Apple meringue cake

How was your week? Mine was pretty hectic. Now that I work full time I have to learn to juggle the housework, the cooking and the children as well, although I have hubby who is very good indeed.

This is a brand new “dimension” for me. Before working full time I had so many hours left for cooking and baking; now I have much less time but I do enjoy it even more. And the same goes for blogging.

Cooking, baking and blogging is 100% relaxation time for me, it is the magic pill, the ME-time. When I log in and find all your comments it feels even better. It is all worth it.  That’s all I want from blogging really: sharing recipes and experiences and have some interaction with my readers.

Soo.. today I have an interesting cake you might like to bake yourself. Do you like apple cakes? If you do, just read on.

My dearest friend Agneska, who comes from Poland, keeps making amazing cakes. I previously featured one of her delicacies on this blog: a strawberry and cream sponge cake,  pure delight when strawberries were in season in the UK. I made it so many times.

Last weekend I was invited for coffee and I was totally impressed by this apple and meringue cake so I stole her recipe. This cake has a base and a topping of shortcrust pastry and two layers: one of grated apples and one of meringue with a hint of cinnamon. The layers look lovely especially the meringue one.

• Prep Time : 30 minutes
• Cook Time : 60 minutes

Ingredients

• flour – 450 g – 3 + 3/4 cup + extra if needed
• butter – 200 g – just over 7/8 cup
• eggs – 3 large (or 4 small)
• apples – 3 large
• breadcrumbs – 2 tbsp
• cinnamon – 2 tsp
• vanilla essence – 1 tsp
• brown sugar – 80 g – 3/8 cup
• granulated sugar – 150 g – 2/3 cup

Instructions

Make the pastry. On your worktop mix the flour with the egg yolks, the brown sugar, the diced butter, 1 tsp of cinnamon and the vanilla essence.

Working with a fork mix the ingredients well then quickly, using your hands, combine everything together and make a ball or simply use a processor. If you find the mixture too sticky add a little more flour and if it is too dry add a drop of milk. Wrap it in cling film and put it in the fridge for 30 minutes.

Take 2/3 of the pastry and put the remaining one aside.

With a rolling pin roll up the pastry and place it on a spring form baking tin with the bottom lined with parchment paper. The baking tin should measure approx 23 cm or 9 inch diameter.

Bake the pastry at 180C or 350F for 15 minutes.

Peel the apples, remove the cores and grate them finely. Mix them with a tsp of cinnamon. Whip the egg whites, add the white sugar and keep whipping for a few minutes until you get a meringue consistency. You should get a soft but firm consistency.

Sprinkle the breadcrumbs on top of the baked pastry, add the grated apples and spread the meringue on them. Rub the remaining pastry with your fingertips until the mixture looks like moist breadcrumbs and place it on top of the meringue.

Bake for 45 minutes at 180C or 350F. Cover it with tinfoil if you find that it gets too brown on top.

Let it cool down before removing it from the mold.

Advertisement