Gâteau Aux Pommes Français

French Apple Cake
A simple, elegant French apple cake to make; the edges are deliciously caramelized, and the center tastes like custard. A sure-fire win to serve when having company — although I hope you don’t wait for company to try this cake!
- 3/4 cup All-purpose flour
- 3/4 tsp Aluminum-free baking powder
- 1/8 tsp Salt
- 3 Apples, peeled, cored and chopped into 1-inch pieces (reserve half an apple to slice thinly to pinwheel on top of cake)
- 2 Eggs, large
- 3/4 cup Sugar
- 2 tbsp Rum (I used Bacardi Gold)
- 1 tsp Vanilla
- 1 Stick butter, melted
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Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
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Butter an 8-inch springform pan.* Cover the bottom of the pan with parchment paper.
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Whisk the flour, baking powder and salt together in a small bowl.
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In a larger bowl, whisk the eggs until foamy, then add the sugar, rum and vanilla. Whisk until smooth.
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Add half the flour, mixing gently. Add half the butter and mix gently. Repeat with remaining flour and butter. Batter should be smooth.
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Fold in the chopped apples with a spatula. Pour the batter into the prepared baking dish and spread evenly. Arrange the sliced apples in a pinwheel on the top of the cake batter.
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Bake for 60 minutes or until the top of the cake is golden brown and a knife inserted in the center comes out clean.
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Let cake cool for 15 minutes before removing from the springform pan.
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Once cooled, dust the cake with powdered sugar.**
* Note: I used an 8-inch soufflé dish to bake the cake in. Once I removed the cake from the oven, I carefully ran a knife between the cake and the edge of the baking dish, all the way around. I then placed a plate over the baking dish, flipped it, placed a second plate over the cake and flipped it again, so the cake was right-side up.
Optional: Serve cake with coconut whipped cream:
INGREDIENTS
1 can full-fat coconut milk
2-3 tablespoons homemade powdered confectioner’s sugar made from cane sugar**
PREPARATION
The day before:
Shake a can of full-fat coconut cream really well, then chill in the refrigerator for at least 24 hours. The top layer of thick, opaque “cream” is what you will be whipping.
The day of:
Open the can of chilled coconut milk without shaking it or turning upside down and carefully spoon out the top layer of opaque, thickened milk that has gathered at the top of the can into a mixing bowl. Leave the syrupy looking translucent liquid in the can (reserve for use in other recipes or your morning smoothie). Add 2-3 tablespoons of powdered confectioners sugar** to the thickened milk. Using a hand mixer, whip the coconut milk until creamy: start on low and then increase to a higher speed, moving the beater up, down and around to infuse the mixture with as much air as possible.
**To prepare the powdered sugar, grind cane sugar in a blender for 3-4 minutes until there are no sugar crystals remaining. Set aside in an airtight container until ready to use.

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