Apple cream torte

Apple cream torte – delicate, tender, moist and cream-like, this apple torte smells and tastes heavenly, and can be served either as breakfast, or dessert.

Well hello, and happy Friday morning! I hope you all had a great week, or those who didn’t, I hope you soon get to forget it.

It’s another sunny day here in California, but instead of making plans for the weekend, I’m making plans to bake this apple cream torte that I saw in Sunset magazine.  I rarely get so excited about a recipe and have an urge to make it immediately.  I usually take the recipe more as an idea, and modify it to suite my own taste, and more often than not, I save it for later.  But the moment I saw this tantalizing picture of the apple cream torte on the pages of my favorite magazine, I knew I had to make it.  And what better time to make something with apples than right now, in the heat of apple season!

Maybe it’s appropriate to say that I eat a ton of raw apples, on a daily basis, and never even think of ‘wasting’ them for cooking unless they start getting old.   This time, however, I have some extra apples left over from our recent trip to a local apple orchard, so I don’t feel so bad cooking something with them.  Plus this torte looked and sounded so delicious that I would’ve made the sacrifice anyway.

Apple picking season is so short! I’ve always wanted to visit an apple farm with the kids and pick our own fruit, but every time I decide to go (usually a couple of weeks after school starts, and my mind fog clears enough after the initial shock, so I can start thinking about those things), I realize we’ve missed our chance!  First off, there are not that many local apple farms that offer a U-pick option, and second, there are just a few organic ones.  Chileno Valley Ranch, is one of them, and a few weekends ago, we finally managed to book a spot on time before their season is over.

The farm is rather smallish, situated a few miles west of Petaluma, in the beautiful Marin rolling hills. They have a tiny orchard but they have at least 6-7 different apple varieties, like Orin, Honey Crisp, Jonagold, Mutsu, Pinova and Pink Lady. The big draw for the kids though was not the apples, but the animals.  They had a lot of cute sheep, two pygmy goats -Cinnamon and Nutmeg, who roam freely, and lots of black Angus cows, that will gladly eat an apple off your hand.

They also had some other nice extras that kids loved, like freshly squeezed apple juice (the old fashioned way), freshly baked apple cake, make-your-own caramel apple, and farm tours.   All in all, it’s a really nice farm to visit, and if you’ve made the trip that far from the Bay Area, you can continue a few more miles west and reach the ocean at Tomales bay, and maybe make a stop at Hogg Island oyster farm and try their awesome bbq-ed oysters at the shack (they recently started booking reservations too, so plan in advance).
…

A couple of hours later…

…the house smells heavenly, the torte is baked, and photographed and half eaten, and I’m even more excited to talk about it.

Apple cream torte – just the name sounds delicious, and just as the description said, it’s a cross between a dutch baby, a flan, and a cake.  It’s so moist and soft, with a sweet vanilla aroma, and you feel like you are eating more apples than cake but that’s a good thing.  It’s so light and tender, and creamy that you can’t just eat it properly, chewing each bite.  No – you simply inhale it.

I dared change the recipe by reducing the sugar in half, and I’m glad I did.  I think I’ll even use less sugar next time, especially if I make it for breakfast.  Other than that, the recipe is perfect.  I served it as an afternoon snack to the kids with some plain yogurt on the side. I loved the contrast of sweet warm cake, and tangy cold yogurt.  The yogurt cuts in some of the sweetness, and makes for a healthier topping.  If you decide to make it for dessert, however, you can serve it with some whipped cream, or Crème fraîche.

Happy Friday!!

5 from 4 votes

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Apple cream torte

Prep Time

20 mins

Cook Time

1 hr

Total Time

1 hr 20 mins

 

Apple cream torte - delicate, tender, moist and cream-like, this apple torte is a cross between a flan, a cake and a dutch baby, tastes and smells heavenly, and can be served either as a breakfast, or dessert.

Course: Dessert / Breakfast

Servings: 10 pieces

Calories: 210 kcal

Author: adapted from Sunset magazine, September 2016 issue

Ingredients

• 4 apples (Junogold, Gala, Cameo, Fuji, or other tender sweet variety)
• 3 large eggs
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 3/4 cup heavy whipping cream
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 1 cup flour
• 1 1/2 tsp baking powder
• 1/2 tsp salt
• powdered sugar for dusting
• Crème fraîche, whipped cream, or plain yogurt for serving

Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 325° F. Butter, and flour a 9 inch round cake pan (or spring form)

2. Peel apples, remove cores, and slice crosswise into 1/4 inch rings.
3. Beat eggs and sugar for 2-3 minutes until slightly thickened
4. Add cream and vanilla, and beat a bit more.
5. Add flour, mixed with baking powder and salt, and beat until incorporated.
6. Add apples to batter and gently mix with a spatula, then pour into prepared cake form, pushing the apples slightly down so no pieces stick out.
7. Bake for an hour or until a toothpick inserted into dough comes out clean.
8. Let rest for 20 minutes, then carefully remove the torte from the cake form.
9. Dust with powdered sugar, and serve with a cup of cold creamy yogurt for snack or breakfast, or with whipped cream, ice cream or creme fraiche for dessert.