French pastries are famed for their fancy and delectable baked items, so you might suppose this recipe is also fancy. Guess what? It only requires a few pantry staples, your favorite black rum, and a few of the best cooking apples.
I combined three of my favorite baking apples: Granny Smith, Macintosh, and Fuji...the acidity and crip of Granny Smith go wonderfully with the fresh sweet wine flavor of Macintosh and the syrupy sweet flavor of Fuji apples. This apple cake is a delectable combination of sweet and crisp apples and the dark and sweet smoky flavor of rum.
Makes 6-8 slices
Ingredients:
1 cup all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
¼ teaspoon salt
1 stick (½ cup) unsalted butter, softened
2/3 cup granulated sugar, plus more for sprinkling over cake
2 large eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
3 tablespoons dark rum (I used Bacardi Gold)
3 baking apples, peeled, cored and cut into ½-inch cubes (I used Honeycrisp, Fuji and Granny Smith)
Confectioners' sugar, for decorating cake
Let's Bake Cake!
Preheat the oven to 350°F and set an oven rack in the middle position. Grease a 9-inch springform.
In a small bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder and salt.
Using a handheld mixer with beaters or a stand mixer with the paddle attachment, cream the butter and granulated sugar until light and fluffy, about 3 minutes.
Add the eggs, one at a time, beating until well combined.
Beat in the vanilla and rum.
Add the flour mixture and mix on low speed until combined.
Using a rubber spatula, fold in the chopped apples.
Transfer batter into the prepared pan and even the top.
Sprinkle evenly with 1 tablespoon of granulated sugar.
Bake for about 40 minutes, or until the cake is golden and a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean.
Allow the cake to cool on a rack in the pan. Once cool, run a blunt knife around the edges of the cake, then unlock sides of springform pan.
Using a fine sieve, dust with confectioners' sugar.
Served warm or room temperature. Enjoy!
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