Apple Cake with Hazelnuts and Apple Syrup
Normally you would make apple pie or apple cake in the autumn, when the apples are in season. But frankly I can eat this cake anytime of the year. The crunch from the hazelnuts with the sweet apples is a perfect match.
Makes a 9" cake feeding 8-10 people.
Ingredients:
- 3-5 apples, I used jonagold, peeled, cored, halved, and sliced
- 1⅓ cup (3 dl) apple juice
- ⅔ cup (1½ dl) apple cider
- 3 tablespoons honey
- 1 teaspoon vanilla paste
The dough:
- 375 g sugar
- 225 g (2 sticks) butter, salted and room temperatur
- 375 g hazelnuts
- 3 eggs
- 1 egg white
- 75 g all-purpose flour
Directions:
Mix cider, juice, honey and vanilla, and set aside.
Peel, core and slice the apples. Put the apple slices in the cider mixture to marinate for about 15 minutes.
Preheat the oven to 350℉ (175℃).
In the meantime, make the dough, cream the butter with the sugar and add the eggs (and egg white) one at a time.
Grind the hazelnuts to a flour, mix it with the all-purpose flour and add it to the butter.
Spray the springform with vegetable oil and spread the dough in it.
Drain the apple slices, save the marinade, and put the slices on top of the dough. Press the apple slices into the dough.
Bake cake for 60-90 minutes, and let cool completely before removing from the pan.
Pour the cider mixture into a saucepan, and reduce it, until you have a sirup. Brush the sirup on the cake.
Serve the cake room temperature with some light whipped cream, creme fraiche or a good vanilla ice cream.
The cake will be very soft in the middle, the day you bake it, but the pectin in the apples will make the cake more firm as it sits. I usual bake it a day in advance.
Enjoy.
Source: Claus Meyer.