Karen Martini’s apple and cherry brown butter cake meets clafoutis pudding

February 23, 2024

The cherries are optional, making this a year-round apple cake.William Meppem

Time:2 hours +Serves:6-8

This is a bit like a cross between a cake and a clafoutis, with an appley custard texture on the bottom and a rich, golden, buttery crumb surrounding. I find it such a satisfying and comforting cake, and you can vary the recipe to bake it year-round. Fresh cherries are an added seasonal extra, but you can use frozen ones or omit them entirely.

Ingredients

180g unsalted butter, diced
750g peeled, cored, halved and thinly sliced Granny Smith apples
30ml brandy or Calvados
juice of ½ lemon
250ml full-cream milk
200g caster sugar
1 egg
2 tsp vanilla extract
1 tsp salt flakes
120ml extra virgin olive oil (or neutral oil, if preferred)
200g plain flour
10g baking powder
100g pitted cherries
2 egg yolks
icing sugar and pouring cream, to serve

Method

Step 1
Preheat the oven to 160C fan-forced (180C conventional). Grease a 22cm-24cm springform cake tin and line it with baking paper.
Step 2
Add the diced butter to a small saucepan over medium heat and cook until nut-brown (7-9 minutes). Pour into a bowl and set aside to cool slightly.
Step 3
Add the apple to a large, dry, non-stick frying pan and cook over medium heat, tossing every few minutes for about 15 minutes. Toss more frequently towards the end of cooking. They’ll colour a little but should remain just undercooked.
Step 4
Tip the apple into a shallow bowl, pour over the brandy and squeeze over the lemon juice. Set aside at room temperature.
Step 5
Hand-whisk the milk, 150g of sugar, whole egg, vanilla and salt in a medium bowl until combined. Add the oil and cooled brown butter and combine. Sift in 150g of the flour and the baking powder. Fold in to make a smooth batter. Set aside 1 cup of batter.
Step 6
Add the apple to the main bowl and combine, then tip into the prepared tin. Top the mix with the cherries.
Step 7
Tip the reserved batter into a bowl and whisk in the remaining 50g of flour and the yolks. Pour over the top of the cherries. Sprinkle over the remaining 50g of sugar and bake for about 90 minutes, or until an inserted skewer comes out clean.
Step 8
Set aside for 1 hour before unmoulding and serving. A dusting of icing sugar over the top and some running cream are nice additions.