Food & Recipes

07 October 2009, 16:14

Apple charlotte with cider custard

Servings: 4
Prep time: 30 minutes
Cook time: 35-40 minutes   
Dish type: Pudding           
Difficulty: Medium

Ingredients:

For the apple charlotte
450g Bramley apples, peeled, cored and chopped
30g butter
60g sugar
60g sultanas
Rind of 1 orange
1 egg yolk

About 16 slices of white bread
115g butter
Pinch of caster sugar for sprinkling

For the cider custard
1 vanilla pod
285ml double cream
3 large egg yolks
30g golden caster sugar
Cider to taste - about 4 tablespoons

To garnish
1 red dessert apple (such as gala)

4 x 11cm ramekins or 1 larger oven dish of roughly the same volume

Method:

For the apple charlotte
Set oven to 190°C or Gas Mark 5.

Melt the 30g butter in a pan and add the apples, sugar, sultanas and orange rind. 

Simmer gently, stirring occasionally until the apples are reduced to a pulp. 

Remove the orange rind and beat to a puree with the egg yolk.

Melt the 115g butter in a pan. Remove the crust from the bread and cut into required shapes to fit the ramekins or dish (rectangles for sides, rounds for bottom of ramekins, apple shaped cutter for decoration), dip one face of each in the melted butter and use to line the base and sides of your ramekins, butter side outwards, overlapping the pieces. 

When the puree is ready, allow to cool slightly then transfer to the lined ramekins/dish. Don’t pour too much in – they should be shallow to prevent the portion size being too big. Cover the puree with bread, buttered side up, folding in the sides and overlapping around the edge.

Cover with a piece of grease-proof paper and bake in the oven for 25 minutes (30 mins for 1 large pudding). Remove the paper and cook for 10 minutes more to brown the top.  Allow to cool slightly, place a plate over the dish, invert carefully and turn out.  Sprinkle with caster sugar and serve warm with the custard.

For the custard
Split the vanilla pod lengthways and scrape out the seeds. Add the seeds and the pod to the cream in a saucepan and bring up to simmering point.

Whisk the egg yolks and sugar together until very pale in colour.
Remove the vanilla pod from the cream.

Add the egg mixture to the cream, whisking all the time, then put back onto the heat until the custard coats the back of a spoon (do not boil).

Take off the heat and stir in the cider.

For the garnish
Quarter and core the red skinned apple, leaving the skin on.

Cut 3 thin slices of apple per portion and fan them out to garnish the plate.

Last updated: 07 October 2009, 16:17