Frankly, I have a confession to make. Over the weekend on saturday, I was in the midst of a battle in my kitchen in the wee hours. The cause that broke the peace at such late night ? An upside-down apple cake. It was'nt just any apple cake. To be exact, it was Rose's upside-down apple cake.
Who is Rose you may ask. She is none other than Rose Levy Beranbaum, a name I have learnt to remember by heart, an established baker and cookbook author. Among her works are The Cake Bible, The Pie and Pastry Bible and last but not least the highly acclaimed Rose's Heavenly Cakes.
Before the cake was done, I was expecting the cake to be good. When I took my first bite into the cake, 'good' was probably an understatement. It was mind-blowing. I was amazed at the ultra-light texture of the sponge and the caramel baked apple top. Lovely~! Once again, I forgot to include an ingredient this time - vanilla. The exclusion of vanilla did not mar my experience. Even without vanilla, the cake had tasted so superb. I helped myself slice after slice and stopped at my third serving. At that moment, I wish I had my camera around. Sorry folks! I will re-cake this soon.
I have that book too :)
ReplyDeleteSo you managed to find time for your Apple Cake! :)
ReplyDeleteGlad it turned out so well. Now please bake this again and resist the temptation to just eat eat eat. Please take pictures to show us too ;P
Haha! It's OK to make a confession once in a while. Once again, you amazed me with your appetite! LOL! You finished a 9-inch cake in like 2~4 days!? If the cake is with me, it'd be still sitting in my fridge! Even today, I helped myself with 3 or 4 slices of blondies at work, I already felt sinful! Wah ... Definitely no good on my belly ... =S
ReplyDeleteRemember you said you were gonna give this cake a shot in your Gateau Breton post. The cake sounds good to me since you said it turned out great even without the vanilla! I thought it had cinnamon added. I checked the book, nope. I guess it's the caramelized apple that does the trick, besides the promising texture of Rose's cakes. You use Granny Smiths for baking, eh? Do try Golden Delicious if Singapore has the variety. I have yet to bump into one in KL. When I was in the States, Golden Delicious was my top choice when it came to baking apples. It's good, but that's not to say Granny Smith is shabby. Oh, did you make the Bourbon whipped cream to go with it?
You still can't beat my record. When I was in college back in the States, I often baked till 4-ish in the morning. Then, washed dishes and cleaned the mess. Slept at 5, and woke up at 7 to make it to the 8 and 9 a.m. classes. Haha!
OK, I look forward to your second attempt at the cake. Thank you for pushing me into trying recipes out from the book. Don't think I'll start with this one first though. Will see ... I'm still looking for good excuses for me to feed myself with a huge cake. LOL!
Hi Wendy,
ReplyDeleteThe book is fantastic! A must for all baking enthusiasts
Hi NEL,
yup I will do it again soon. Hope I can resist the temptation not to eat it as soon as it is baked, =]
Hi Pei-Lin,
I din finish the rest of the cake. after the 3 slices, I walked to my brother's place and passed the rest to him. He was awake and playing Mahjong, lol.
Ya, it tasted lovely without vanilla. Nope there is no cinnamon. I wanted to add some but thought I would follow closely to the recipe.
I like to use Granny Smiths for baking. Tried golden delicious once and its not bad. cant find it in supermarkets these days though. ended up using cripps pink as granny smiths werent available either. the result was not too shabby. these 3 apple varieties would do a decent job for any baked apple product. I omitted the cream as I did not want to open up a new carton. I wouldnt mind having ice cream with the cake if there were any. it would be just perfect!
actually I did not follow Rose's method of mixing. used the plain 'O' creaming method instead. my cake churned out lots of large holes. I suspect that the creaming plus the excessive amount of leavening (according to the book, mainly the baking soda) were the culprits.
I dont think I will bake until so late into the night. My family members will be sleeping at such late hours and they will surely kill me if they find me making such a din.
You certainly should make better use for the book! the cake isnt big actually. in fact it is short. The amount of cake batter is quite small so that it will not rise to a dome in the middle. (remember that this cake has to be flipped) Look forward to your heavenly cakes. I'll probably do my 3rd one sometime soon.
cheers =]