As Good As It Gets

« A lovely almond cake topped with soft, caramelized apples, ice cream and golden caramel sauce. »

I've noticed lately that, as work gets more stressful, I've been baking nearly every night when I'm not so tired as to fall asleep on the sofa by 10pm. I'm not entirely sure why, but it keeps me out of the pubs and (mostly) out of trouble.

I was leafing through the hefty The Professional Pastry Chef after having so much success with the semlor/laskiaispulla and found a recipe for an apple and almond cake. I became suspicious of the author as I found a lot of almond-based recipes as I was browsing and wondered if he might be from somewhere around here since nobody loves the almond quite as much as the Nordics do. I've come to think that almonds and berry jams are foods worthy of their own food group in the Nordic region. There needs to be an annual almond festival and a monument erected to pay homage to the most revered nut. Apparently, "Chef Bo", (Whom I have affectionately dubbed "Chef Bo[rk Bork Bork]") is in fact Swedish. His cookbook is ace which is likely why he doesn't have a show on FoodTV and a line of his own merchandise as he's too busy actually working in the field to be a celebrity.

I have made this recipe four times in the last two weeks and not a single cake has made it into the office which might indicate how absolutely terrific this cake is. The soft, sweet apples partnered with the ice cream, caramel and light almond cake is a really amazing taste sensation. It looks pretty, too. I tried several different brown sugar variants and found the 'farina' sugar to be the best as it appears to be somewhere between light and dark brown sugar. The original recipe asks for dark brown sugar, but the molasses overwhelms the delicate flavour of the apple and the almond cake. If you don't have ramekins, you could probably use sturdy coffee mugs with straight sides.

One caveat is that you shouldn't allow the apples to cool too much before adding the filling since I discovered after taking Otava out for a long walk between baking stages that if they are too cool, the filling doesn't bake properly and you slice the cake only to find uncooked almond goo on the inside. I could ramble on about how good these are, how easy they are to make and that everyone should enjoy the wonders of a cake this good fresh from the oven at least once in their lifetime, but I'm working against a deadline this week and am too tired to be entertaining so you're left to your own devices on this one.

Caramelized Upside-Down Apple and Almond Cakes

Makes: 6-8 cakes depending on the size of your small ramekin
Special tools: ramekins, a.k.a. annosvuoka (small, round ceramic dishes), that have about 250ml/1 cup volume
Time: about 2 hours
Source: The Professional Pastry Chef

• 150g or 5oz light brown sugar or raw sugar
• 100g or 7 tablespoons butter, room temperature
• 1 teaspoon cinnamon
• 1 teaspoon nutmeg
• about 6 medium golden delicious or granny smith apples (about 1 apple per ramekin)
• vanilla-almond filling (see below)

1. Grease the inside of the ramekins with butter.
2. Cream the brown sugar, butter, cinnamon and nutmeg until smooth and lightened in colour. Divide the brown sugar mixture in half and spoon about a tablespoon into the bottom of the ramekins. Place the ramekins on a baking sheet and set aside.
3. Peel the apples, trim off the ends, cut in half crosswise, remove seeds with a melon baller or the end of the peeler and proceed to slice apples crosswise into thin slices. Place one slice into the bottom, pressing it down over the brown sugar mixture. Layer more slices in the ramekins, filling them almost to the top and filling any holes where bits of core were removed. If any slices are too wide for your baking dish, gently pare away the excess with the peeler. Brush a bit of the brown sugar mixture over the top apple slice so it doesn't dry out.
4. Cover ramekins with a sheet of aluminum foil (to keep the splatter of the butter to a minimum) and bake at 190C/375F for about 30-40 minutes or until the apples have cooked down to about half of their original volume. Remove from oven and set aside to cool for at least 30 minutes to an hour. When cool, take a sharp knife and run it around the sides to remove any caramelized sugar. Brush a small amount of butter on the sides before adding the almond filling.
5. Place the vanilla-almond filling into a pastry bag with a large plain tip. Pipe the filling on top of the baked apples, dividing it evenly among the forms. (Use a ziplock bag with a corner cut off if you don't have a pastry bag as you want to disturb the apples as little as possible when placing the almond filling.)
6. Bake at 190C/375F for about 20 minutes or until the filling is just baked through and light golden brown on top; be careful not to overbake the cakes, which will cause them to become tough and dry. Let the apple cakes cool until you can pick the ramekins up with your bare hands.
7. Run a knife around the inside edge of a warm cake and unmold onto a plate. Serve with a scoop of vanilla or cinnamon ice cream and caramel sauce.

Vanilla-Almond Filling

• 1 tablespoon vanilla sugar or the seeds of 1 vanilla bean added to the granulated sugar
• 55g or 2oz granulated sugar (about 1/2dl)
• 80g or 3oz almond paste
• 80g or 5.5 tablespoons butter, room temperature
• 2 eggs, room temperature
• 80g or 3oz bread flour (about 1.5dl)
• 1/2 teaspoon baking powder

1. Sift the flour with the baking powder. Set aside.
2. Place the vanilla sugar and granulated sugar in a mixer bowl with the almond paste. Beat together and add butter gradually to avoid getting lumps in the batter. Cream the mixture together for a few minutes until it is smooth and light in colour. Add the eggs, 1 at a time, scraping down the bowl as needed. Add flour mixture to the batter on low speed, mixing just until it is incorporated.

Fortified Caramel Sauce

Makes: about 2 cups/4 dl
Time: about 20 minutes

• 225g granulated sugar
• 40ml or 1/4 cup water
• 1/4 teaspoon lemon juice
• 1 tablespoon light corn syrup
• 180ml or 3/4 cup heavy cream
• 25g or 1/4 stick butter

1. Place the sugar, water and lemon juice in a small saucepan. Bring to a boil. Brush down the sides of the pan with a clean brush dipped in water. Add the light corn syrup. Cook over medium heat until the syrup reaches a golden amber colour (about 5-10 minutes).
2. Remove the pan from the heat and add the heavy cream carefully. Stand back as you pour in the cream, a little at a time while stirring constantly, as the mixture will splatter. Stir to mix in the cream. If the sauce is not smooth, return the pan to the heat and cook, stirring constantly, to melt any lumps.
3. With the pan off the heat, add the butter. Keep stirring until the butter has melted and the sauce is smooth.