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French yogurt cake with apples and vanilla mascarpone

french yogurt cake with apples and mascarpone

It is that time of the year when darkness settles down around us so early in the afternoon that it seems like a cruel joke. 4:30 rolls around and I’m ready to snuggle into a spot on the couch with a glass of red wine, the fireplace on, and a good book to read. Can’t someone else make dinner? Of course, that’s a rhetorical question. What few cooking skills Genius Husband had before he met me have all been lost and replaced by elegantly simple programming skills. Besides, it’s not time to cook dinner yet, there are errands to run, appointments to keep, groceries to purchase. Once I do finally make it to the kitchen I’m looking for quick and easy satisfaction. Even better is a quick and easy dessert that is so good you’ll actually lick the plate.

It all starts with the one of those elegantly simple things I do, the french yogurt cake. That cake is like solid gold, so flavorful, moist, and effortless. The only rule with this cake is you absolutely must use good vanilla, otherwise it’ll lack flavor. I find that if I preheat the oven when I first enter the kitchen I can have the cake baking while dinner is cooking on the stove. Once the cake is out of the oven it doesn’t take it long to cool.

Now here’s the good part. Peel, core, and slice one apple for each person you’re serving. Add some butter to a skillet and melt it over medium heat then add some brown sugar and stir to dissolve. Add the apples and let them skitter about the pan for 5 minutes or so…they shouldn’t be fully cooked so much of this depends upon the apple itself. When you feel they’ve cooked enough add some Brandy. I used armagnac and I recommend it for its fruitiness. Light it on fire and let it burn off while you shake the pan. Once it’s subsided add a bit of cinnamon. Remove the pan from the heat and set it aside for a moment.

french yogurt cake with apples and mascarpone

Turn the mascarpone out into a medium bowl and thin it with a bit of cream. Add the insides of one vanilla bean (about 3 inches long) and stir well to combine it and work out the lumps. Do not under any circumstances leave this component out, that would be a huge mistake…like leaving the bacon out of a BLT. Sure, it’s still good, but it is absolutely not the same.

To plate this dessert coat the bottom of the plate with the juicy syrup from the apples. Place a slice or two of cake on top of the syrup and pile the apples up alongside the cake. Top it all with a really big dollop of the mascarpone.

This could only be made better with a sprinkling of toasted or candied pecans…but that might be gilding the lily and I know I can be excessive. As it stands, ungilded, the flavors are epic, yet subtle. I must admit that it is, by far, my favorite dessert of 2007, and lets face it…I’ve had a lot of good desserts this year.

December 14, 2007 | Filed Under Local, Wisconsin, baking, eggs, cheese, dairy, favorite products, food, fruit and nuts, quick and easy, sweets 

comments

4 Responses to “French yogurt cake with apples and vanilla mascarpone”

  1. JEP on December 14th, 2007

    This was a delight to read!! My mouth is watering…what a lovely presentation, too!

  2. Kevin on December 15th, 2007

    You had me just with the title. I recently made caramelized apples with mascarpone cream that was good. Add some yogurt cake and it sounds even better.

  3. brilynn on December 15th, 2007

    I love how the french yogurt cake can be made with pretty much any fruit and yogurt combo, this sounds delicious!

  4. Holler on December 16th, 2007

    lovely. Really lovely!

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