It may well reach temperatures of over 31ºC today, but Autumn is just about here… The mornings are much much cooler, and the days tend to start with fields full of mist at the back of the house. The evenings are definitely drawing in, plus there are spiders and daddy-longlegs in abundance… But, I LOVE this time of year, it has to be my absolute favourite, and what with the usual harvest celebrations, bierfests, pumpkin festivals etc. – there’s plenty to enjoy about a Bavarian Autumn…
This Spring our apple tree was covered in pink blossom and promised a good harvest for later in the year. It wasn’t joking. The poor thing has the most apples I have ever seen in all the time we have been here. It’s so laden that after a weekend away recently, we came back to find one of the large branches had snapped clean off thanks to the weight – just call me a tree neglector. Anyway, since then, we have huge plans for the remainder of the fruit, which include apple butter, going halves with a friend and her pear harvest and getting a load of fruit juiced by a local farmer, and then I am definitely making this cake on a weekly basis until every last apple has gone…
Now I am not going to lie, this is not the the easiest cake to make in the world… It’s good however for imagining yourself on an episode of Bake Off – except with the baby about to wake up from his nap as a countdown, and nobody looming over you as you bake (incidentally, I was shocked at how many fellow Brits hadn’t ever heard of a dampfnudel before on the last episode. Listen up people, if you’re coming over here for the millions of German Christmas Markets, and you go home without having tried a dampfnudel (with eggnog custard, that’s the best!) then you just haven’t done a German Christmas market properly – I love them so much I have written about them elsewhere on the internet!)… There’s a lot to do as there’s pastry to make, and custard to cook, and if you can’t find the blinking apple corer anywhere in the entirety of your kitchen, apples to peel and core by hand without slicing your fingers off. But, I promise you, it’s absolutely worth it, and there aren’t many times in your cake eating life that you can actually say that you ate two whole apples in one slice (if you cut the slices big enough obviously)!…
Ingredients:
200g plain flour;
1 tsp baking powder;
5 tbsp caster sugar;
1tsp vanilla extract;
2tsp ground cinnamon;
1 pinch of salt,
1 large egg,
100g salted butter;
For the Filling:
8 small tart apples peeled and cored,
Juice of 1 lemon,
Custard powder (not the instant kind);
3 tbsp sugar;
750ML single cream;
a good sprinkling of sliced almonds.
Preheat the oven to 180C and grease a 24 cm spring-form tin; Start with the pastry by sifting flour, baking powder into a mixing bowl, add the sugar, vanilla, cinnamon, egg, salt and butter and bring together with a dough hook. Cut the dough into two halves (with one slightly bigger than the other), put the bigger half in the fridge for later, and use the smaller half to line the base of the tin – having greased the whole thing first of course. Stab it gently with a fork a few times and bake for 15 minutes. Leave to cool, but leave the oven on. Roll the remaining pastry into a long strip to form the edge of the cake, and line the tin with it, pressing it gently to help join it to the base and patching up any small gaps as you go along. Put the whole thing back in the fridge while you get on with the rest…
Peel and core your apples, place in a bowl and squeeze the lemon juice over them to stop them from going brown. Now for the custard – mix 4 tbsps of custard powder with 200ML of the cream, stir in the sugar and put to one side. Bring the remaining 550ML cream to the boil, stirring constantly. Add the custard mixture, whisk through, and brink to the boil again, then set to one side to cool down for a while. Peel and core the apples, and squeeze the lemon over the fruit to stop it from going brown… Arrange the apples on the pastry base, and pour in the custard (a warning – if your custard is still too hot, the pastry sides will collapse straight away and you might cry!)… Add the almonds to the top, and bake for one hour and ten minutes…
With thanks to the German Grannies that came up with this recipe, and that I amended ever so slightly.
