Apple Cake
A spiced apple layer cake with moist grated-apple sponge, caramelized apples, mascarpone cream and a white chocolate butter ganache.
Servings :1 cake (18 cm)
Ingredients
Apple sponge
- 145 g light brown sugar
- 130 g granulated sugar
- 200 g whole eggs (about 4)
- 180 g neutral vegetable oil
- 270 g all-purpose flour
- 30 g cornstarch
- 6 g baking powder
- 4 g baking soda
- 4 g ground cinnamon
- 2 g ground ginger
- 1 g ground cardamom
- 2 g salt
- 360 g grated apples (coarsely grated, not drained)
- 10 g lemon juice
Caramelized apples
- 200 g apples (peeled and cut into small cubes)
- 10 g lemon juice
- 35 g granulated sugar
- 20 g butter
- water (as needed)
Mascarpone cream
- 250 g mascarpone
- 150 g cream cheese
- 80 g icing sugar
- 260 g heavy whipping cream
- 10 g vanilla extract
Frosting (white chocolate butter ganache)
- 200 g heavy whipping cream
- 200 g white chocolate
- 5 g vanilla extract
- 200 g butter (at room temperature)
Instructions
Apple sponge
- Combine the brown sugar, granulated sugar and eggs in a bowl and whisk for 1–2 minutes until slightly foamy. Add the oil and mix until smooth.
- Meanwhile, coarsely grate the apples with the skin on and drizzle the lemon juice over them.
- Add the grated apples to the egg mixture and mix well.
- In another bowl, mix the flour, cornstarch, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon, ginger, cardamom and salt. Add the dry ingredients to the batter and fold them in with a spatula.
- Divide the batter into 3 equal portions and transfer to 18 cm cake pans lined with baking paper.
- Bake at 160°C for 25–30 minutes.
- Let the sponges cool and level them if needed.
- Wrap them in plastic wrap and keep them in the fridge until assembling.
Caramelized apples
- Toss the apple cubes with the lemon juice.
- Caramelize the sugar in a pan until golden.
- Add the butter, then the apples, and cook on low heat until the apples soften, adding a little water from time to time if needed. The cooking time depends on the apple variety.
- Cool completely before using.
Mascarpone cream
- Combine all the ingredients in the bowl of a stand mixer.
- Whip until you get a fluffy, firm cream.
- Transfer to a piping bag for assembling the cake.
Assembling the cake
- Place one sponge layer in a cake ring lined with acetate.
- Pipe some of the mascarpone cream on top and place half of the caramelized apples in the centre. Cover with a little more mascarpone cream.
- Add another sponge layer and repeat the layering, finishing with the last sponge.
- Refrigerate the cake for at least 8 hours.
Frosting
- Heat the cream with the vanilla until hot.
- Pour it over the white chocolate and blend with an immersion blender until smooth.
- Cover with plastic wrap touching the surface and leave to cool at room temperature for at least 4 hours.
- Whip the butter until light, airy and pale in colour.
- Add the ganache and mix just until the cream is firm and easy to work with.
- Cover the cake with this frosting and decorate as you like.