Tag: Apple Cake

Apple & Budyń Cake

  • I have tried out several versions of cake that has apples and budyń – Polish custard in the middle.
  • After many attemps, this is the best for baking and for cutting up afterwards.
  • It consists of 4 parts: – 
  • A shortcrust base and sides
  • Cooking apples – half cooked
  • 500ml of  budyń
  • Kruszonka topping – rich crumble mix
  • I made this in a rectangular baking tin – 26 x 21cm.

INGREDIENTS

  • Shortcrust pastry – enough to cover the base & sides of the tin.
  • 3-4 large cooking apples – peeled and cored – half cooked with sugar and a little cinnamon added.
  • Budyń made with 500ml of milk & 3 egg yolks.
  • Kruszonka – crumble mixture – made with 125g of plain flour, 100g butter and 80 – 100g of granulated sugar. (Will be doing a post on this later)

Royal Doulton, sonnet, tea plate.

METHOD

  • Chop the apples and cook them with the sugar (to taste – not too sweet).
  • Add a little cinnamon.
  • Leave to cool.
  • Make the budyń with 500ml milk, 1 tablespoon of butter, 1 tablespoon of sugar, 3 tablespoons of potato starch & 3 egg yolks.
  • Leave to cool.
  • Make the kruszonka – crumble mixture –  with 125g of plain flour, 100g butter and 80 – 100g of granulated sugar –
  • Rubbing the butter into the flour to resemble bread crumbs and stir in the sugar.
  • *
  • Pre-heat the oven to GM7 – 220°C.
  • Grease and line with one sheet of baking paper – 2 sides and the base of  the 26 x 21cm tin.
  • Roll out the shortcrust pastry to cover the base and all sides of the tin.
  • Piece carefully when needed.
  • Prick carefully with a fork the base.
  • Using baking beans – bake the pastry blind for 15 minutes.
  • Remove the baking beans and flaten the pastry gently if need be and bake for another minute.
  • Remove the tin from the oven and leave to cool a little.
  • *
  • Turn the oven down to GM5 – 190°C.
  • Cover the pastry with the apples – spreading out to cover the base.
  • Cover the apples with the budyń – spreading it out to cover the apples.
  • Sprinkle the crumble mixture over all the budyń.
  • Put back in the oven and bake for around 50 – 60 minutes until the top is golden.
  • Leave to go cold completely before serving.

Testers said they loved the different textures of the crumble against soft custard.

Apple Cake with Sultanas

  • I have a bumber crop of Bramley apples this year.
  • I know I watered the fruit trees early on in the year before we had our hosepipe ban.
  • This recipe is my Mama’s best recipe with added sultanas.
  • My father did not like this addition so it was a version she did not make.
  • It is equaly delicious.
  • *
  • I will be trying out new apple recipes this year – look out for them soon.

Apple & Sultana Filling – Ingredients

  • 5 to 6 Bramley Apples
  • Granulated Sugar to taste – keep it slightly tart
  • A little water
  • 1 teaspoon of ground cinnamon
  • 100g of sultanas
IMG_20151212_061813444_HDR

Method

  • Make the apple filling first, even the day beforehand as it needs to be cold before you use it.
  • Peel and core the apples and cut them into thick slices or chunks.
  • Stew the apples gently with some sugar and very little water. You can make this in a saucepan on the stove or place the apples and sugar in a dish in the oven.
  • Do not add a lot of sugar at the beginning as it does not want to be too sweet, you can adjust the sweetness at the end.
  • Do not make it too much of a purée, cook so that you have some soft apples but with some harder less cooked chunks as well.
  • Leave the mixture to cool and then add the ground cinnamon. 
  • Add the sultanas and leave for at least 30 minutes so the sultanas plump up.

Cake – Ingredients

  • 300g plain flour
  • 3 teaspoons of baking powder
  • 200g butter
  • 75g caster sugar
  • 1 egg yolk (save the white for the topping)
  • 2 to 3 tablespoons of lemon juice and water
  • Method
  • You need a round tin with a loose base or a spring form tin or you will not be able to get the cake out.  I always use an loose base anodised aluminium tin, 22cm in diameter and 8 cm deep, which does not rust.
  • Grease the tin well.
  • Rub the butter into the flour to make fine crumbs and add the sugar and baking powder.
  • Add the egg yolk and the lemon juice and water as needed and mix together to make a soft “dough” (try not to add more flour),  handle it as little as possible.
  • Leave it to chill for about ½ an hour as this makes it easier to handle.
  • Pre heat the oven to GM5 – 190oC.
  • Take slightly more than half the dough and press it into the cake tin.
  • Spoon the apple & sultana mixture on top of this.
  • The rest of the dough will go on top of the apple & sultana mixture.
  • I use a rolling pin to make a circle that is smaller than the tin diameter and then place this on top.
  • Do not worry if the dough falls apart, just place it on with the breaks nearly touching.

