Winter Apple Layer Cake

Looking for some hearty and comforting recipes to make this season? In the September issue of Viking, Scandinavian chef Trine Hahnemann shares recipes from her book, “Scandinavian Comfort Food: Embracing the Art of Hygge.” Here’s a bonus recipe featuring fresh apples, hazelnuts and touches of cream. 

Winter Apple Layer Cake

Serves 8

Apple sauce

1 lb. 5 ounces Bramley apples

¼ cup granulated sugar

1 Tbsp. lemon juice

Layers

¾ cup minus 1 tsp. soft butter

¾ cup granulated sugar

1 egg

1 _1/3 cups all-purpose flour

3 tsp. ground cinnamon

2 tsp. ground cardamom

Cream

3 ½ ounces hazelnuts

1 ½ cups heavy cream

Scant ½ cup light cream

2 tsp. confectioners’ sugar

Peel and dice the apples and put them into a pan with the sugar and lemon juice. Let them simmer for 15–20 minutes until you have a smooth sauce. Set aside to cool.

Preheat the oven to 400°F. Draw an 8-inch circle using a pencil on seven sheets of baking parchment. Turn these over and arrange on as many baking sheets as necessary to fit (you may have to bake these in batches).

Beat the butter and sugar together until fluffy, then beat in the egg. Mix the flour and spices together and fold into each creamed mixture. Using a spatula, spread the mixture as evenly as possible inside each visible circle on the pieces of baking parchment.

Bake in the oven, in batches if necessary, for 6–8 minutes or until the edges start to take on the same color. Set aside to cool on the sheets of baking parchment on a wire rack.

While the layers are cooling, roast the hazelnuts. Spread them out on a baking sheet and roast in the oven, then wrap them in a clean tea towel and give them a good rub, so the skins come off. Roughly chop them.

Whip both creams together with the confectioners’ sugar and stir in two-thirds of the chopped hazelnuts.

Assemble the cake just before serving, and no sooner as it goes soft very quickly. Place a crisp layer on a serving plate and add some apple sauce, then add another crisp layer, then some cream. Repeat this layer pattern twice, then add the last crisp layer and some apple sauce on top. Sprinkle the remaining chopped hazelnuts on top and serve right away.

Credits:

Photo by Columbus Leth

Recipes excerpted with permission from “Scandinavian Comfort Food: Embracing the Art of Hygge” by Trine Hahnemann, published by Quadrille October 2016, RRP $29.99 hardcover.