Caramelized Apple Cake with Quark Frosting

Every now and again I ask my readers via Twitter to challenge me with a recipe that they would like to see done.  I find it interesting to see what my fellow foodies desire to eat and then challenge myself to cook it using primarily local ingredients in a creative manner.

Amy works at Fox Hill Cheese house and she said she wanted to create a birthday cake for her to bake this weekend using Fox Hill’s Quark and Yogurt.  I had to make it seasonal and add some flare so I decided to use the Quark (a less rich cream cheese/ricotta like product very popular in Europe) to make a filling for between the layers and flavor it will an apple caramel sauce.  The yogurt will add richness and moisture to the cake and I have used cinnamon to tie all of the flavors together.

I was going for a balance of flavour, a cake that has a nice balance of sweet, spice and sour.  I love the sour flavor from creamed cheese and quark has the same taste.  I also like the crunch and sour provided by the apple.  The cinnamon in each element provided a nice bridge.  I hope you enjoy as well.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Step 1 – Almond Brittle

I like a little crunch in a cake to break up the soft texture of the frosting, filling and cake.  For this recipe I made an almond brittle then ground it up in a food processor and then used the crushed brittle in the caramel, filling and to dust the sides of the cake.

Ingredients:

1 cup almonds

1 cup sugar

1 cup water

Lay the almonds on silicon mat or piece of parchment paper in a baking sheet in a single layer close together.  Combine the sugar and water in a pan and bring to a boil over high heat.  Then turn it down and boil until it reached 295 degrees on a candy thermometer.  Be very careful with this mixture it is very hot and can burn severely.  Pour the hot syrup over the almonds to cover them and let them sit until they harden and are cool.  Be very careful it will look cool before it is.  When it is cooled break it up and crush it in a food processor.  Set aside to use later.

Step 2 – Sheet Cake with Fox Hill Yogurt

Ingredients:

3 cups of flour

2 tsp baking powder

1 tsp baking soda

1/2 tsp salt

1 Tbsp Cinnamon

1 cup unsalted butter (room temperature)

2 cups of sugar

1 tbsp vanilla

3 large eggs (room temperature)

2 cups of plain yogurt (room temperature)

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees

Prepare a 17 x 11 x 1 inch sheet cake by greasing and flouring the bottom and all sides.  After you grease it just dust it with flour and shake off the excess.

Sift together your dry ingredients into a large bowl and set aside.

In a separate large bowl (I use a KitchenAid Mixer) add in the sugar, butter and vanilla.  Beat this on high for 3 to 5 minutes until light and fluffy.  This is a critical step to getting a light cake.  The sugar builds little tunnels of air to the butter adding fluffiness.  You will want to scrape down the sides of the bowl two or three times during this process.  You want to do the serious beating before you add your dry ingredients.  If you beat it after you add the flour you will build gluten and end up with a tough dry cake that has those tunnels through it.  You don’t want any part of that.

Now that you have fluffy butter and sugar you want to add the eggs.  Break the eggs into a small bowl.  You always do this, if you add them directly into the butter and sugar and you lose a piece of shell it is a bugger to get it out of the batter.  Add the eggs in one at a time until each egg is incorporated.

Now we will add the flour and yogurt.  This is the point where we want to keep the mixing to a minimum.  With the mixer on low add in 1/3 of the dry ingredients stir until incorporate.  Then add half the yogurt and scrape the bowl and mix in.  Add the next third of the dry and then the rest of the yogurt and ending with the dry stirring and scraping after each step.

Pour the batter into the prepared sheet pan and bake at 350 for 20 to 30 minutes.  It should start to brown a little and a toothpick inserted should come out clean.

Allow the cake to cool for 15 minutes then invert it onto the bottom of another sheet try and cool for at least an hour more.  It needs to be totally cool before your assemble the cake.

While the cake bakes and cools you can complete the rest of the parts.  Note: I used half of this cake for the birthday cake.  The other half will be cut up and frozen for trifle at another time.  I got 10 slices an inch thick and as large as my hand.  If you want more cake use the whole sheet cake and double the following steps. (you will have enough brittle)

Step 3 – Apple Cider Caramel Sauce.

Ingredients:

2 cups apple cider

1/2 cinnamon stick

1/2 vanilla bean (2 tsp vanilla)

1/4 cup of brown sugar

2 Tbsp Butter

Put the cider in a small pot, add in the cinnamon stick and vanilla

and boil till it is reduced by half.  Add in the sugar and butter and return to the boil and cook until starts to thicken so that it coats the back of a spoon.  About 5 min.  Allow to cool to room temperature.

Step 4 – Fox Hill Quark Filling and Frosting

2 Cups of Fox Hill Quark (you could use half and half ricotta and creamed cheese)

5 Tbsp of The cooled caramel sauce

Whip the quark until it is light and fluffy, add in the caramel and beat until incorporated.  Oh yum!!!  (I have used quark on bagels before but it is the most amazing ingredient for frostings and fillings.)  I will be playing with this food!!!

Step 5 – Caramelized Apples

5 small macintosh apples pealed and sliced into wedges

2 tbsp butter

1 tbsp brown sugar

1 tsp cinnamon

Melt the butter in a frying pan and add in the brown sugar, stir.  Add the apples and sprinkle the cinnamon.  Cook until the apples soften (there should be a little crunch left).  Allow them to cool.

Assembly:

Cut the cake into 3 equal pieces widthwise and then in half lengthwise.  If you are using the whole cake do not do the lengthwise cut.  Take one of the pieces on the bottom of your cake plate and top with quark filling, dust with the almond brittle and then a single layer of apples.  Put the next cake section on top and repeat.  Top with the last section of cake.  Apply a layer of frosting on the top.  Layer the apples on top overlapping them leaving a 3/4 of an inch around the edges.  Frost the sides of the cake.  Then apply a layer of the crushed brittle around the empty edges on the top of the cake and then press on the sides. Drizzle the top with caramel sauce.

If you have any left over brittle it would be a great ice cream topping, and left over quark could be used on toast or a bagel.

 

As always thanks to my local suppliers:

Yogurt and Quark: Fox Hill Cheese House

Apples: Noggins Corner Farm Market

Apple Cider: Suprima Farm

Cinnamon: JamesLea

Eggs: Elmridge Farm