Melancholy cake – creamy naked cake with apples

Melancholy cake is a naked style cake that represents a fantasy about apple flavor. A cake that recalls the melancholy of autumn through the taste of apple, spices and honey. Creamy jet crunchy. A succession of intense and deep flavors.

Instructions: Melancholy cake – creamy naked cake with apples

* See the recipe notes for the time organization of the cake

For the almond crust: use electric mixer to beat soft butter with powdered sugar. Combine egg and almonds that have been previously pulverized in the mixer with the blade attachment.

Add a pinch of salt and the previously sifted flour. Work briefly then flatten the dough on a 25cm, lightly greased and floured, round baking pan. The crust should be pretty low about 5 millimeters high. Place the pan in the refrigerator for at least 2 hours and then bake it in the pre-heated static oven at 170 °C for 10 minutes.

Take out from the oven, let it cool down, take it out of the pan and put the crust aside until it is time to assemble the cake.

Creamy filling

For the creamy filling with white chocolate: soak gelatin sheets in cold water for 10 minutes. Meanwhile boil 120 ml of water, add honey, squeezed jelly and coconut oil. Dissolve white chocolate over water bath. Mix in water with gelatin and stir. Using the immersion blender, blend until the liquid becomes shiny. Add whiping cream and blend again trying to incorporate as little air as possible. Pour the mixture into a 18/20 cm silicone mold and put in the refrigerator for at least 8 hours. After this time cover the surface with some plastic wrap and place in the freezer to let it freeze completely.

Apple gelée

For apple gelée: before you start taste your juice and decide if it needs more sugar. If yes, add sugar as needed, pour the juice into a pot and add crushed ginger and lemon peel (remove the white part). Turn on the flame and slowly bring to a boil. Turn off the heat and let rest for 5 minutes. Remove the peel and the ginger and add squeezed gelatin sheets (previously soaked for 10 minutes in cold water) and mix well to make it melt completely. Let it cool down. Pour the mixture into a silicone mold (18/20 cm wide) or in an aluminum foil coated with a double or triple layer of plastic wrap. Put them in the refrigerator and once completely cold and firm, insert your apple geléè in the freezer to make it solidify completely.

Almond dacquoise

To prepare the dacquoise: blend almonds together with powdered sugar until it becomes flour-like.

Beat the whites until firm then slowly beat in white sugar. Add the almond mix and gently stir in with a spoon.

Place the mixture on a baking tray lined with a baking paper. Spread the mixture evenly until it become about 5 mm high.

Cook in the static oven at 180 °C for approximately 13 minutes. Picked up from the oven. Allow it to cool down, then lay over a 18/20 cm wide circle and with a sharp knife cut out a dacquoise disc (I used scissors), gently pull off from the baking paper and put aside.

Marinated apples

For the marinated apples: mix sugar in equal parts with water, put over a heat and cook until the sugar dissolves completely. Open the cardamom pods in half and toast them in a dry frying pan together with the rest of the spices. Add the spices into the syrup, lower the flame and bring it to a boil. Boil for 2 minutes, turn off the flame and set aside. Peel the apple, create apple balls using a melon baller and place them in a bowl filled with water mixed with lemon juice to make them not turn dark. Drain the balls and add them to the hot syrup. Leave the balls in the syrup until it becomes cold, then drain the apples and use them to decorate the cake.

The decoration

For the decorative dried apples: cuth the apples into a thin slices using a very sharp knife or a mandolin slicer. Divide lemon juice and water into 2 bowls and add food dye of your choice. Add apple slices into the bowls. Place more slices in the main dye and only some in the second small bowl.

Leave the apples in the dye until they absorb the color, then drain them and dry them well with kitchen towels, place on a baking tray covered with baking paper, sprinkle with a layer of powdered sugar and bake in the static oven for 20 minutes at 140 – 150 °C, flipping the slices after 10 minutes and adding another coat of icing sugar.

Take out the slices from the oven, put them back into the food dye then place them on a baking sheet or plate, slightly overlapping them to create color gradients. Pat with paper towels, divide them on a baking sheet covered with baking paper and bake for another 10 minutes at 150 °C (depends on the thickness of your apples). Once dried, place them in the middle of the sheets of paking paper and place a weight over them (a big cooking book) to let them become completely straight. If the apples are very dry and tend to break, do not take this step and use them to decorate the cake afterwards.

Cake assemble

To assemble the cake put almond crust over a plate, place over the frozen creamy layer, then gently add the dacquoise and finally frozen apple geleè.

Decorate with marinated apples and place the cake into the refrigerator until the cake defrosts completely. At the time of need decorate with dried apples and served.

lot of love. B.

p.s. If you like cakes similar to this melancholy cake check my Ruby cake – pomegranate and coconut cake.