Hi, foodies in the Hive!

I always complain that my nephews ask for a chocolate birthday cake every year. I've told them to be more creative--please--so I can post the recipes to my Hive blog 🤭 This time, my oldest nephew, who happens to be my godson too, said "apples!"

After giving it a lot of thought, I decided to make a cake that I could use ingredients I already had in my kitchen.

I had some beautiful granny Smiths to make applesauce and a small package of fresh blackberries I could use for decoration.

This cake was a special gift for my nephew who was turning 23. I made it of apples at his request.

Crust

I had bought some María biscuits to make another cake. There were plenty of biscuits to use in my nephew's apple cake.

This crust is quite simple to make, and I had everything I needed; I just needed to crush the biscuits well.

I used:

450 gr of crushed María biscuits
220 ml coconut oil
4 tablespoons cane sugar

Then I mixed the crushed cookies with the cane sugar. I used the dark kind, which I think adds a more desirable moist to the crust.

I dry mixed the crushed cookies and the sugar.

Then I added the coconut oil...

...and mixed well.

The mixture was ready to be pressed onto the cheesecake pan.

No need to grease the pan.

I used my hands to evenly distribute the mix. The pan went into the fridge for an hour.

Chunky applesauce & Cream

Fresh apples and fresh eggs called for delicious applesauce and apple pastry cream. My nephew loves this combination.

Applesauce

I washed well and peel the apples, took out the cores and sprinkled with fresh lemon juice to prevent them from getting dark.

Once I had 750 gr of peeled apples, I was ready to make applesauce.

I used:

750 gr of granny smiths cut in pieces of 1 cm thick and 2 cm wide approx.
1 cup cane sugar
3/4 tablespoons ground cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon salt
A few drops of vanilla essence
1 tablespoon freshly squeezed lemon juice
1/3 cups water

I mixed all the ingredients inside the pot I was going to use, added the water, and let the it cook for half an hour over medium fire.

When the applesauce was done, I separated the apple chunks from the syrup with the help of a strainer. I'd use the latter to make apple pastry cream.

Granny Smith pastry cream

I used the same pot where I had cooked the applesauce. I used:

Applesauce syrup (3/4 cups approx.)
600 ml condensed milk
300 gr silken tofu
1 cup egg yolks
1 egg white
2 cups unflavored gelatin
1 teaspoon vanilla essence

I put the syrup back into it and added condensed milk, eggs, and vanilla essence.

While the cream cooled a little, I hydrated the unflavored gelatin according to instructions and added it into the mixture along with the tofu. I mixed everything in the blender 😁

I poured the mixture into the pan where the crust had already hardened.

The amounts was OK for my 18" cheesecake pan. There was enough room for the topping.

This cake in progress went into the freezer again, along with the chunks from the applesauce so they would turn cold as well.

Delicious Italian meringue with a nice color

I needed a creamy topping that would pair well with cream and fruit. My first thought was a diplomatic cream, but I didn't have any whipping cream. So I made meringue the Italian way but adding cane sugar so it'd take on a nice light beige color.

I used:

I made sugar syrup by mixing the sugars and water and taking it to a boil. I let it cook until it became thick. I know the syrup is done when it forms a thread as it drops from the spoon.