Marie-Hélène’s Apple Cake

  Posted on April 3, 2013  by Leslie Blythe  No comments

The best cake
Guest blogger Jessica (Denver, CO) from Beauty Marks again.
Everyone needs a go-to cake, the one you always have all the ingredients for, the one that takes no time, the one that never fails. Dorie Greenspan’s Marie-Hélène’s Apple Cake is my go-to cake. (And if you don’t have Dorie’s Around My French Table, stop what you’re doing and buy it now.)

Marie-Hélène’s Apple Cake

3/4 cup flour
3/4 tsp baking powder
pinch of salt
4 large apples (Dorie recommends using a mix of varieties; I usually Granny Smith and Golden Delicious in that mix)
2 large eggs, at room temperature
3/4 cup sugar
3 Tbs dark rum
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
one stick (8 Tbs) unsalted butter, melted and cooled to room temperature

Preheat the oven to 350º, with the oven rack in the center of the oven.

Butter an 8- or 9-inch springform pan and place it on a baking sheet.

Whisk together the flour, baking powder, and salt.

Peel and core the apples, then dice them into 1-inch pieces.

In a large bowl, beat eggs until foamy; whisk in the sugar, then rum and vanilla. Whisk in half of the flour mixture, then gently stir in half of the melted butter

Stir in the remaining flour, and then the rest of the butter.

Fold in the apple until well-coated with the batter, then scrape into the cake pan and smooth the top as well as you can. The batter will look as if it won’t quite cover all the apples, but I assure you it’ll work.

Bake for 50 minutes to 1 hour – until a knife inserted into the center comes out clean. Let the cake cool for 5 minutes. Run a knife around the edge to loosen the cake from the pan and carefully remove the springform outside of the pan.

Note: I’ve used applejack and Calvados in place of the rum, with success as well.