Desserts
Rory O’Connell’s Apple, Raisin and Whiskey Flan
Ingredients
- 50g raisins soaked in 3 tbsp of whiskey overnight
- 70g plain flour
- 65g caster sugar
- 2 1/2 tsp baking powder
- 1/4 tsp vanilla extract
- 2 eggs (M)
- 1 1/2 tbsp sunflower oil
- 80ml milk
- 1kg dessert apples
- For the topping:
- 65g caster sugar
- 1 egg (M)
- 45g melted Kerrygold® Unsalted Irish Butter 227g
- 200ml softly whipped cream
- 2 tbsp warmed apricot glaze (optional)
Directions
- Preheat the oven to 200c.
- Paint the edges and base of a 23cm spring-form pan with melted butter, dust with plain flour and line the base with a disc of parchment paper.
- To begin, strain the raisins from the whiskey and reserve the alcohol to flavour the softly whipped cream to serve with the flan.
- Peel, quarter and core the apples and cut each quarter into 4 slices.
- Place the flour, sugar and baking powder in a large bowl and stir to mix. Add in the vanilla, eggs, oil and milk and whisk to combine all of the ingredients into a batter type consistency. Add the apples and strained raisins and use a flexible rubber spatula to coat the fruit in the batter.
- Place the mixture in the prepared spring-form pan and smooth the surface so that the apples are sitting fairly evenly. Put in the oven and cook for 25 minutes until it is golden in colour.
- Meanwhile, whisk the sugar, egg and butter for the topping. Remove the flan from the oven and pour over the topping. Return the flan to the oven and cook for a further 10 minutes. It should now be quite firm when pressed with a fingertip.
- Place on a wire rack to cool and after 10 minutes, run a knife inside the sides of the pan to loosen the cake from the edges. Release the sides of the pan and allow the cake to cool further. (It is best eaten warm rather than hot and will also be good served at room temperature the next day.)
- Serve with softly whipped cream flavoured with the whiskey strained from the raisins. Rory also likes to paint the top of the flan with slightly warmed apricot glaze to give it a glossy finish.