Topping – Ingredients

  • 1 egg white and caster sugar
  • Slightly beat the egg white with a fork and brush this over the top of the dough.  You will not need it all.
  • Liberally sprinkle caster sugar over the egg white.
  • Bake for around 45 to 50 minutes until the top is a golden brown.
  • I tend to check the cake at 40 minutes and will cover the top with greaseproof if it starts to brown but is not yet cooked through.
IMG_20151214_172844872
  • Leave to cool before getting the cake out of the tin.
  • Loosen the side with a spatula.
  • Use a tin can and put the cake tin on this and slide the side of the cake tin down.
IMG_20151214_192920220_HDR
  • Do not put the cake in a air-tight covered container as the apples absorb moisture and you loose the crispness of the cake.

Apple Cake

  • It must be said that I think my mama’s recipe for jabłecznik (apple cake) is the best but I keep on trying other recipes just to give them a try.
  • This one is a more sponge like cake and you only need 2 largish baking apples.
  • NOTE – you need more baking powder than usual.

INGREDIENTS

  • 225 flour
  • 3 teaspoons of baking powder
  • 225 granulated sugar
  • 2 eggs
  • ¼ teaspoon vanilla essence
  • 150g butter – melted
  • 2 medium/large cooking apples – peeled and cored
  • ½ teaspoon ground cinnamon
  • *
  • Icing sugar to serve

METHOD

  • Cut the apples into thin slices and mix with the ground cinnamon.
  • Lightly butter a deep 20cm lose-bottomed cake tin.
  • Pre-heat the oven to GM3 160°C.
  • Melt the butter and leave to cool.
  • In a large bowl mix the flour, baking powder, sugar.
  • Lightly beat the eggs and vanilla essence.
  • Add the egg mixture to the flour mixture.
  • Beat in the cooled, melted butter.
  • Spread half the mixture on the base of the tin.
  • Put the apples on top with most in the centre.
  • Put the rest of the cake mixture over the apples making sure the middle is covered as the mixture will spread out when baking.
  • Bake for 55 to 60 minutes.
  • Dust with icing sugar to serve.

Apple Cake – a different way

This is my 600th post!

  • For this apple cake use eating apples.
  • You can use Gala or Braeburn – I think the Braeburn were the better ones.
  • It is made in quite a different way to my usual Polish apple cake.

INGREDIENTS

  • 100g of butter – softened.
  • 95g of granulated sugar
  • ½ teaspoon of vanilla essence 
  • 150g plain flour
  • 50g potato flour
  • 2 teaspoons of baking powder
  • ¼ teaspoon of salt
  • 4 tablespoons of soured cream
  • 100g of cream cheese (or yoghurt cheese)
  • 3 eggs
  • *
  • Butter to grease the tin
  • *
  • 5 or 6 eating apples – such as gala
  • 20g granulated sugar and ¼ teaspoon of ground cinnamon
  • Royal Doulton Carnation Tea Plate

METHOD

  • Brush a 26cm in diameter loose bottomed tin with the melted butter.

  • Pre-heat the oven to GM4 – 180°C.

  • Cream the butter with the 95g of sugar.
  • Add the cream cheese, soured cream and eggs and whisk well together.
  • Mix the plain flour, potato flour, salt and baking powder.
  • Add the flour mixture gently to the other ingredients and mix well together.
  • Leave in the bowl whilst you prepare the apples.
  • *
  • Mix the 20g of sugar with the cinnamon.
  • Peel and core the apples and cut then in halves.
  • Criss-cross the domed tops of the apples with a sharp knife.
  • Put them into the sugar mixture.
  • *
  • Put the cake batter into the tin and smooth flat.
  • Put the apple halves cut side down on top of the batter.
  • Bake for 45-50 minutes.
  • Leave to cool in the tin.

Dust with icing sugar before serving.