Enjoy…
AND… Just in case you are as addicted to Autumn as I am, check out these fabulous fall posts from fellow Autumn Addicts…
Autumn happens to be one of my favourite food seasons all round too, from foraged food from the hedgerows (and neighbours trees!) to very seasonal pumpkin dishes. Check out Foraging for Beginners from Mummy from the Heart, and Bug Bird Bee’s foraged Yellow Plum Chutney sounds gorgeous. Cat from Yellow Days has a beautiful Roasted Butternut and Sage Soup to sample, I love the sound of these sticky toffee apple breadsticks from Mummy Mishaps, whilst for pud how about these Easy Baked Apples from The Mummysphere…
If you are looking for some Autumn crafts for tiny people how about Pink Oddy’s very sweet tiny painted hedehogs? While you still have the paint out head over to Romanian Mum for a Handpainting Tree Craft. Not so much into paint? These Autumn Hama Bead Tea Light Holders from JennifersLittleWorld are perfect to keep little fingers busy… And finally, because it’s almost that time – here are some great Halloween Safety Tips from Mummy Alarm…
Jenny Paulin says
Emma what a beautiful looking cake and it just looks delicious! What a lovely read about autumn in Bavaria too. x
Emma says
Thanks so much Jenny! (:
Topfivemum says
I’m so going to attempt this during a nap time! My husband’s mum was Danish and he remembers her making an apple crumble type cake. We’ve never found the recipe but I keep trying new ideas. This one, if not the one from the past, may be just the one of the future!!
Emma says
Thank you! I hope you find it, it could be a little like the zwetschendatschi cake I have somewhere on the blog, just with apples? :)
Kara says
That looks absolutely delicious, not sure I am ready for autumn but this makes it almost bearable
Emma says
Thanks Kara. Autumn is well and truly here today…
Sonia says
Oh that looks so good. I could just eat a piece now with a coffee x
Emma says
Thanks Sonia! (: x
bass says
Crackin’ dawn foto
Emma says
Thanks Bass! (:
Michelle Twin Mum says
Ohh apple butter sounds nice and thanks for the receipe, we have an orchard here so I have access to tons of apples. Mich x
Emma says
Get picking Mich! :D Thank you x
Trish @ Mum's Gone To says
That looks delicious!
We don’t have quite so many apples as other years. Last year a friend took my glut and made cider with it. I just wanted rid of them all so was happy to get a few bottles in return.
I’m enjoying my harvest this year – lots of raspberries, far too many outdoor cucumber thingies and blummin’ courgettes coming out of my ears – or, coming out of an old water butt cut in half and used for planting!
Emma says
Swap you some for some raspberries? That’s a great idea for a planter too. Did it involve Duct tape!?! :D
Emma | The Mini Mes and Me says
oh my, that looks delicious and very seasonal too! x
Emma says
Thank you (: x
Mary Louise says
looks totally delicious.
I loved that you included a little bit of background and history about your apples in the recipe.
A really lovely read x
Emma says
Thanks so much Mary Louise!
Nell (the Pigeon Pair and Me) says
Ooh this looks amazing! Sadly I suspect it’s beyond my ability, but I’m concocting plans to travel to Bavaria to try some (and dampfnudels!)
Emma says
If I can make it Nell, you definitely can! :)
oana79 says
Oh yum, that looks amazing, I can almost taste it, custard and all :-)!
Emma says
Thanks Oana! (:
Cass@frugalfamily says
Oh my goodness that sounds delicious – I need a slice right now ;-)
Emma says
Thanks Cass! :D
Steph Curtis says
I lived in Germany for a year but never heard of a Dampfnudel! Love Weihnachtsmarkte, wish I could go back over. Any sort of apple cake if fine by me :)
Emma says
Maybe it’s a Southern thing? :D Thanks Steph! :)
JuggleMum, Nadine Hill says
You paint such a wonderful picture of a Bavarian autumn! I love this recipe – maybe I too can have a little slice of Bavaria! Thanks for sharing.
Emma says
Thanks Nadine! (: