Winter...

 

Winters in Belgium are quite horrible. Usually they are cold, windy and wet. And gray. This year the winter is different: it's snowy, icy and cold. And, of course, gray. As always. Altogether it's exactly as horrible as all the other winters I have seen here.

And it's not that I do not like winters. But I like the pretty winters, the ones that are crispy and white... When the sky is blue and the sun is shining on the tree tops that are covered with snow. Really, winters can be so beautiful in some parts of the world.

And they can be tasty, as well. Apple pies and apple cakes never taste as good as in the wintertime, that's my personal opinion at least.

Luckily they do have apples and cinnamon in Belgium. Not being able to see much of the winter prettiness I can at least get some of the nice tastes of winter. Taking a bite of my apple cake I can close my eyes and ignore the gray weather for a while.

Apple Cake with Nutty Crumble on Top

(proportions for a 30x40cm baking pan)

for the cake:

250 g fine brown sugar

250 g soft butter

4 eggs

250 g flour

3 teaspoons baking powder

2 teaspoons cinnamon

1 tablespoon very finely chopped candied orange peel

3-4 big apples

for the crumble:

120 g soft butter

100 g fine brown sugar

120 g ground walnuts

2 teaspoons cinnamon

Preheat the oven to 180ºC.

Peel apples and remove the cores. Cut them first into quarters, then into slices.

In a mixer bowl beat sugar with butter until creamy. Slowly add the remaining ingredients, mix well.

Turn batter  into the floured and sprinkled with flour baking pan, spread evenly.

Densely stick apple slices halfway into the batter.

Mix all the crumble ingredients in a bowl until the mixture is forming into little balls. Spread crumble over the cake.

Bake at 180ºC 40 minutes.