Apple Pommeau Cake
Enjoy this delightful apple tea cake with a perfectly steeped cup of Irish breakfast tea.
Apple Pommeau Cake
Photo Credit : Colin Price“In Ireland, these kinds of tea cakes often have brandy or some sort of liqueur in them,” says Nicole Blum of Carr’s Ciderhouse. “Pommeau is apple brandy mixed with cider, and it isn’t quite as strong, but you can always substitute straight apple brandy.” She recommends enjoying the cake with a perfectly steeped cup of Irish breakfast tea.
From “Apple of Their Eye,” September/October 2019
Recipe excerpted from Ciderhouse Cookbook © by Jonathan Carr, Nicole Blum, and Andrea Blum
Yield:
8 servingsIngredients
1 ½ cups granulated sugar
3 large eggs, at room temperature
1 cup extra-virgin olive oil
½ cup (1 stick) salted butter, melted, plus more for pan
¼ cup pommeau or apple brandy
1 teaspoon vanilla extract, or seeds from 1 vanilla bean pod
3 ¼ cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
Pinch ground cloves
Pinch sea salt
1 ½ cups coarsely chopped pecans
4 apples, peeled, cored, and coarsely chopped
Confectioners’ sugar, for dusting
Instructions
Preheat the oven to 350°. Butter a 9-inch springform pan and line the bottom with parchment paper.
Combine the sugar and eggs in a large bowl and beat well with an electric mixer. With the mixer running, slowly pour in the olive oil and then the melted butter in a steady stream, beating until the batter is emulsified. Mix in the pommeau and vanilla.
In a separate bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, cinnamon, cloves, and salt. Add this mixture, cup by cup, to the wet ingredients and stir until combined. Stir in the pecans and fold in the apples.
Use a spatula to turn out the thick batter into the prepared pan and smooth the top. Bake until the center is firm to the touch and the crust is craggy and golden brown, 1 hour and 15 minutes.
Let it cool slightly, then remove from the pan and set on a rack to finish cooling. When completely cool, dust with confectioners’ sugar.