Cake with “Sour” Fruits 2

  • This is the second fruit recipe I have been given from my Polish friend in Leeds.
  • It is quite unusual and contains a large proportion of fruit to cake.
  • It works best with sour fruits such as –
  • Bilberries (Whinberries)
  • Cooking apples
  • Plums – not too ripe
  • Rhubarb
  • Sour cherries
  • *
  • I have tried it out with Bramley apples from the garden as rhubarb is not yet in season. (This will be my next trial).
  • Some potato flour is used and the recipe says you can use budyń –– Polish custard powder.
  • The second time I tried it out using English custard powder.
  • I used 180g of granulated sugar, which was enough for the apples.

INGREDIENTS

  • 1kg of fruit
  • *
  • 180g – 220g granulated sugar – depends on how sour the fruit is.
  • 3 eggs
  • 170g plain flour
  • 1½ teaspoons baking powder
  • 90g potato flour 
  • 125g butter
  • 2 tablespoons of sunflower oil
  • *
  • 1 – 2 teaspoons of mixed spice or cinnamon or 5-6 drops of vanilla essence
  • *
  • Butter or oil &  bułka tarta – dried breadcrumbs
  • *
  • Icing sugar to dust

METHOD

  • Grease a 32 x 22 baking tin and cover thinly with breadcrumbs.
  • Pre-heat the oven to GM 4 – 180°C.
  • Melt the butter in a small saucepan and leave to cool.
  • *
  • Prepare the fruit – for apples these were peeled and cored and chopped into small pieces.
  • Mix the spices with the fruit.
  • *
  • Mix the plain flour, baking powder and potato flour together .
  • In a large bowl whisk the eggs with the sugar (180g for apples).
  • Mix in the flour mixture
  • Add the cooled butter and mix well.
  • Add the sunflower oil and mix well.
  • *
  • Add the fruit and mix so that the fruit is coated with the batter.
  • Put the cake mixture into the prepared tin and smooth it down and into the sides.
  • *
  • Bake for 45 -50 minutes.
  • Leave to cool in the tin.
  • Dust with icing sugar.
  • *
  • It is hard to take out whole from the tin – easier to cut squares or rectangles in the tin and take these out individually to serve. 
  • Royal Grafton – Woodside tea plate
  • *

  • Option 

  • The recipe says you can use budyń –– Polish custard powder  instead of  potato flour.
  •  I did not have any budyń but  tried it out the second time using English custard powder it worked well.
  • See photo below served on Royal Doulton – Carnation.

withcustard

Cake with “Sour” Fruits 1

  • Updated on 4 August 2023 using Sour Plums
  • Updated on 6 September 2024 with frozen fruits of the forest.
  • *
  • I got this recipe from my Polish friend in Leeds.
  • She was going to make this for a coffee morning event for a good cause.
  • It is a batter style cake but made with melted butter rather than oil, which I have used before in cakes such as
  • Victorian Apple Cake  or 
  • Cake with Peaches  
  • The original recipe was for rhubarb –   rabarbar  – in Polish.
  • The recipe suggested you could use other fruit such as sour cherries or apples.
  • As rhubarb is not yet in season I decided to try this with my Bramley apples.
  • My friend made hers with fresh plums.
  • You can use quite a lot of fruit as the cake rises and the fruit moves apart.
  • *
  • If your fruit is too sour you can dust the cake with icing sugar before serving.

INGREDIENTS

  • 250g butter
  • 200g granulated sugar
  • 60ml cold water
  • 3 eggs
  • 340g plain flour
  • 2 teaspoons of baking powder 
  • *
  • 3-4 medium Bramley cooking apples – peeled & cored and chopped into small cubes.

METHOD

  • Grease and line 3 sides of a 32x22cm baking tin.
  • Pre-heat the oven toGM4 – 180°C
  • *
  • Mix the baking powder with the flour.
  • Melt the butter & sugar in a saucepan – do not boil.
  • Add the water and leave to cool.
  • Beat the eggs into the flour.
  • Add the butter mixture and mix well until you have a thick batter.
  • Pour into the tin and level out the batter to all sides.
  • Cover the top with the apple pieces.
  • Baked for 50-55 minutes.
  • Check the cake part is ready with a tester.
  • Leave to cool in the tin.
  • *
  • Optional – dust with icing sugar before serving.

  • Royal Grafton – Woodside – 1940s – 1959
  • *

Version with sour plums

  • Use around 500g of under ripe plums.
  • Remove the stones and cut the flesh into small pieces.
  • *
  • Method as above.
  • *
  • You can dust with icing sugar before serving but I like the contrast of the tart plums against the sweet cake.

