bakeitup

Aww yeah.

Tools/non-food supplies:

saran wrap
sharp knife
apple corer (or just use the sharp knife, you'll need bigger holes to put all the stuffing in anyway)
potato peeler (or, again, the sharp knife)
brush
lots of bowls (if you're into weighing and preparing all the ingredients before baking, which you should be)
a saucepan that fits at least 1l
whisk
springform pan
baking parchment (lots)
some type of dried legume (beans, peas, ...)
spoon (or similar, to get the last custard out of the saucepan)
pastry blender OR a fork OR a hand mixer with dough hooks
rolling pin

Ingredients:

for the short pastry:
- 150 g cold butter (ideally in bits and not one big chunk, plus some for the springform pan)
- 100 g sugar
- 1/2 tsp. baking powder
- 1 medium egg
- 220 g all-purpose flour (plus some to work with)
for the topping:
- 7-8 small apples (preferably sour)
- 2 tbsp. lemon juice
- 200 g marzipan paste
- 50 g rum raisins
- 1 tbsp. cinnamon sugar mix to taste
- app. 4 cinnamon quills
for the custard:
- 500 g whipping cream (unwhipped, natch)
- 250 ml milk
- 80 g sugar
- 1 sachet of vanilla custard powder (set custard)
- 1 sachet of vanilla custard sauce powder
- 50 g sliced almonds

Put all the ingredients for the pastry into a big bowl and start mixing them (with a hand mixer and dough hooks, or a fork, or one of those pastry blenders (not that I've ever seen one in person)), try to avoid over-mixing but get it smooth. Put it in the saran wrap and set it in a cool place (for example your fridge).
Peel the apples (either entirely or in spirals), then remove the apple cores and brush them with the lemon juice (this prevents browning).
Knead the marzipan paste, the rum raisins and the cinnamon sugar mix, then stuff the apples with that mixture. Break the cinnamon quills in half and put a piece into each apple.
Mix the whipping cream, 150 ml of the milk and the sugar, set it to boil. Meanwhile whisk the custard powders and the remaining milk (100 ml), mix that into the boiling cream, let the mixture boil while stirring (if your cream was really boiling and you time it right this should happen IMMEDIATELY, almost thickening the custard faster than you can whisk it), take it from the stove and let it cool, while stirring it occasionally so no skin starts to form. (I've personally used my trusty baking assistant for this, timing everything perfectly for this cake is a little bit of a challenge.)
Preheat the oven to 200°C, grease the springform pan and put baking parchment on the bottom.
Roll out the pastry dough on a floured surface, put it in the springform and pull up the sides as evenly as possible.
Spread more baking parchment on the bottom of the dough, fill up with the dried legumes. Let it bake for 10 minutes, then take it out of the oven and carefully remove the legumes and baking parchment.
Put the stuffed apples on the pastry, then fill it up with the custard. You don't need to use all of the custard for this, but you can. Spread the sliced almonds on top, then put it in the oven for a further 50-60 minutes, covering it with baking parchment (I told you you'd need lots!) after a while so it doesn't get too dark.
Take it out when ready, then let it cool entirely, otherwise you'll have custard running everywhere. Dust with powdered sugar if you like. Aaaaaand done. :)

This is what it looked like just after putting it in the oven, fyi: