My girlfriend is coming over for lunch after we work out together and she’s not a chocoholic, so I’ve had to rethink my normal dessert selection. This light pastry should get the job done. In French, it’s called gâteau invisible aux pommes. By its name, you’ve probably already guessed that it’s a dessert made exclusively of apples. I would say it looks like a healthy version of a Dobos torte. They’re sliced paper-thin and coated in a delicate, evenly-distributed, layer of cake batter. This creates a light, multi-layered apple cake. The apple slices are so thin, it makes the cake almost translucent once baked. The apples are soft, almost creamy. The hardest part is to wait to let it cool and set.
In English, it’s called drunken apple cake because it’s traditionally covered with a caramel sauce (I often serve it with a caramel au beurre salé sauce) or a crème anglaise topping (light, thin, pourable custard) but I wanted to keep the dessert healthy so I substituted berry coulis using the strawberries from our garden. I haven’t been able to harvest any apples yet though (I need to wait at least 2 more months for these!).
1. Info for Drunken Apple Cake Recipe (Gateau Invisible aux Pommes)
- Cook Time: unavailable
- Total Time: unavailable
- Servings: 8
- Calories: unavailable
2. Ingredients for Drunken Apple Cake Recipe (Gateau Invisible aux Pommes)
- 2 large eggs
- 1 tablespoon unsalted butter, for greasing
- 1 tablespoon pure vanilla extract
- 2 teaspoons baking powder
- ⅛ teaspoon salt
- ⅛ teaspoon freshly-ground cinnamon
- 5 large apples (I used Golden Delicious), peeled, quartered and cored
- 2 tablespoons powdered sugar, to taste
- 2 cups fresh berries (I used 1½ cups strawberries and ½ cups raspberries)
3. Directions:
- Preheat the oven to 375°F.
- For the berry coulis: In a blender, combine the berries and powdered sugar until smooth. Strain through a coarse-mesh strainer. Discard any solids. Chill in the refrigerator until ready to assemble.
- Making cake batter:
- Grease (I used 1 tablespoon of butter) a non-stick (9-inch) round cake pan. Dust with a little flour. Line with parchment paper for easy unmolding.
- Beat the eggs in a mixing bowl with granulated sugar until they’re pale yellow; the texture of the eggs will be thicker. Add the vanilla extract.
- In a separate bowl, sift the flour, baking powder, nutmeg and salt.
- Combine the egg mixture and the dry ingredients, alternating with milk (or heavy cream) so the batter is smooth.
- Prepping the apples: Cut the apples into 1/16-inch thick slices with a mandoline or a vegetable peeler. Transfer to a large mixing bowl, then cover with the cake batter. Mix well so they’re all nicely coated.
- Assembly:
- Pour the apple slices into the prepared pan. Spread the fruit evenly and press firmly.
- Bake for about 40 minutes until the top is slightly golden. Allow to cool for at least 20 minutes.
- Cover the serving plates with the berry coulis.
- Remove the cake from the oven, cut and place onto the serving plates.
- Serve at room temperature or chilled with a hot cup of tea.
- Bon appétit!
4. Tips and advices:
- You could replace the apples with pears or any fruit you have on hand.
- You could also serve this apple cake as individual portions baked in a muffin tin.
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