IRISH APPLE CAKE
Ingredients:
Cake
3 cups all-purpose flour
1 Tbsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp of each ground ginger, nutmeg & allspice or apple pie spice
3/4 cup unsalted butter, cold, diced into small pieces
1 cup + 2 Tbsp granulated sugar, divided
1 1/2 lbs of cooking apples (about 5 medium)
3/4 cup milk
2 large eggs
1 tsp vanilla extract
1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
Custard Sauce
1 1/2 cups whole milk
1 pinch salt
6 large egg yolks
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1 1/2 tsp vanilla extract..
Instructions:
For the cake:
Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Butter and flour a 9-inch springform pan set aside.
In a very large mixing bowl whisk together flour, baking powder, salt, ginger, nutmeg and allspice for 20 seconds. Add butter pieces and rub into mixture using fingertips until it resembles fine crumbs. Stir in 1 cup sugar.
Peel apples, slice in half, core and stem, then laying apples on flat side, slice downward into pieces slightly less than 1/4-inch thick, then dice those pieces into smaller chunks (about 2 or 3 chunks depending on the size of apples). Add apples to flour mixture and toss well to evenly coat, while working to separate any apples that may be stuck together.
In a separate mixing bowl, whisk together milk, eggs and vanilla until well combined. Pour milk mixture over apple/flour mixture and using clean hands, toss just until combined (batter will be slightly lumpy but that's fine, just don't over-mix).
Pour batter into prepared baking dish and spread into an even layer. In a small bowl stir together remaining
2 Tbsp sugar plus 1/2 tsp cinnamon, sprinkle evenly over cake.
Bake in preheated oven 45 - 50 minutes until toothpick inserted into center comes out clean. Cool about 5 minutes on a wire rack then remove ring from springform pan and allow cake to cool to desired temperature. Serve warm drizzled with warm custard sauce (or cool with cold custard sauce, however you prefer).
For the custard sauce:
Heat milk with a pinch of salt over medium heat, and bring just to a light boil (keep an eye on it and remove it from the burner if needed before letting it rapidly boil). Meanwhile, add egg yolks and sugar to a medium mixing bowl and whisk vigorously until pale and fluffy, about 2 - 3 minutes (alternately you can do this with an electric hand mixer on high speed for about 30 seconds if you don't want to mix that long by hand).
Reduce burner to medium-low heat, then while whisking egg yolk mixture, slowly pour in 1/2 cup hot milk mixture. Then, while whisking milk in saucepan slowly pour egg yolk mixture into saucepan.
Cook mixture, whisking constantly, until thickened and mixture coats the back of a wooden spoon, about 3 - 4 minutes (be careful not to over-heat it, if you cook it too long or don't whisk well the eggs will curdle). Immediately pour into a glass container, stir in vanilla and whisk about 20 seconds to cool slightly, then cover with plastic wrap pressing against surface to prevent a skin from forming. Serve warm over cake (or cold).
Store in refrigerator in an airtight container.
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