Served on Royal Doulton – Counterpoint tea plate.

Version with frozen fruits of the forest

  • I used a bag of frozen fruits of the forest which was 500g
  • I let them defrost on kitchen roll.
  • I think another ½ bag would not have gone amiss.
  • The fruits included red grapes! – I found that rather odd – more blackberries or similar would have been better.
  • Having said this – it went down very well.
  •  

Easy Apple Cake

  • I have had a huge harvest of Bramley apples this year, so am always looking for different recipes from my standard favourite one.
  • This is based on an American idea with just a free form base and slightly raised sides.
  • It has been adapted to make a it more like a Polish apple cake  –  jabłecznik.
  • I have tried it several times and two secrets are:
  • 1) NOT have too much pastry and
  • 2) NOT to have loads of filling.
  • The pastry should be rolled out until it is thin.

Ingredients – pastry

  • 200g flour
  • 100g butter
  • 1 egg yolk
  • Juice of 1 lemon
  • *
  • 1 egg yolk – use it all – for sealing
  • *
  • 1 egg white – beaten
  • 1 tablespoon of granulated sugar

Ingredients – filling

  • 2 large Bramley apples
  • 75g raisins or sultanas
  • 75g granulated sugar
  • 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
  • 1/2 teaspoon ground mixed spice
  • 1/4 teaspoon freshly ground nutmeg
  • *
  • Icing sugar to dust – optional

Method – filling

  • Peel and core the apples and chop them into small pieces.
  • Add the raisins, sugar and spices.
  • Mix together and leave to one side.

Method – pastry

  • Rub the butter into the flour until like breadcrumbs.
  • Add the egg yolk and lemon juice and mix to a soft dough.
  • Add more water sparingly if necessary.
  • *
  • Wrap in plastic and leave in the fridge for 30 minutes.
  • *
  • Butter / Grease a large baking sheet.
  • Pre-heat the oven to GM6 – 200°C.
  • *
  • Roll out the pastry thinly until you have a rough circle around 25cm.
  • Place the pastry onto the sheet.
  • Brush the egg yolk over a circle round 25cm in diameter.
  • Pile up the filling onto the circle.
  • Bring up the sides of the pastry.
  • Brush the sides with the egg white.
  • Sprinkle on the tablespoon of granulated sugar.
  • *
  • Bake for 30-35 minutes until the pastry is golden.
  • Leave to cool on a wire rack.
  • *
  • Sprinkle with icing sugar before serving.

Jabłecznik with a Different Filling

  • This is a variation on my well loved Polish Apple Cake.
  • I came across this filling whilst doing some research for Historic English recipes.
  • This is a Georgian recipe.
  • Rather than cinnamon, nutmeg and orange are used.
  • Egg yolks and butter are also added.
  • In the original recipe the filling was used in a tart.
  • Here I have used my Mama’s jabłecznik  recipe for the cake.
  • The filling has to be cold so you can make it the night before.

Ingredients – Filling

  • 4 Bramley apples
  • Juice and zest of 1 orange
  • 2-3 tablespoons of granulated sugar
  • 30g butter
  • 1 teaspoon of freshly grated nutmeg
  • 3 eggs yolks

Method – Filling

  • Peel, core and slice the apples
  • Place the apples in a saucepan with the sugar, zest and juice of the orange.
  • Cook until the apples are soft.
  • Add the grated nutmeg.
  • Take off the heat and add the butter.
  • When cold add the egg yolks and mix  well.

Ingredients – Cake

  • 300g plain flour
  • 3 teaspoons of baking powder
  • 200g butter
  • 75g granulated sugar
  • 1 egg yolk (save the white for the topping)
  • Juice of 1 lemon and 3-5 tablespoons of cold water
  • *
  • Sprinkle of granulated sugar for the top of the cake

Method

  • You need a round tin with a loose base or a spring form tin or you will not be able to get the cake out.
  • I always use an anodised aluminium tin, 22cm in diameter and 8 cm deep, which does not rust.
  • Grease the tin well.
  • Rub the butter into the flour to make fine crumbs and add the sugar.
  • Add the egg yolk and the lemon juice and enough water to make a soft “dough” (try not to add more flour),  handle it as little as possible.
  • Leave it to chill for about ½ an hour as this makes it easier to handle.
  • *
  • Pre heat the oven to GM5 – 190oC.
  • Take slightly more than half the dough and press it into the cake tin.
  • Add the apple filling on top.
  • The rest of the dough will go on top of the apple mixture.
  • I use a rolling pin to make a circle that is smaller than the tin diameter and then place this on top.
  • Do not worry if the dough falls apart, just place it on with the breaks nearly touching.
  • Brush with beaten egg white.
  • Sprinkle the sugar on top.
  • Bake for around 50 minutes to 1 hour.
  • Leave to cool in the tin.
  • Tea Plate – Bramble Rose by Duchess from the 1960s.

