I love it when I get a phone call from some of my city friends inviting themselves for lunch - they usually bring the lunch, delicious things from the market. "All you need to do is supply the venue, make a cake and do you think you could make some Turkish Pide". As one of them is a coeliac & another allergic to wheat they love it when I bake gluten free things.

Judy, the organiser of the lunch, loves Tarte Tatin but Summer is not the time to make flaky pastry. As she loves apples I decided to make a cake version of a Tarte Tatin, this Apple Syrup cake is the result.  

This recipe was designed specifically to be made with Bakers' Magic gluten free flour. The finished baked product will not be the same if you use another gluten free flour and you will need to adjust the recipe, particularly if the flour you're using contains rice flour.

Ingredients

Apple part

150 g Butter

225 g Brown sugar

8 Pink lady or Fuji apples*

* Or other apples that do not fall apart when cooking

 

Cake

150 g Bakers' Magic Gluten free flour

240 g Caster sugar

150 g Butter

1/4 - 1/2 tsp Salt

1 tsp Baking powder

1/2 tsp Bicarb

1 tsp Cinnamon

2 Eggs

200 g Sour cream

50 g  Milk or buttermilk

 

Method

Apple part

Peel & core the apples. Cut them in quarters or eighths. 

The apples need to be cooked with the sugar & butter before putting them into the cake tin. 

Put apples, sugar & butter into a medium saucepan.

Gently heat the mix until the sugar dissolves & then turn the heat up. 

Boil the mix for ~15 -20 mins. The time needed to boil the apples will depend on the heat, size of the pan & whether the apples are in 1/4s or 1/8s (& how gooey you want the caramel).

Grease a cake ring tin.

Take saucepan off the heat, using tongs arrange the apple pieces on the bottom of the cake tin. Pour all or part of the caramel over the apple pieces*. If you didn't use all of the caramel set it aside and pour it over the cake at the end. *If you use all of the caramel the cake will turn out pudding like (really yummy). The friend I made the cake for loves loves loves this type of cake (Aunty Em's Spectacular Fruitcake is one of her favs) but her husband wanted a bit more cake. 

Cake

Preheat oven to 170 C (fan forced).

Mix together the Bakers' Magic Gluten free flour, cinnamon, salt, baking powder & bicarb in a mixing bowl.

Soften butter either gently in the microwave or by leaving it at room temperature for a while.

If your eggs are stored in the fridge warm up 2 of them by putting them into a container with hot tap water. Don't worry they will not cook provided your tap water is not hotter than ~55 C.

Cream the butter & sugar.

Add an egg to the creamed mixture & beat to combine. Scrape down the sides. Add the other egg & beat until the mixture is light & fluffy.

In another container mix together the sour cream & milk. Add this to the creamed mixture & beat until it is well combined.

Gently fold in the dry ingredients. I prefer to do this by hand.   

Carefully & slowly spoon the cake batter over the top of the apple & caramel. You don't want the caramel & batter to do a lot of mixing. 

Bake for ~25 - 35 mins. The time will depend on how hot the apples & caramel were when they were put into the tin, how much caramel was added & your oven. The cake by itself, without apples & caramel, takes ~24 mins.

Bring out of the oven & allow to sit for ~5 mins before turning the cake out on to a serving platter. The caramel at the bottom of the cake tin will pour over the cake.

Serve warm with cream and/or ice cream. 

Simply enjoy!