Dorie Greenspan's My French Table

Two of my roommates have a tradition of throwing each other wacky themed surprise parties every year. Past parties include: Jane Austen garden party, crazy hats break-into-Georgetown's-beautiful-business-school party, Toy Story toy reunion... the list goes on (alright, I just don't remember). Well, Emma turned 22 this past week, and we threw her a "Very Sinister Dinner Party." What is a very sinister dinner party? Hard to say. We ate gross food (think white asparagus, red velvet cake, mushrooms, stinky cheese, mulled wine and watercress sandwiches). I used this opportunity to try out a recipe from Dorie Greenspan's critically acclaimed cookbook Around My French Table

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I had been wanting to try this recipe since I tasted it this September at a simply magical wedding in France. My host mother had made this, left it on a table, and let us all munch on it throughout the week. Maybe it was a cake of just fond memories and a week spent in the French countryside in a castle, drinking le vin and way too much champagne, meeting friends from around the world and dancing until 5am. But I think the cake would stand on its own cakepan without such a lovely weekend backing it up.

The most magical part this cake is its immense simplicity. After cutting up the apples, almost all the work is done! It does require a springform pan, but don't let that stop you. This cake is the perfect Autumn dessert.

P.S. The above picture is from David Leibowitz, since I didn't grab a pic before it was eaten (I am clearly getting used to this food blogging thing). My cake looked pretty much identical.

French Apple Cake
One 9-inch (23 cm) cake

Adapted from Around My French Table by Dorie Greenspan

Dorie doesn’t specify any type of apple but I used 2 Granny Smith and 2 Gala. I skipped the rum, because I prefer to drink whatever alcohol I have on hand and not bake with it (really just lacked it). I also forgot the vanilla in a truly horrible baking accident. I hear that these two ingredients are really vital for a richer taste, but it didn't stop everyone from eating mine (one guest took a fork straight to the pan!)

I also like this recipe because you can make it with ingredients easily on hand. Being American, I was tempted to add a dusting of ground cinnamon to the apples, but then it wouldn’t be authentically French. Hence I decided a dollop of crème fraîche alongside to be rather nice.

3/4 cup (110g) flour
3/4 teaspoon baking powder
pinch of salt
4 large apples (a mix of varieties)
2 large eggs, at room temperature
3/4 cup (150g) sugar
3 tablespoons dark rum
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
8 tablespoons (115g) butter, salted or unsalted, melted and cooled to room temperature

1. Preheat the oven to 350ºF (180ºC) and adjust the oven rack to the center of the oven.

2. Heavily butter an 8- or 9-inch (20-23cm) springform pan and place it on a baking sheet.

3. In a small bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, and salt.

4. Peel and core the apples, then dice them into 1-inch (3cm) pieces.

5. In a large bowl, beat the eggs until foamy then whisk in the sugar, then rum and vanilla. Whisk in half of the flour mixture, then gently stir in half of the melted butter

6. Stir in the remaining flour mixture, then the rest of the butter.

7. Fold in the apple cubes until they’re well-coated with the batter and scrape them into the prepared cake pan and smooth the top a little with a spatula.

8. Bake the cake for 50 minute to 1 hour, or until a knife inserted into the center comes out clean. Let the cake cool for 5 minutes, then run a knife around the edge to loosen the cake from the pan and carefully remove the sides of the cake pan, making sure no apples are stuck to it.

Serving: Serve wedges of the cake just by itself, or with crème fraîche or vanilla ice cream.

Storage: The cake will keep for up to three days covered. Since the top is very moist, it’s best to store it under a cake dome or overturned bowl.

First Steps

Every previous attempt I have ever made at blogging or journaling has been an utter failure. Even the Tumblr I started for my study abroad adventures, when I spent a month in France and 5 months in Morocco, was a pretty dismal affair (in my defense, I lacked a fully functioning computer and internet for the majority of that experiment). But here I start again! My goal is to document my adventures of last year of carefree living in the nation's capitol. Hopefully there will be lessons learnt, knees skinned and cupcakes frosted.

I've found (from three years studying international development at Georgetown's School of Foreign Service) that you can't succeed at anything without measuring it, so I will try to stick to a set of "quantifiable benchmarks":

• Post at least three times a week
• increase readership
• Post with pictures! (This will be challenging, given my attempt to live without a functioning computer)

Have any more benchmark ideas?