Polish Honey Cake with Homemade Apple Pear Syrup
Photography by BurkleHagen
Inspired by TABLE Magazine’s Fall coverage of appelstroop, a traditional Dutch fruit syrup made in the province of Limburg, Netherlands, Executive Chef Jessica Lewis of The Oaklander’s Spirits & Tales restaurant decided to develop her own home-kitchen-friendly apple-pear syrup for a dessert she loves — Polish Honey Cake. The syrup she made is lighter and brighter than Dutch appelstroop, but no less delicious. This one is a “must make” for fall.
For recipes using traditional Dutch appelstroop: Beer and Beef Stew with Appelstroop, Roasted Chicken in Mustard and Appelstroop, Sautéed Endive with Appelstroop and Five Spices, Savory Boffert Cake, Pear Tatin with Walnuts, Ginger and Appelstroop
Apple Pear Syrup
Recipe by Executive Chef Jessica Lewis, The Oaklander Hotel’s Spirits & Tales
Ingredients
7 Gala apples, very sweet, juicy, and crisp
7 D’Anjou pears, soft, juicy, and mildly sweet
¼ cup water
½ cup cane sugar
Instructions
Wash, core, and quarter fruit (keep skin on). Put whole fruit in pot, pears on the bottom. Pour 1/4 cup water in the pot. Turn pot on low heat and cover with lid for 1 hour and 30 minutes.
Check to make sure your flame isn’t too high, the apples and pears should be slowly steaming. Then pour out liquid into a smaller pot.
Put apple/pear mix between two pan trays and squeeze as hard as you can to get juice out. Angle over pot for juice to stream into.
Add ½ cup of cane sugar into small pot and turn on medium heat. Bring to simmer and let go for 10 to 15 minutes until maple syrup-like consistency.
Syrup should be thick and sticky consistency on spoon and not be too sweet. Cool.
Makes: 1 cup
Piernik (Polish Honey Cake) Layered with an Apple Filling
Recipe by Executive Chef Jessica Lewis, The Oaklander Hotel’s Spirits & Tales
Ingredients
1 cup honey
1 cup coffee, strong
8 oz butter unsalted
2 tsp cinnamon
2 tsp clove, ground
1 tsp nutmeg
1/2 tsp cardamom
3 large eggs
1 cup packed dark brown sugar
1 tsp baking soda
1 tbsp vanilla extract
3 1/2 cups AP flour
1 ½ tsp kosher salt
Instructions
Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Coat pan with spray or soft butter. Combine honey, coffee, butter, and spices in saucepan and bring to boil.
Remove from heat and let cool to warm. In bowl, combine eggs, brown sugar, and baking powder. Slowly stream in the warm liquid mixture, and whisk constantly.
Next add flour and salt and whisk until completely combined. Pour mixture into pans and bake for 1 hour.
Let cake cool in pan for 15 minutes then pop out onto cooling rack. Dust with powder sugar/cinnamon combination, then add whipped cream.
Spoon Apple Pear Syrup over slices of cake when you serve.
Makes: 1 loaf cake or 2 mini cakes
STORY and RECIPE BY Chef Jessica Lewis, Spirits & Tales at The Oaklander // PHOTOGRAPHY BY Andrew Burkle // FOOD STYLING BY Clare Vredevoogd // PRODUCTION BY BURKLEHAGEN
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