Okay, I don’t even know what to say other than: This cake is awesome.

I was craving something sweet this January and decided to make the cake I’ve had my eye on for a little while now- Dorie Greenspan’s French Apple Cake. The ingredients couldn’t be more simple, but in true french fashion, includes a copious amount of butter and alcohol, which is really all one needs in one’s life. (If one wants to die by the age of 35).

But to be honest, the decadence of the pastry is cut by the tart, firm apples that make up nearly the entirety of the cake. The batter is merely a binding mixture to hold all the luscious baked apples together in one piece. So you can really feel *kind of* healthy eating this for breakfast, lunch, and dinner…? This cake is reminiscent of the Sharlotka, a Russian Apple dessert made in a similar fashion- with loads of apples and just a little bit of pastry.

The cake is beautifully soft, tender, brimming with fruit, and so so so moist. (Sorry). The original recipe called for dark rum to flavor the cake, but as I didn’t have dark rum I decided brandy would be an okay substitute.

And I do not regret this decision.

The brandy made this cake A++ in the flavor department and you can taste the boozy flavor throughout every bite. (But if you trust Dorie over myself- and I would be only moderately offended by this- feel free to use rum and I’m sure you won’t be disappointed). So if you’re like me and can only commit to dieting for approximately 1 week (the 1st week of January) and at this point have decided all bets are off in the resolution department, let this be the cake for you. You won’t regret it, I promise.