Irish Apple Crumb Cake

St. Patrick’s Day is celebrated in my house like some families celebrate other large holidays.  No, we do not do the American thing and use it as an excuse to get painted up green then go get drunk.  In fact, aside from a shamrock, I refuse to even wear green on St. Patrick’s Day.  I do this out of reverence to the traditional Irish holiday.  The drunkenness and “wearin’ o’ the green” on the holiday are stereotypes I prefer not to perpetuate.  Sadly, American customs on St. Patrick’s Day have begun to spill over into Ireland itself.

In my house, St. Patrick’s Day is celebrated for what it really is:  The feast day of St. Patrick, the patron saint of Ireland – the day that Patrick of Ireland died in 461 A.D.  We celebrate the feast day with, well, a feast.  We have corned beef, potatoes and rye bread spread with a bit of Irish butter.  And when that is safely tucked into our tummies, we have a lovely slice of Irish Apple Crumb Cake that is drizzled with homemade Salted Caramel Cream Sauce.

When making Irish Apple Crumb Cake, you will quickly realize that it is not like most American cakes you may have made.  (You will find that to be true if you dabble in making any European cake recipes.)  In the US, we think of cakes as moist, light and fluffy and covered in a creamy-sweet frosting.  By contrast, many European cakes usually have a much thicker batter that turns out a much denser, smaller, less sweet cake that has little or no frosting at all.  Please, do not let that dissuade you from making an Irish Apple Crumb Cake (or any European cake for that matter).  It is absolutely delicious with its spices and just the right amount of sweetness.  To put it over the top, try it with a drizzle of gooey, Salted Caramel Cream Sauce.  Your family will be begging for more!

Irish Apple Crumb Cake

Serves 6-8

Cake Ingredients

·        8 tbsp butter plus extra for greasing  (I use real Irish butter)

·        ¾ c brown sugar

·        2 large eggs

·        1 ¾ c plain flour

·        1 teaspoon baking powder

·        pinch of salt

·        2 teaspoon ground cinnamon

·        1 teaspoon ground nutmeg

·        1 baking apple, peeled, cored and cut into small chunks

Crumb Topping Ingredients

·        ¼ c sugar

·        ½ c flour

·        3 ½ tbsp of butter (I use real Irish butter)

Directions

1.     Preheat oven to 350°F.

2.     Grease an 8-inch Springform baking pan.  If you wish, line the bottom with parchment.  (I could not find my Springform baking pan so I just used an 8-inch round silicone baking pan instead.)

3.     In a large bowl, beat butter and sugar with an electric hand mixer until pale.

4.     Add eggs, one at a time, and mix.

5.     In a separate bowl, sift together flour, baking powder, salt, cinnamon and nutmeg.

6.     Fold flour mixture into the butter mixture until well blended.  This will make a very thick batter.

7.     Add apple and carefully stir to incorporate.

8.     Use a spatula to spread evenly into baking pan.

9.     In a clean bowl, combine all ingredients for the crumb topping and incorporate butter into the mixture using a pastry blender until ingredients form large “crumbs”.

10. Sprinkle crumb topping evenly across the top of the cake batter.

11. Bake at 350°F for 40 – 45 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean.

Comment below with your favorite cake recipes!