Normandy Salted Caramel Apple Cake

Many times when I interview pastry chefs I ask them where their inspiration for new creations comes from. The answers are of course varied, but there is one answer that repeats itself in almost every conversation – Voyager, which means travel to new destinations. New landscapes, new ingredients, a different culture, meetings with interesting people, all of these are a great inspiration when chefs create new recipes.

We also travel a lot and during our travels we are exposed to local ingredients in each area, interesting people and dishes that characterize the place we visit.

On our last visit to Normandy we tasted an apple cake with salted caramel. It is a very simple cake with typical ingredients of the Calvados region – apples and salted caramel, but its taste and texture were so great that they stayed with us even when we returned to Paris. So even though I’m a chocoholic, I promised Gali that I will bake her this cake for Rosh Hashanah.

So please welcome the Normandy Salted Caramel Apple Cake. A wonderful cake for Rosh Hashanah and for every other day. So easy to make and so delicious, it is highly recommended to serve it at a warm temperature, you can also have a scoop of vanilla ice cream on the side and feel Normandy in Paris 🙂

Normandy Salted Caramel Apple Cake
26X22-cm cake pan

Ingredients
Salted Caramel Cream:
170g fine sugar
110g semi salted butter 
20g honey
240g heavy whipping cream

Apple Cake:
180g eggs (around 3 large eggs)
70g sugar (I use sugar that I keep with vanilla bean inside)
120g all-purpose flour
15g baking powder
60g almond meal
80g butter, melted
100g whole milk
3 sweet apples – peeled, cored, halved and sliced (I use Pink Lady®)

Preparation
1. Salted Caramel: In a medium heavy-duty saucepan heat sugar, butter and honey until it melts into a brown amber-colored liquid.
2. Meanwhile, in a small saucepan, heat the cream until simmering.
3. Pour the boiling cream into the caramel pot through a sieve. Attention! The caramel bubbles and rises to the top. It is best to remove the pot from the heat source for a few seconds, so that the caramel does not slide. Return to the heat source for a few seconds while stirring until a smooth cream is obtained.
4. Remove from heat and stir until smooth. Cool to room temperature.
5. Apple Cake: Preheat the oven to 180C degrees and grease the pan sides with butter. 
6. In a big bowl beat eggs and sugar until light and fluffy.
7. Add flour, baking powder and almond meal, mix until well combined.
8. Add melted butter and milk, mix until well combined.
9. Pour a thin layer of salted caramel cream over the pan’s bottom. Pour the cake batter over the caramel. Arrange the apple slices in the pattern you choose.
10. Bake for about 35-40 minutes, until baked but not too dry. If you want to get a caramelized “look”, sprinkle sugar over the top of the cake after 25 minutes. Return to the oven for 10 more minutes, or until the sugar caramelizes slightly.
14. Cool to room temperature, drizzle salted caramel cream over the top and cut into big cubes.

Bon-Appétit
Sharon