Belgian (?) Apple Pudding (?) Cake

As is probably evident from the title of this post, I have some questions regarding the name of this recipe. The first was the "Belgian" aspect of the name -- while I have no reason to doubt the author of the recipe, I am sensitive to the fact that often times the names of countries/regions/cultures get erroneously attached to recipes. It would have been particularly embarrassing to get called out on this by you Mariana, with your strong ties to Belgium and all. So, I'm hoping you can confirm the accuracy of this for me. Also, the pudding aspect of this name was troublesome, primarily because when I made this cake, there was really no pudding involved. I attribute this to a likely mistake on my part, I'm just not sure what I did wrong.



Probable mistake(s) aside, this cake was tasty and satisfied my recent apple craving. I got the recipe off of the food52 site and altered it, adding cardamom (those mava cakes are still on my mind) and browning the butter as well as some other minor changes. The cake itself is not too sweet and the apples make it a little bit special -- overall, it's my style of dessert. I had planned a trip to an orchard today. Sadly, my plans were thwarted due to recent rain, but another version of this cake, along with the Julia Child's applesauce, were going to be the result of that trip that was not meant to be.



Belgian Apple Pudding Cake
adapted from Marcella's Belgian Apple Pudding Cake on Food52

Check out the original recipe on Food52 and maybe you'll have more luck with the pudding aspect than I did.

Ingredients

The Cake:

• 1 cup flour
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
• 1/2 tsp cardamom
• 1 pinch salt
• 2 large eggs
• 1/4 cup canola oil
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 6 tablespoons whole milk
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract

The Topping:

• 2-3 Granny Smith apples (depending on size), peeled, cored and sliced thinly (a mandoline comes in really handy)
• 1 large egg
• 1/2 stick sweet butter
• 5 tablespoons brown sugar

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees. Put the butter in an oven proof dish and let it hang out in the oven while it is preheating in order to brown. Remember to check on this frequently, until it is brown and smells nutty, but not burned. Also, prepare a 9" springform pan either use baking spray (my lazy strategy) or butter and line the bottom with a round of parchment paper.

Sift the flour, baking powder, cinnamon, cardamom and salt and set aside (actually, I might have skipped this step. This could account for the lack of pudding-y texture in my cake).

In a large bowl whisk the eggs, oil, milk, sugar, and vanilla extract until well combined.

Now, very delicately add the flour mixture into the egg mixture, stirring until combined, but taking care not to over stir.

Remember to check on the butter browning in the oven! If it is done -- take it out and set aside to cool.

Pour the batter into the cake pan. The fun part is arranging the apples on top of the batter -- I arranged them in the common circle pattern, but anything goes. There are sort of two rounds of baking for this cake -- first bake for 20 minutes (the batter should be slightly set).

While the cake is the oven for the first round of baking, whisk together the egg, (cooled) butter, and brown sugar. Pour this over the cake after the first 20 minutes in the oven. Return to the oven the second round of baking -- an additional 20 minutes. Let the cake cool before removing from the springform pan.