Bring the luck of the Irish home with this dense and delicious cake smothered in tasty custard sauce.
CAKE INGREDIENTS:
- 3 cups cake flour
- 3/4 cup granulated sugar
- 2 teaspoons baking powder
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1/4 teaspoon nutmeg
- 1/8 teaspoon cloves
- 1/2 cup butter, melted and cooled
- 1/4 cup vegetable oil
- 2 eggs
- 3/4 cup whole milk
- 1 teaspoon vanilla
- 4 Granny Smith apples, peeled and diced
- 2 tablespoons granulated sugar, to sprinkle over top of cake
- 1 1/2 cup whole milk
- 1/2 cup granulated sugar
- 6 large egg yolks
- 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
- 2 teaspoons Iowish whiskey (optional)
- Preheat oven to 375 degrees F. Spray a 9-inch springform pan with cooking spray and set aside.
- In a large bowl, whisk together cake flour, sugar, baking powder, salt, cloves and nutmeg.
- In a separate bowl, whisk together the melted butter, oil, eggs, milk, and vanilla.
- Peel and core the apples, slicing into bite-size chunks, then add to the flour mixture, tossing to combine.
- Add the milk mixture to the flour and apples mixture, stirring just until combined to create a sticky dough. Transfer to the prepared pan, spreading to the edges and sprinkling with the extra sugar on top.
- Bake for 45 to 50 minutes, or until a toothpick, skewer, or thin, sharp knife stuck into the center of the cake comes out clean with only a few crumbs on it and the top is golden brown.
- Heat the milk in a heavy bottomed medium size saucepan over medium heat until bubbles begin to appear around the edges of the pan.
- Meanwhile, whisk the sugar and egg yolks for 2-3 minutes, until the mixture is thickened slightly and pale yellow.
- Slowly whisk about half of the hot milk into the egg/sugar mixture to temper the egg yolks. Then pour the tempered yolks back into the saucepan with the remaining milk and continue to cook and stir over medium heat until the custard begins to thicken slightly, about 3-4 minutes. It should be thick enough to coat the back of a spoon and should be between 165 and 170° if using a thermometer.
- Remove custard sauce from heat and stir in the vanilla, whiskey(if using). Serve warm or cold over Irish apple cake. The custard sauce will keep for up to 1 week in the refrigerator.
