gingerbread apple cake

More cake! This one was a bit of a gamble (why do I always gamble when feeding the masses, and not when I'm cooking an entire cake for myself at home?). I was feeling a little safer as the recipe came from Deb from Smitten Kitchen (as did the potato tart below). Deb's recipes are always fairly reliable, but in her photos the cake looked a little low and a little.... brown.

But ginger and apple cake sounds lovely so I went ahead with it anyway. And am I glad I did, this one was more popular than the vanilla chocolate cheesecake I'll be posting soon. Anything that can beat cheesecake must be good. I tried to keep this one warm, but I think it just ended up making it a little soft, as it steamed itself sitting side it's cosy in my office. But I was told the corner pieces, where the caramel base had leaked through and burnt a little, was the best bit. I recommend serving this warm and with a little pouring cream.

Gingerbread Apple Upside-Down Cake
Serves 12

Topping
60g butter, plus extra for greasing pan
1/2 cup dark brown sugar
Pinch of salt
4 apples, peeled, cored and cut into 1/4-inch wedges

Cake Batter
125gm butter, at room temperature
1/2 cup sugar
1 large egg
1/3 cup dark molasses
1/3 cup honey
1 cup buttermilk
2 1/4 cups flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon ground ginger
1 teaspoon cinnamon

Very softly whipped cream

Make the topping: Preheat the oven to 160°C. Grease a 10-inch cake pan. Melt butter in a small saucepan. Add brown sugar and simmer over moderate heat, stirring, four minutes, then swirl in salt. Remove from heat and pour into the bottom of your cake pan. Make circles of overlapping apple slices on top of the caramel. Chop any remaining slices and place them in the gaps.

Make the batter: Using a mixer, blend 1/2 cup butter and the sugar on medium-low speed. Increase the speed to high and cream until light and fluffy.

In a medium bowl, whisk together the egg, molasses, honey and buttermilk. In a separate bowl, sift together the flour, baking soda, salt, ginger and cinnamon. Alternate mixing the flour and molasses mixtures into the butter mixture, adding the next once the last has been incorporated.

Pour the batter into the pan. Bake at least 45 to 50 minutes or until a wooden tester inserted into the center of the cake comes out clean. Let cool on a rack for 10 to 15 minutes, then turn out onto a platter.

Serve warm or cool with very softly whipped cream.

cheese and potato, could it be better?

Alas, again there is the burden of having only my recipes here, although hopefully this will change very, very soon. There will be four recipes coming your way, all care of some of my favourite bloggers, but to start with is a Blue Cheese and Red Potato Tart, care of Smitten Kitchen. I use Deb's recipes a lot. She's great, even if she does have a babyfood section.

I must say that I did change her recipe around. If you follow the link above, you'll find her recipe for no rest, no blind bake pastry. It didn't work for me, it was a horrible, crumbly, dry mess. What do I do in these situations? I turn to Stephanie Alexander of course, and the pastry recipe is hers. This made too much for this tart, but that's OK. I made jam tartlettes to get me through the long, cold weekend.

Stephanie Alexander's fabulous shortcrust pastry
180g unsalted butter (room temp)
240g plain flour
pinch salt
3 tbspn water

Chop the butter into smallish pieces and rub roughly into the flour on a clean workbench. Add the water into a well in the center of the dough, and as Stephanie puts it:

"use a pastry scraper - being mindful of the technique used to mix cement - to work dough into a very very rough mess of buttery lumps".

You will be tempted to add more water. Don't.

Use the ball of your palm to smear the dough out over the bench. It will come together to form a moist ball of pastry dough. Cling film, rest in the refrigerator for 20-30 minutes and then blind bake for about 20 minutes.

For the filling, care of Deb from Smitten Kitten.

One note: This is not a quiche. The filling will remain soft and custard-like after baked, not firm up like most egg fillings. I liked this texture; it was a little different but wanted to give a heads-up that the recipe hasn’t gone wrong if your potatoes can still be nudged a little after baking.

1 Tart Shell
about four or five small red potatoes, scrubbed and cut into 1/4-inch slices
1 cup heavy cream
1 large egg yolk
125gm blue cheese, crumbled
1 tablespoons finely chopped herb of your choice, I used rosemary. Thyme would be nice too.
Fine sea salt for sprinkling

Preheat oven to 180°C. In a medium saucepan, cover potato slices with water by two inches. Simmer, uncovered, until tender, about 10 minutes. Drain. If the potatoes don’t seem very dry, pat them dry with towels.

Arrange potato slices, overlapping slightly, in concentric circles around the tart pan. Sprinkle blue cheese over potatoes. Whisk cream and egg yolk together and pour into tart shell, then sprinkle tart with herbs of your choice and salt.

Bake tart on a baking sheet until bubbling and golden brown, about 45 to 50 minutes. Cool in pan on rack and serve warm or cold.

I re-heated this at work, which frankly made the pastry a wee bit soggy, but still, it all got eaten. Would make a lovely spring or early lunch with a big pile of salad