Yeast Placek with Apples

  • I had been making several recipes with plums and wanted to make a placek – flat cake – with a plum topping.
  • However I ran out of plums whilst making other recipes, so decided to try this with apples instead.
  • My Bramley apples are not yet ripe so I used eating apples instead.
  • I might have to amended the recipe slightly if using cooking apples. 
  • Yesterday I bought some more plums so will try this out next.
  • The yeast pastry is the same as used earlier for my  drożdżówki – sweet yeast buns with rhubarb and with whinberries.

Ingredients 

  • 200g & 50g plain flour
  • 150 ml warm milk
  • 1 teaspoon of granulated sugar
  • ½ tablespoon of dried yeast
  • *
  • ¼ teaspoon of salt
  • 60g granulated sugar
  • 2 egg yolks
  • *
  • 3 or 4 eating apples
  • 1-2 tablespoons of sugar
  • ½ teaspoon of ground cinnamon
  • *
  • Icing sugar to dust

Method 

  • Mix the milk, yeast, 1 teaspoon of sugar and 50g of plain flour.
  • Leave for 20 minutes.
  • Put the 200g of plain flour, 60g of sugar, salt, yolks and yeast mixture in a bowl.
  • Mix together to form a soft dough.
  • Add a little extra milk if this is too dry.
  • Knead for 10 minutes – set a timer – till you get a smooth ball.
  • Cover and leave for 1½ – 2 hours.
  • *
  • Line a baking tray with baking paper.
  • *
  • Peel and core the apples.
  • Cut them into thin slices.
  • Mix them with the sugar and cinnamon.
  • *
  • Lightly mix the dough back into a ball.
  • Roll out and stretch the dough to fit the baking tray.
  • Place the apples and sugar mix on top.
  • Cover and leave for 30 minutes.
  • *
  • Pre-heat the oven  to GM5- 200°C.
  • Bake for 20 -25 minutes.
  • Leave to cool on a wire rack.
  • Dust with icing sugar to serve.
Tea plate Primulette – by Royal Albert from the 1950s

Victorian Apple Cake

I have been doing some research into cooking in Victorian England and came across this recipe, which is based loosely on an apple pudding in Mrs Beeton’s Book of Household Management  published in 1861.

Eating apples are used in this recipes rather than tart cooking apples.

Although not a Polish Apple Cake, I think it would go down very well if served with a cup of tea in Poland.

  • Sunflower oil  is used and this would not have been available to the Victorians.
  • Work on obtaining oils from cottonseed was started in the late 19th century in the USA.
  • Hardened vegetable oils were available from the early 20th century.
  • Vegetable oils became popular for cooking in the mid-20th century.

Ingredients

  • 4 eating apples – peeled & cored and cut into rough 2.5cm chunks
  • 1 teaspoon of ground cinnamon
  • 2 tablespoons of granulated sugar
  • *
  • 230g of plain flour
  • ½ tablespoon of baking powder
  • ½ teaspoon of salt
  • 125ml of sunflower oil
  • 200g granulated sugar
  • 1 teaspoon of vanilla extract
  • 3 eggs

Method

  • Pre-heat oven to GM4 – 180°C
  • Use a 22cm loose bottom tin with a cake liner – (like a huge bun case)
  • Mix the apples, cinnamon and sugar in a small bowl
  • Leave whilst you prepare the cake mixture
  • *
  • In a large bowl mix the flour, baking powder and salt
  • In another bowl whisk the oil, sugar, vanilla extract and the eggs until they are thoroughly mixed
  • Add the flour mixture to the oil mixture and mix thoroughly
  • Place half the cake batter into the cooking tin
  • Place half the apple mix and juices on top of the cake batter
  • Cover with the rest of the cake batter
  • Place the rest of the apple mixture evenly over the surface of the cake
  • Bake for 55 – 60 minutes – cover and maybe another another 10 minutes if not done
  • Leave to cool in the tin before turning it out.

21st century Cake Stand is Crazy Daisy by Sophie Conran for Portmeirion