Apple Tarte Tatin

We all know what a Tarte Tatin is: an upside down apple tart, due to a mistake made by a sister Tatin... that's the short story. Now, the "Tatin way" is a popular way of creating tarts, like tomato tatin, cheese tatin.
So I have decided to make my first attempt today.. I have eaten many apple Tarte Tatin before, but never thought of doing it myself. There are my different recipes on the internet so it is hard to know which one to follow. I asked a friend of mine who makes great Tarte Tatin, and asked my Mum too. Here is my first attempt: it definitely needs to be more caramelised but for a first try, it's not bad and I can confirm it tastes good :-)

This is the recipe I followed:
Ingredients:
4 large granny smith apples
75gr butter
75gr brown sugar
zest of half a lemon
Puff pastry for 1 tarte

Preheat the oven to 200°C. Melt the butter and the sugar together, until it thickens and caramelises, add the lemon zest.
Peel the apples and cut in halves (or smaller peices). Cook the apples for 3-4 minutes in the caramelised mix.
Place the apples in a tart dish or tatin dish, and cover them with the puff pastry. Cook for 20min until the pastry is golden brown.

Apple and Almond Cake

Here I am, it's Saturday afternoon, the shopping is done, and I'm home, wondering what to do.. It is too early to make dinner but I want to make something.. so here it is, a cake. Apple and almond cake to be precise. Simple ingredients to make a delicious cake.
I really want to try a piece tonight, so I will have a light, healthy dinner and enjoy some cake afterwards, with a warm drink, in front of a good movie.. I think that's a good plan for a Saturday evening (especially when the movie involves Mr George Clooney and Ryan Gosling - as yummy as the cake!)

Ingredients:
200gr plain flour
25gr ground almonds
2 tsp baking powder
170gr sugar
115gr melted butter
3 eggs
almond extract or vanilla extract
2/3 apples
flaked almonds

Preheat the oven to 160°C. Mix in a bowl the flour, baking powder, ground almonds and sugar. Add the melted butter, almond or vanilla extract and the eggs one at a time, and beat well in between. The texture should be quite thick. Peal and cut the apples and fold them into the mix. Pour the mixture into the cake or loaf tin, sprinkle with almond flakes and bake for 1h15min, until the cake is golden brown and slightly firm. Serve it warm or at room temperature. You will need a drink, it is quite a dry cake ( and I have added an extra egg to the original recipe I add).