For this dessert, I’m sharing an apple cake recipe which is my own take on the ‘quatre-quarts’. The name refers to its four ingredients: equal parts of flour, sugar, eggs, and butter. In this case, part of the flour is replaced by ground almonds, which add an extra delicious fragrance. You can swap apples for plums if preferred, their acidity goes very well with the sweetness of the cake.
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Ingredients
Serves 6
2 eggs
100g sugar
100g butter, at room temperature
65g plain flour
35g ground almonds
2 apples
Butter for the tins and sugar for sprinkling
Preheat the oven to 180°C. Place the butter and sugar into the bowl of a stand mixer and using the whisk attachment mix until well combined. Detach from the edges with a rubber spatula and mix again. Add the eggs and whisk well together for one minute. Finally add the flour and almonds and pulse one more time. Scrape down the edges with a rubber spatula and make sure it’s all well combined.
Brush six individual metal tins with some melted butter. Fill the tins evenly with the dough, don’t worry about the dough not being all flat. Peel and core the apples, cut in quarters, then in two lengthways, and finally each in three small pieces. Arrange over the dough, pressing the first pieces in slightly. Sprinkle a small teaspoon of sugar over the apples. Bake in the oven for about 20 minutes, until golden brown. Leave to cool for a few minutes, then remove from the tins and rest on a metal rack. Serve warm or at room temperature. You can also choose to bake the cake in one large tin as pictured. Then simply cut each quarter in two or three pieces, slightly press those into the dough and bake for about fourty minutes, or until a knife comes out clean.
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This recipe is from Marina Bautier's cookbook Vendredi.