Apple Walnut Brownie Cake

Chirr chirr. Chiiirrrrrrr. Chirr chirr. What's that noise? Oh yes, it's the SILENCE that nested in here over the last days.

It has gotten a bit quiet around here, hasn't it? That is because I am really busy these days, having only little time for la dolce Vita. But don't fret, I'm here to stay. A weekly post is still something you can count on. Bare with me until mid-November, when life is hopefully a bit less stress-laden. That is when I am (hopefully) done with my bachelor's thesis. Keep your fingers crossed for me, would ya?

Alright, I have to admit...that's not all. Last week, I allowed myself a teensy weensy time off from everything. I was in London! How I LONG for that city! I have expressed my love for London before when I did that seven things about me post, and it's oh so true. Maybe one day I'll manage to live there. Especially after a friend of mine who is living there now has proven to me that it is basically just as EXPENSIVE to live right in the centre as it is in any other part of LDN. How I envy her...Sigh. I realize that I only lived there for the shortest time and I still kind of see things through rose-coloured glasses, but lets wait what time will bring.

While three days is not long (I did not go alone and we only managed to do the touristy things), it meant that I had to catch up on all the work that waited for me back home. Uhhhgh. Je ne regrette rien. Maybe a bit. No. Nothing.

Alright, this week I am back on the apple track, after last week's short break. The recipe combines one of my favourite combinations - chocolate and walnuts – with the sweet tartness that bring the apples. Alas, while the apples were supposed to stay at the top, the batter 'ate them up' just a bit too much in the baking process (maybe I should not have eyeballed the amount of baking powder...) so that they were hardly visible anymore in the final cake that was so wonderfully ooey-gooey, it was difficult to cut a piece without making a mess. Still, it's a texture and flavour paradise. It's juicy, a bit crunchy and creamy.

Apple Walnut Brownie Cake

Adapted from here (German).

• 100 g (3.5 oz.) butter
• 100 g (3.5 oz.) dark chocolate (70% cocoa)
• 100 g (3.5 oz.) walnuts
• 75 g (2.65 oz.) flour
• 225 g (8 oz.) brown sugar
• 50 g (1.75 oz.) + 1/2 tsp cocoa powder
• 2 tsp baking powder
• 1 package of vanilla sugar (can be substituted with 1 tsp vanilla extract)
• 3 eggs (size M)
• 125 g (4.4 oz.) crème fraîche
• 4 apples (each ca. 175 g or 6.2 oz.)
• 75 g (2.65 oz.) apricot jam
• 1 tsp powdered sugar
• Butter for the pan

1. Melt butter and let cool slightly.
2. Coarsely chop the chocolate and walnuts.
3. Whisk together flour, sugar, 50g cocoa, baking powder and vanilla sugar in a bowl.
4. Add eggs to a mixing bowl, beat with a handmixer (or food processor) until creamy. Stir in butter. With a spoon, stir in the flour mixture well.
5. Fold in crème fraîche, chocolate and nuts in portions.
6. Pour batter into a greased springform pan (26 cm diameter or 9'') and smooth out.
7. Peel the apples into quarters, remove seeds and cut in several times with a knife.
8. Lay them out tightly onto batter.
9. Bake in a preheated oven (electric oven: 175°C or 350°F / fan 150°C or 300°F / gas mark 2) on middle rack for about 45 minutes. Meanwhile, heat up jam.
10. After 25 minutes, remove cake from oven. Brush apples with jam and put the cake back into the oven for the remaining 20 minutes.
11. Remove from oven, place on a wire rack, loosen edge of springform pan and let cool in the pan.
12. Mix together 1/2 tsp powdered sugar and cocoa.
13. Loosen cake from the springform pan, set on a cake plate and sprinkle the sides with powdered sugar and cocoa mixture.

Enjoy!

There is still that document open that I have to focus on... so back to work!