I got to sit out summer for two weeks when I spent Christmas with family in the Pacific North-West of the US, and the New Year with friends just over the border in Canada. It's been ten years since I made this birthday cake for a then-seven year old, and all these years later she and I are somehow the same shoe size, and she's surpassed me in the kitchen - making dinner many nights for her parents, who really did hit the kid jackpot. I promised her grandmother we'd make a cake together during my stay. She was keen to try out the Danish dough whisk I'd brought her as a present. Given we'd all had more than our fill of chocolates, and puddings, and candy canes, something a bit less OTT was in order. I had a recipe for browned butter and rosemary apple cake from a Scottish cookbook I'd been given for Christmas, which seemed perfect... but for the fact that there'd been a run on rosemary for holiday roasts, so we had to try a few Vancouver grocery stores before we got lucky. Happily we did, as this cake was a winner. Simple and sophisticated - sweet with apple but with subtle savoury notes from the rosemary and nuttiness of the brown butter. Cosy and comforting. Like being with old friends.
Browned butter and rosemary apple cake
Adapted from Midweek Recipes by Jess Elliott Dennison
Adapted from Midweek Recipes by Jess Elliott Dennison
If you can't lay your hands on rosemary, thyme or sage would, according to the recipe's author, make a good substitute.
6 sprigs rosemary
200g salted butter
225g self-raising flour
1 tsp baking powder
225g soft brown sugar
2 eggs
300g apples, peeled, cored, and thickly sliced
50g flaked almonds
Place the butter with the rosemary in a pan and heat on medium for 4-5 minutes, stirring regularly. The butter will foam up and become golden before turning dark brown. This is when to turn off the heat. A few dark specks will appear (probably on the base of the pan) and it will smelly really nutty. Strain this liquid (scraping every bit of it out with a spatula) through a fine-mesh strainer. Discard the rosemary and allow to cool. If some rosemary gets in the butter, that's totally fine.
Preheat the oven to 160 deg C (320 deg F) and grease and line and deep 23cm cake tin.
Combine flour, baking powder, sugar and eggs in a bowl and add the melted, slightly-cooled butter. Mix well until combined into a thick batter.
Spread half the mixture over the base of the cake tin, then scatter over the apples, ensuring most go in the centre. Spoon remaining cake batter over the fruit. Don't panic if you can't get your dollops of batter to join up as it will all even out in the oven. Sprinkle the almonds over the top and bake for 45 minutes to one hour, or until golden and coming away from the sides of the tin.
