Apple season

I know apple season is almost over, but when it is in full swing, I am going apple crazy. My parents have an apple tree in the backyard and I swear they are the best apples you will ever eat (especially when you climb up to get the reddest and biggest ones high up)! I put them in everything I cook or bake, from savory to sweet. Apples are definitely the best fruit to pair with cake. Juicy and tangy flavors combined in a crumble or with cream – apple heaven!
 In Germany when it is getting colder roasted apples are a big thing. Stuffed with nuts, raisins and marzipan, roasted in the oven and eaten with good vanilla custard, preferably at a fireplace. So homy! Well, here is how you put this feeling into a cake.

Ingredients 

For the dough:
150g butter
150g white caster sugar (possibly some vanilla sugar)
1 egg
250g plain flour
2 tsp. baking powder

For the filling:
8-9 big tangy apples

For the custard:
750ml single cream
150g white caster sugar
1 package vanilla custard powder
1 tsp. vanilla extract

So this time, because this is more of a pie crust, you cut up the cold (yes, cold) butter into little cubes and rub it in the flour and baking powder mix, with your fingers. Feels really nice by the way! Than you add the sugar and eggs and knead it all together quickly with your hands (or the dough hook on your mixer) and press it into the spring form. Peel the apples and remove their cores. 

You can stuff the apples as mentioned with whatever you want, but I like to for the pure apple and custard taste here. I know I take the short cut with cooking the custard from a ready-made package, if you have the time to make your own, be my guest! However the cream won’t let you notice that it is made from a package and it does help the cake set, later on. Do as the package tells ya, just use cream instead of milk. Pour over the apples, and put the cake in the oven for 70 minutes at 175 C°. If you can wait, let it cool and set for a few hours. If you are like me, indulge in the mixture of loads of cream and sugar and tangy apples right away.