven to 180°C and grease and line a 20cm round cake tin.
2. For the cake, combine the butter, sugar, egg, flour, baking powder, lemon zest and juice and a pinch of salt until creamy. Press into the prepared cake tin. Layer over the apple slices and sprinkle them with brandy (or rum).
3. For the topping, rub or mix together the butter, sugar and flour in a bowl. Top the apples with this mixture and place in the oven. Bake for 30 minutes or until the top is golden brown and the apples have cooked down and become tender.
4. Allow to cool (or eat warm, my preference) and serve with some softly whipped cream.