Thursday, October 28, 2010

FFwD: Marie-Helene's Apple Cake

So, sometimes I'm funny about fruit in my food. Don't get me wrong - I love fruit. Fresh fruit....by itself....un-touched by other kinds of foods. If I'm eating chocolate, there better not be a hint of orange. If I'm eating meat, I better not find a pineapple lurking. If I'm having cheesecake, keep it pure and strawberry-free. (PS - sometimes when I pretend I'm going to become a world-famous chef, it's this road block that reminds me it will never happen.)


But this weeks' recipe didn't worry me. I know I love apple pie....so I figured I'd like this apple cake. However..........however.....I LOVED this apple cake. LOVE. Like TruLuv4Evah. It's so different than you'd expect - it's super heavy on the apple, light on the cake....and the "cake" part is so moist and so....well, almost custard-y, that it stops acting like a cake and just acts like this happy blanket cuddling up with all the apple chunks.


The recipe calls for rum, something I don't have nor did I want to (aside from the whole pregnant and Mormon thing, I just do NOT like the flavor of rum). So, I used a lot of vanilla instead...like 2 tablespoons of vanilla...and maybe a little heavy cream. PS - I love vanilla. Vanilla could probably stop world hunger and fix the Middle East crisis and still be home in time for dinner. Dorie says to use 4 different kinds of apples. Large apples. A few of mine were more medium, so I actually used 5 apples...which turned out to be a good thing since one of them was so bruised I could I only use about half of it. I chose Granny Smith, Red Delicious, Golden Delicious, Macintosh, and Fuji. Aren't they pretty?


And then I peeled them....aren't they....naked? (see that big Red Delicious?...Who knew under that dark red skin was lurking the grossest of bruises...)


And then I chopped them up....aren't they...........chopped?


And then I cooked it up. (My first experience with a spring form pan, which I had to borrow - thanks, Tami!)



And then....then I cut me a slice....




And THEN....then I introduced it to Blue Bell's Natural Vanilla Bean Ice Cream.....


And then, friends.....then I died. *sigh* ....Then.I.Died.


Verdict: If none of my other recipes have encouraged you to buy this cook book, please know this recipe alone will be worth the cost.

6 comments:

Cami said...
11:33 AM  

Ok. I think you've convinced me. I will be asking for this cookbook for Christmas. (I'd buy it before then but we're moving and I wouldn't want to lose track of it before I got to use it!)

Jessica of My Baking Heart said...
12:36 PM  

Yum! Looks perfect with that Blue Bell!! :)

Tia said...
1:42 PM  

à la mode. very nice!

Anonymous said...
2:05 PM  

I loved this cake too and agree that it's worth buying the book just for this! It was definiltey TruLuv4Evah at first bite, haha.

Erika Quaife said...
4:22 PM  

Great pics! I loved it too - especially the amount of apples!

Becky @ Project Domestication said...
3:59 PM  

I didn't make this in time to post with the other FFWD bakers but I just made it last Sunday and HOLY COW! It was amazing.

I too did lots of vanilla instead of rum and loved it.

Now if I could only get my hands on some Blue Bell ice cream out here in Utah.

Yours looks nice.

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