Bramley apple and custard cake

This week, I’ve been given another big bag of Bramley apples so I’ve been flicking through Pinterest to find some new Bramley apple recipes. Whilst browsing, I found this fab looking cake and followed it through to Cookie’s Cakes and Bakes (CCB) – a lovely baking blog with lots of delicious looking recipes (like her coconut and lime drizzle cake – yum! Will be trying this one out!).  I just love custard but had a bit of a failure when I last tried making a custard cake, however, I couldn’t resist giving this one a go.

It’s not a quick cake to make: firstly you need to make the custard, then the cake, then peel, core and slice the apples before arranging them neatly on top of the cake! However, it is worth the effort! I followed the recipe given by CCB almost exactly; the only thing that I changed was the addition of the apricot jam glaze, which just helped the cake to look that bit more special. 

I love the custard layer running through this cake; the texture of the cake is great and the apples on the top are delicious. However, like last time that I made a custard cake, I found that the custard powder in the actual cake leaves a dry taste in your mouth. I’ll definitely be making this cake again (would be also be fantastic with rhubarb) but next time, I’ll leave out the custard powder and simply up the flour (which is the recipe I have given below).  

Bramley apple and custard cake

Ingredients

1. 200g soft butter
2. 110g caster sugar
3. 2 eggs
4. 1 tsp vanilla extract
5. 225g plain flour
6. 2 tsp baking powder
7. 2 tablespoons milk (at room temperature)
8. 3-4 Bramley apples, peeled cored and cut into slices
9. Demerara sugar for sprinkling over the cake
10. 2 tblsp apricot jam, warmed and sieved to remove any lumps

For the custard:

1. 2 tablespoons custard powder
2. 55g caster sugar
3. 250ml milk
4. 20g butter
5. 2 tsp vanilla extract

Method

1. Preheat the oven to 180C.
2. Grease a 20cm deep cake tin and line the bottom of the tin with baking parchment (or simply line with a non-stick cake tin liner – much easier!).
3. Mix together the custard powder and caster sugar in a saucepan.
4. Whisk in the milk, stirring over a medium heat until the custard thickens.
5. Take the custard off the heat and stir in the butter and vanilla extract.
6. Pour into a bowl, place some clingfilm over the top (making sure that it touches the surface of the custard to prevent it forming a skin) and leave to cool.
7. Sift the flour and baking powder into a large bowl.
8. In a separate bowl, cream together the butter and sugar until very light and fluffy (at least 5 minutes in a stand mixer).
9. Beat in the eggs, one at a time until the mixture is frothy and mousse-like. Add a tablespoon of the flour with each egg to stop the mixture curdling.
10. Gently stir in remaining flour.
11. Mix in 2 tablespoons of milk to loosen the batter a little.
12. Spread half the batter in the cake tin.
13. Spread the cooled custard all over the batter.
14. Use a small spatula to carefully spread the remaining batter over the custard, making sure that all the custard is covered with batter.
15. Place your apple slices over the top of the cake.
16. Sprinkle Demerara sugar all over the cake.
17. Bake for 50-60 minutes or until risen and golden. A skewer inserted in the middle of the cake should come out clean.
18. Allow to cool for 15 minutes and then remove from the tin and place on a wire rack.
19. Use a pastry brush to brush the top of the cake with the warmed apricot jam.