Words and photos by Susie Sandford Smith

A version of this post first appeared on ACHS 2020

For one of my autumn supper clubs I made apple tartes fines and, not wanting to waste all those peels, I decided to make a welcome drink for my guests that used an apple syrup. The drink was absolutely delicious and so very easy to make, so when thinking of a drink to make for ACHS my Apple and thyme fizz immediately sprang to mind. And so I found myself in the strange position of having something in mind for the peels with no idea for the flesh. Apple tartes fines are quite complicated to make, all that fine slicing and arranging of the apples, not to mention making a rough puff pastry - and I’m after simple and delicious for all of you.

I love an apple cake, a beautiful crumbly sponge studded throughout with chunks of softened apple, but I wanted something a little more “Wow” for you, something that incorporated elements of the apple tarts.

And so here we have a tarte tatin cake, the apple layer is buttery and rich, the tart apple contrasting beautifully with the deep caramel flavour. And the sponge is moist, light, and crumbly.

Ingredients

For the caramelised apples

1kg apples (I’ve used Discovery apples here which are quite tart)

70g golden caster sugar

60g butter, cut into cubes

Pinch of salt

½ teaspoon ground cinnamon

For the cake

200g light soft brown sugar

200g butter, softened (very soft)

200g self-raising flour

1tsp baking powder

4 eggs

2tbsps natural yoghurt (full fat)

1 tsp ground cinnamon

1tsp vanilla essence

Demerara sugar (optional)

Method

Preheat oven to 175 degrees (If you’re using a gas oven I would do this at 4).

• Grease a 23cm spring form cake tin. If you wish, coat the sides and bottom of the tin with demerara sugar.

• First make the apple topping. Peel and core your apples (saving both for your apple and thyme syrup), cut each apple into quarters and cut each of these quarters into three (roughly speaking. You just want quite thick slices of apple). Pop all in a bowl of water. From here you want to work quickly.

• Put the sugar in a frying pan over a medium heat and leave, the sugar will start to dissolve. Once it does, swirl the pan from time to time to ensure that all the sugar dissolves. Do not stir. Allow the sugar to start to brown but watch like a hawk because it will go from caramelised to burnt quickly.

• Once the sugar is browning, add in the chopped butter and swirl the pan to incorporate.

• Remove the apple slices from the water, place on some kitchen towel to remove any excess water and add to the frying pan.

• As soon as you add the apples to the pan the caramel will harden, don’t worry about that – it will incorporate into the juice from the apples in no time.

• Add the ½ teaspoon of cinnamon and a pinch of salt and allow the apples to cook, stirring from time to time. You can be quite chef-y here as it’s quite easy (and fun) to toss the apple mixture in the pan (the same action as tossing a pancake but not quite as vigorous, you just want the mixture to jump up slightly to mix things around a bit). Whatever method you use, be gentle.

• The apples will release quite a bit of juice, keep cooking until the liquid has reduced to almost nothing and you’re left with an intensely flavoured sticky brown liquid which all of the apples are coated in.

• Remove from the heat, pour into your prepared cake tin and leave to cool slightly while you prepare the cake.

To make the cake

• Beat the flour, baking powder, cinnamon, and butter together. Add in the vanilla essence and yoghurt.

• In a separate bowl, whisk the eggs and sugar until the mixture is light and has almost doubled in size.

• Add the whisked egg and sugar to the flour mixture in thirds. The first third should be mixed in vigorously to loosen the flour mixture, but by the final third you should be folding the egg and sugar mixture in gently.

• Pour the cake batter over the caramelised apples and cook for 40 to 45 minutes until a knife poked into the sponge comes out clean. Keep an eye of the cake for the final 5 to 10 minutes and if it is looking too brown, reduce the temperature of the oven.

• Once the cake is cooked, remove from the oven and leave to settle in the tin for a few minutes. Release the side of the cake tin and invert the cake onto a cooling rack. Remove the base of the cake tin carefully – you may need to use a knife to tease off the apple slices.

• Allow to cool and then serve with a dollop of lightly whipped cream or a spoonful of crème fraiche or perhaps some natural yoghurt.