This is a delicious, very delicate cake. It's served for dessert everywhere in Charleston, but I like it as a morning cake or afternoon snack. The recipe was named for a small but influential group of French Protestants who fled persecution by their Catholic countrymen and settled lands that became South Carolina more than a century before the Revolutionary War.
Recipe information
Yield
One 9-by-13-inch layer cake
Ingredients
Preparation
Step 1
1. Preheat the oven to 375°F and place the rack in the middle position. Grease a 9-by-13-inch baking dish.
Step 2
2. Peel, core, and chop the apples into 1/4-inch cubes. In a large bowl, toss them with 3 tablespoons of the flour to activate the glutens. Use a spoon or flexible spatula, rather than your hands.
Step 3
3. Grind the nuts, 2 ounces of the superfine sugar, and the confectioners' sugar in a food processor with the steel blade for 20 to 30 seconds. In a bowl, mix together the nuts, the remaining flour, and the salt. Whisk to combine.
Step 4
4. Combine the eggs and the remaining superfine sugar in a standing mixer fitted with the wire whip attachment and whip at medium speed until stiff, about 4 minutes.
Step 5
5. Reduce the speed to low and slowly add the nut-and-flour mixture to the eggs.
Step 6
6. Fold in the apples using a flexible spatula.
Step 7
7. Distribute the batter evenly into the prepared pan and bake for 35 to 40 minutes, or until a wooden skewer inserted in the center comes out clean.
Step 8
8. Cool the cake to room temperature, dust the top with confectioners' sugar, and cut slices directly from the baking dish.
