French Apple Custard Cake with Five Spice -- Release Day #recipe + #giveaway by @LeslieBudewitz

LESLIE BUDEWITZ:  Happy Book-Day to Me! I'm delighted to celebrate the launch today of Between a Wok and a Dead Place, the 7th Spice Shop mystery! 

Although the heart of my Spice Shop mysteries is always Pike Place Market, a place I fell in love with as a college freshman, I also love introducing readers to another part of Seattle in each book. In this one, it's the CID, or Chinatown-International District, just south of the main business section of the city. It's a fascinating place, and honestly, not one I knew well when I lived in Seattle, first as a college student and later as a young lawyer. Getting to know it better through my research for this book was one of the joys and gifts of writing it.  

(Read more about the research in my Spotlight Sunday post from late June.)  

When I started creating the recipes, I spotted one for an apple cake with Chinese Five Spice. For some reason -- who knows how the writer's brain works -- I decided my version should be a French Apple Custard Cake, and what better place to serve it than at one of Pepper's favorite restaurants in the Market, not by coincidence, also one of mine!  

The business of dividing the batter and adding extra yolks to part and extra flour to the other is a little confusing at first, but that's what creates the custard---and it's not hard once you start to do it!

Serve with a fresh cup of coffee or tea---or a spot of apple brandy!

GIVEAWAY: Talk to me in the comments for a chance to win a signed copy of Between a Wok and a Dead Place! 

Cayenne’s Five Spice French Apple Custard Cake

Cayenne spiced up this classic apple custard cake to demonstrate the versatility of the Chinese Five Spice Blend. The alcohol will bake off, leaving a hint of flavor to complement both apples and spice.

1-1/2 pounds Granny Smith apples or a mix of Granny Smith and McIntosh (3-4 large apples, depending on size)

1 tablespoon Calvados (apply brandy), brandy, or white rum

1 teaspoon lemon juice

2 tablespoons Chinese Five Spice, divided

1 cup plus 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour, divided

1 cup plus 1 tablespoon granulated sugar, divided

2 teaspoons baking powder

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 large egg plus 2 large yolks

1 cup vegetable oil

1 cup milk

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

powdered sugar for topping (optional)

Heat oven to 325F. Lightly coat a 9-inch springform pan with cooking spray and place pan on a baking sheet.

Peel and core the apples. Cut each in half and place cut side down on the cutting board. Cut each half in four pieces, then rotate and slice into pieces about 1/8 inch thick.

Place apple slices on a microwave-safe pie plate; cover with plastic wrap and microwave until apples are pliable and slightly translucent, about 3 minutes. (This softens the apples in the finished cake.) 

Toss apple slices with Calvados, lemon juice, and 1 teaspoon Five Spice and cool about 15 minutes.

In a medium-sized bowl, whisk 1 cup flour, 1 cup granulated sugar, baking powder, salt, and remaining Five Spice (1 tablespoon plus two teaspoons). 

In a second bowl, whisk the whole egg only, oil, milk, and vanilla together until smooth. 

Add the flour mixture to the wet ingredients and whisk until just combined. Transfer 1 cup batter to a separate bowl and set aside. 

Add the two egg yolks to the remaining batter and whisk to combine. Gently fold in the apples. Transfer batter to the pan, using a spatula to spread evenly to edges. Shake lightly to ensure an even layer and smooth surface.

Whisk remaining 2 tablespoons flour into the 1 cup batter. 

Pour on top of batter in pan. Spread evenly and smooth the surface. Sprinkle remaining tablespoon of sugar evenly over the batter. 

Bake until the center of cake is set, a toothpick or tester inserted in center comes out clean, and top is golden brown, about 65 minutes. 

Transfer pan to wire rack; let cool for 5 minutes. Run a knife around sides of pan to loosen the cake and cool. Dust cooled cake with powdered sugar, if you’d like.  Serve slightly warm or cool. 

Enjoy!

What's your favorite Chinese food -- or your favorite way to add a bit of spice where it's least expected? Leave a comment with your email address for a chance to win a signed copy of Between a Wok and a Dead Place. (US and Canada only.) Mr. Kitten will choose the winner on Friday, July 21, after his morning nap. 

BETWEEN A WOK AND A DEAD PLACE: A Spice Shop Mystery (July 2023, Seventh St. Books)

Here's what two of my favorite authors--and yours--had to say:  

“Between a Wok and a Dead Place is the most tantalizing Spice Shop mystery yet!” — Maddie Day, Agatha Award-winning author of historical and cozy mysteries

“An exciting mystery blended with great food, delicious spices, and fascinating details about the early Asian residents of Seattle, making this the perfect book for readers of all tastes, spicy or not. A fitting entry in one of the best cozy series being written today.” — Vicki Delany, bestselling author of the Tea by the Sea and Sherlock Holmes Bookshop mysteries

From the cover: 

It's the Lunar New Year, and fortunes are about to change. 

 

Pepper Reece, owner of the Spice Shop in Seattle's Pike Place Market, loves a good festival, especially one serving up tasty treats. So what could be more fun than a food walk in the city's Chinatown–International District, celebrating the Year of the Rabbit?

 

But when her friend Roxanne stumbles across a man's body in the Gold Rush, a long-closed residential hotel, questions leap out. Who was he? What was he doing in the dust-encrusted herbal pharmacy in the hotel's basement? Why was the pharmacy closed up—and why are the owners so reluctant to talk? 

 

With each new discovery, Pepper find herself asking new questions and facing more brick walls. 

 

Then questions arise about Roxanne and her relationship to Pepper's boyfriend Nate, away fishing in Alaska. Between her worries and her struggle to hire staff at the Spice Shop, Pepper has her hands and her heart full. Still, she can't resist the lure of the Gold Rush and its tangled history of secrets and lies stretching back nearly a century. 

 

But the killer is on her tail, driven by hidden demons and desires. As Pepper begins to expose the long-concealed truth, a bigger question emerges: Can she uncover the secrets of the Gold Rush Hotel without being pushed from the wok into the fire?

Leslie Budewitz is the author of the Spice Shop Mysteries set in Seattle's Pike Place Market, and the Food Lovers’ Village Mysteries, set in NW Montana. As Alicia Beckman, she writes moody, standalone suspense, most recently Blind Faith. She is the winner of Agatha Awards in three categories: Best Nonfiction (2011), Best First Novel (2013), and Best Short Story (2018). Her latest book is Between a Wok and a Dead Place, the 7th Spice Shop mystery.  

A past president of Sisters in Crime and national board member of Mystery Writers of America, Leslie lives in northwest Montana with her husband, a musician and doctor of natural medicine, and their cat, an avid bird-watcher.

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