Tuesday, March 11, 2008

TWD - Russian Grandmother's Apple pie cake



Wow, Dorie’s book has to be the baking bible!!!! My other favourite baking bible is Nigella Lawson’s “How to be a Domestic Goddess” – everything I have ever made from that book has worked and so far so good with Dorie’s book.

This week’s Tuesday’s with Dorie challenge was for Russian Grandmother’s apple pie cake. It is basically like an apple shortcake –but so much nicer!!!! I decided to make this while my Mum was here to have for pudding on Saturday night. Mum and I had a kind of bad eating day – we had had lunch at the Brown Sugar Kitchen in Ponsonby which is well known for it’s old fashioned sweet favourites. There we had shared an orange and date scone (the nicest I have ever tasted!) and a small rhubarb and raspberry tart with whipped cream – the best kind of lunch!!! So, having apple pie for pudding kind of topped things off.

I decided to halve the recipe and make it in a smaller tin. Because we are only temporarily living in our 1970s house until we start building the new one, a lot of our stuff – including my pie tins, is still packed away. So, I made the pie in a small slice tin. The pastry had lemon juice in it which I thought was unusual, but I really think that made the difference!! Dorie said that the lemon juice would tenderise the pastry and it was really tender!! The other thing was that the apples weren’t cooked prior to putting them in the pastry shell. I also used a mix of granny smith apples and gala which worked out great – some tart with the sweet. I left out the raisins because I don’t like them.

This was one of the nicest apple pies I have had. Mum and my husband both loved it. We had it with whipped cream (although Mum had hers with runny –she prefers runny cream) and my husband said that it reminded him of the apple strudel that we had in Austria!!! Now that is a real accolade! As the apple strudel we had in Austria was to die for!!! Yay for Dorie – I am loving the book and the challenges! I actually think I will go back and bake the things that were made before I became part of the team.

Sorry about the dim photo again!!!!! Badly lit kitchen! I think I may have to get a spot light installed for over the winter.

22 comments:

CB said...

Badly lit kitchen or not, the photo looks so yummy! Great job!
-Clara
http://iheartfood4thought.wordpress.com

noskos said...

Nice looking pie-cake!!

Anonymous said...

I loved this dish as well... yours looks wonderful!

slush said...

I am thrilled that you all loved it. Love the powdered sugar on top. Great job!

Morven said...

Actually your photo looks very artful and styley. Glad it turned out for you.

Cakelaw said...

This looks terrific Tammy - I knew that you'd love Dorie's book. Sounds like you and your mum actually had a "good" eating day - yum!

April said...

It looks wonderful!

Madam Chow said...

Oh, I'm so glad you and your family liked the results! Mine did too. I must say, I didn't think this would be as good as it was, and I'm glad I was proved wrong!

Rachel said...

Way to go! The cut piece is perfection!

Mari said...

I got lots of compliments on my pie-cake too, I think if you like apple pie, then it's a winner!

ostwestwind said...

Your cake looks great! We loved it!
Ulrike from Küchenlatein

Marie Rayner said...

Great picture! I think it looks lovely! My husband really enjoyed his, although I did find it a bit dry. I added a scoop of vanilla ice cream and a drizzle of maple syrup and it really transformed it into spectacular!

Annemarie said...

It looks wonderful...bad light or not...it looks wonderful!!

Anonymous said...

It looks fabulous! I like the addition of the powdered sugar too.

Anonymous said...

Great job! It looks so pretty!

Anonymous said...

Your pie-cake looks nice! Have you decorated it with icing sugar?
I wonder what kind of Apfelstrudel your husband had - because Apfelstrudel is made of a completely different dough.

Tammy said...

HI Claudia

I think he just meant that it reminded him of the strudel when comparing apple puddings - not pie to strudel :0)

Melissa said...

The powdered sugar looks great on top!

Jhianna said...

Looks great - glad you and your family liked it! :)

Gretchen Noelle said...

Lovely pie-cake! I like the powdered sugar over it all! Delightful!

steph- whisk/spoon said...

this was a great cake, wasn't it? i halved mine, too, and it was the perfect amount.

Jaime said...

great job!