Bertus Basson
Ingredients
- 4 large green apples
- 750ml water
- 250ml white wine
- 150g sugar
- 1 cinnamon stick
- 2 cardamom pods, crushed
- 2 star anise
- 3 eggs
- 70g milk
- 60g butter
- 140g sugar
- 130g flour
- 10g baking powder
- Pinch of salt
- 250g cream
- 250g sugar
- 1 vanilla pod, scraped
Method
Preheat your oven to 180°C.
Peel, core and quarter the apples.
In a pot, bring the water, wine, sugar, cinnamon, cardamom and star anise to the boil.
Add the apples and weigh them down with a saucer so they remain immersed in the syrup while they poach for 15 minutes.
As a word of caution, some apples cook faster than others, so be careful not to overcook.
Remove them from the heat and leave to cool and infuse in the poaching syrup.
Whisk the eggs and milk together.
Cream the butter and sugar together until pale.
Sift the dry ingredients together into a bowl.
Now beat in a bit of egg mixture, then some butter mixture, then more egg, alternating between the two.
Beat between each addition until it is all combined.
Pour the resulting smooth batter into your baking tin.
Lay the cooled apples on top and push them into the batter.
Bake at 180°C, until golden brown (about 30 minutes).
While the apple tart is in the oven, combine the cream, sugar and vanilla seeds in a small saucepan.
Simmer until all the sugar is dissolved.
Pour the resulting hot syrup over the apple tart as it comes out of the oven.
Serve with cream, ice cream or custard.
Serves 4 to 6