Normandy Apple Cake

Friends are coming for afternoon tea today and so I thought what better than a warm Normandy Apple cake and a huge steaming pot of tea! Alex and I spent a lovely morning baking and chatting and setting the table for afternoon tea.

• 4 granny smith apples, peeled, cored and roughly chopped
• 1 tbsp brown sugar
• 1/2 cup water
• 250g unsalted butter
• 1 cup caster sugar
• 4 eggs
• 2 cups self-raising flour
• 1 cup milk
• Freshly grated nutmeg, to taste
• Pouring cream, to serve
  

It is difficult to conceive of cooking in Normandy without apples. As well as being the key ingredient in the region's ubiquitous cider, apples are incorporated into almost any type of cooking and baking you can imagine. A slice of this teacake is a perfect mid-afternoon treat.

Method

Preheat oven to 180C. Place apples, sugar and water in a saucepan, then cook over medium heat for 10 minutes or until apples are soft. Drain and let cool. Using hand-held electric beaters, cream butter and sugar. Add eggs, one at a time, beating well after adding each one. Sift in flour and slowly add milk, beating to combine. Pour batter into a 28cm cake pan. Top with cooled stewed apples and sprinkle with a little freshly grated nutmeg. Bake cake for 50 minutes or until a skewer inserted in the centre comes out clean. Serve warm or at room temperature with fresh cream.

Serves 8-10

From At My French Table

France - Pear Tarte Tatin

The pears were divine at the market this morning so I came home with half a dozen and made this Pear Tarte Tatin....make a lovely change from apples.

At My French Table

This glazed upside-down pastry is traditionally made with apples, but the pears give the tart a lovely texture.

(seves six–eight)

1/3 cup soft brown sugar
35g (1.2oz) unsalted butter
1-2 firm pears, peeled, halved, cored, then each half cut into 8 thin wedges
2 tsp freshly grated ginger
½ vanilla bean, split lengthwise, seeds scraped into small bowl
1 sheet frozen puff pastry, thawed
ice cream, to serve

Preheat oven to 190C/375F.
Melt sugar, butter and one tablespoon water in a heavy-based 20cm non-stick ovenproof frying pan over low heat until sugar dissolves. Increase heat to high and boil for a few minutes or until syrup is dark amber, taking care not to burn. Remove from heat immediately and leave to cool so that bubbles subside. Toss pears with grated ginger and vanilla seeds, then arrange slices, overlapping, in a circle in the frying pan, placing a few around the edge if necessary.

Cut puff pastry into a round slightly bigger than the frying pan. Place puff pastry round on top of pear mixture in frying pan, then tuck in edges around pears. Bake tart for about 35 minutes or until pastry is puffed and golden.

Invert tart into a large plate and serve hot with ice-cream or at room temperature.

From At My French Table, Jane Webster.