Apple Hurricane Cake
A baked-on custard topping elevates a humble apple cake to something fabulous.
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Apple cake is one of those simple pleasures in life that’s a taste of nostalgia for many people. Whether it’s apple spice cake or a sour cream apple cake, apples just “go” with cake. This apple hurricane cake gets its name from the swirling pattern on the top rendered in a sweet custard. Underneath a light cake is dotted with diced apple and on top a dusting of powdered sugar lends a special look to this moist cake.
The first step to making this cake is the custard. It’s a simple mixture of milk, egg, sugar, and vanilla that’s thickened with cornstarch. Once you’ve got that made it’ll need to cool a bit, so that’s the perfect time to peel, core, and dice your apples and then toss them with a little bit of lemon juice.
The cake batter is also fairly simple. Fold the apples into the batter before pouring it into a cake pan, then take your cooled custard and fill a piping bag with it. Or you can fill a freezer bag with the custard and snip off one of the bottom corners. There’s no fancy tips needed for this and the exact size of the hole doesn’t really matter.
Instead of frosting the cake all you need to do is to make a swirl pattern. After you’ve gone around the top once, start from the center and go over it again. In this way you’ll make some deeper channels where the custard isn’t- giving it the look of a swirling hurricane.
It might be simple, but this cake is deceptively delicious, with layers of flavor from the sweet cake and the silky custard topping that gets baked on top. One taste and you’ll wonder how this cake recipe never made it into your recipe box before now!
Apple Hurricane Cake
Diet: Vegetarian
Watch How It's Made
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For the topping:
- 1 egg
- 4 tablespoons granulated sugar
- 1 tablespoons cornstarch
- 1 cup whole milk
- 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
For the cake:
- 1 1/2 apples
- juice of 1/2 lemon
- 1/2 cup granulated sugar
- pinch of salt
- 2 eggs
- 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
- 1/2 cup whole milk
- 1 2/3 cups all-purpose flour
- 2 teaspoons baking powder
- powdered sugar for dusting
For the topping:
- In a medium saucepan combine egg, sugar, and cornstarch. Then stir in milk. Heat over medium-low until frothy, whisking constantly. Once it begins to bubble cook for 5-10 minutes, still whisking. Then remove from heat then add in vanilla extract and stir well. Set aside.
For the cake:
- Preheat oven to 350˚F. Peel and core apples. Cut into large, diced pieces. Toss apple pieces in a medium bowl along with lemon juice.
- In a large bowl combine granulated sugar, salt, and eggs. Use an electric mixer to blend until pale and frothy. Add in vanilla extract and milk and mix together. Sift flour and baking powder together into the wet ingredients and blend until just combined, scraping down the sides of the bowl as you go.
- Fold apples into batter and pour into a 9” tart or pie pan lined with parchment paper. Scoop custard topping into a Ziploc bag and cut tip of one bottom corner off. Or use icing bag. Starting in the middle pipe a swirl of custard going outward. Repeat pattern until all custard is used up.
- Bake for 30 minutes or until top begins to turn golden brown. Cover with foil part way through cooking if it browns too quickly. Allow to cool for at least 1 hour at room temperature before removing from pan. Gently cover the top with a flat plate or cookie sheet, then turn upside down. Remove paper and then return to cake right side up. Sprinkle lightly with sifted powdered sugar and cut into 8-12 pieces.
Recipe adapted from Last Minute Kitchen.