Apple Sponge

Oh, all right, enough squid already. I promised you apples, so here’s another Irish recipe. It sounds yummy and I haven’t tried this recipe before.

Almost all English/Irish apple recipes call for Bramley apples, but I’ve never found them in the U.S. All you really need is a good all-purpose cooking apple, that holds its shape during cooking and had a nice flavor. I used Cortlands, but there are plenty of other varieties.

Steamed Apple Sponge Pudding

Ingredients:

12 oz. cooking apples, peeled, cored and sliced (this turned out to be two good-sized Cortlands)
1 oz butter
4 oz sugar

Sponge:

4 oz (1 stick) butter
5 oz sugar
2 eggs plus 1 additional egg yolk
7 oz self-rising flour (if you don’t have any, you can make your own by combining 1 cup of all-purpose flour with 1-1/2 teaspoons of baking powder and 1/2 teaspoon of salt, sifted together)
2 Tblsp whole milk
finely grated rind and juice of half a lemon

Instructions:

Put the apples in a saucepan with one Tblsp butter and 1 Tblsp water and cook on low until the apples are soft. Stir in the sugar.

Use the rest of the butter of grease a 2-pint pudding basin or 6 individual molds holding 6 fluid oz. each. Spoon the apple mixture into the bottom.

For the sponge, cream the butter and sugar together until the mixture is light and fluffy. Gradually add the two eggs and the yolk, beating well after each addition. 

Fold in the flour, milk, lemon rind and lemon juice.

Spoon the sponge mixture over the apples in the basins or molds. The total should come three-quarters of the way up the sides of the molds.

Cover the mold(s) with buttered foil and place in a steamer or a large saucepan half-full of simmering water.

Place a cover on the steamer. Steam over low heat for 20-30 minutes if using individual molds, or 1 to 1-1/2 hours if a large single mold. Top off the water with additional boiling water if the level gets too low.

To serve, turn the sponge(s) onto a plate or plates and top with whipped cream or custard. Serve hot.

This dessert is quick and easy to make, although it does take up one burner for well over an hour. The sponge is not very sweet, but you can add sweetness if you want by using sugar in your whipped cream. 

Almost there! The new Orchard Mystery now has not only a title but also a cover!

Nipped in the Bud will be released in print at the end of this month (no, it's not quite ready for pre-order yet, but I'll let you now when it is!)

www.sheilaconnolly.com

Apple Cinnamon Sponge

by Sheila Connolly

I’m just back from Ireland, where I had a version of this cake in The Coffee Shop in the tiny fishing village of Union Hall (I gave a recipe for another dessert, a wonderful pear and almond cake, from the same cafe in January of last year, and I was happy to see that the shop appears to be doing well.) This recipe is also a nice transition from my most recent Irish immersion to the apple season, which is pivotal in my next book (shameless plug! Picked to Die, coming October 7^th!)

A sponge is kind of an odd duck. It’s not exactly a sponge cake, although it is cake-ish. But it’s not really a tart either, although it’s usually cooked in a shallow tart pan, and is only one layer thick. I don’t care: it tastes good, especially when warmed and served with some whipped cream.

Oddly, when I went hunting for a recipe I couldn’t find anything labeled "sponge." So here I go again, improvising (with yet another nod to Margaret Johnson, my go-to Irish cook).

Apple Cinnamon Sponge

2 large cooking apples (I’m still fond of the Bramleys I 

Irish Bramley apples

   find in shops in Ireland, just because they’re so big

   and lumpy—but they have good flavor and they

   hold up well in cooking. You can use Granny

   Smith.)

1 1/3 cups all-purpose flour

2 tsp baking powder

1 tsp cinnamon

1/2 tsp salt

1/2 cup/1 stick salted butter (have I mentioned that West Cork is a dairy region?)

1/2 cup plus 1 Tblsp superfine sugar (or the same amount of granulated sugar, ground a bit in a blender or food processor)

2 eggs

2 Tblsp milk

Confectioner’s sugar for dusting

Streusel topping:

2/3 cup all-purpose flour

4 Tblsp butter, chilled

1/3 cup superfine sugar

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Grease a 9-inch round springform cake pan.

Make the streusel topping: put the flour in a bowl and rub in the butter until the mixtures looks like bread crumbs (fairly fine). Stir in the sugar. Oh, heck, do it in a food processor if you want.

Okay, I cheated--the pink ones are from my
own orchard. They're not quite ready, but the
squirrels were looking at them a little
too eagerly.

Peel, core and thinly slice the apples. Beat together the butter and the superfine sugar in a separate bowl and beat until the mixture is light and fluffy. Sift the flour, baking powder, cinnamon and salt into a bowl. Gradually beat in the eggs, adding a little of the flour mixture with the last of the eggs. Gently mix in half of the remaining flour mixture, then mix in the rest with the milk. Do not overmix! You just want to combine the ingredients.

The batter. Doesn't look like a lot, but
it expands.

Spoon the batter into the baking pan and smooth the top. Lay the apple slices over the batter. Sprinkle the streusel topping evenly over the top.

Bake in the preheated oven for 1 hour, or until the sponge is browned and firm. Let cool in the pan before removing the sides. Dust with the confectioner’s sugar before serving. You may serve with whipped cream on the side.

Theirs...

...and mine.

Next time I'll try a slightly broader pan. 

So now you have a recipe for the new apple crop, which Meg Corey is harvesting in Picked to Die, coming October 7th.