German Apple Cake (Apfelkuchen)

Alright, for our first recipe, we are listing a German Apple cake. This dessert is fairly simple to make, looks good, tastes better, and is also flexible in terms of how sweet you want it.

You will need:

1 spring form – I work with 11 inches, but larger or smaller works as well. You will just have a taller or flatter cake.

Ingredients:

1 stick of butter (113 g, 8 tablespoons). Take this out of your fridge early to let it get soft – much easier to work with
Sugar
    75 g from low sweet (2.6 oz.)
    100 g for medium sweet (3.5 oz.)
    125 g for more sweet (4.4 oz.)
2 eggs
125 g/4.4 oz. flour (all purpose is good for this purpose)
2 tsp. baking powder
Some vanilla (1 tsp. concentrate, 1 vanilla bean, or ½ tsp vanilla paste)
A shot of lemon juice (2 tsp.)
Pinch of salt
~4 apples (700-800 g, 2 lbs.)

Optional:

Sunflower seeds or raisins can be mixed in to the dough
Apricot jam is sometimes spread on the top.

Take out your butter and holding the cold stick, rub it along your form. Let the rest of the butter sit to warm up as you work with your apples
Preheat your oven to 350 deg. F/ 170 deg. C.
Prepare your apples thusly
i.Peel them, cut them into quarters, and take out their cores
ii.Cut them lengthwise into slices, but not all the way through – leave a small connection between all the slices in one apple quarter

4.Put your butter in a mixing bowl, and cream the sugar into it. This just means mix them together thoroughly until it is smooth and all dissolved

5.Add one egg and mix it in. Add the other egg and mix it in. Do not add both at the same time – but also don’t panic if you did. Not the end of the world or this cake.

6.Add vanilla

7.Put your 125 g. of flour in another bowl, and mix in the baking powder and salt. You can sift it if you’re fancy, but mixing completely with anything else will work as well.

8.Add the flour mixture 1-3 tablespoons at a time to the egg/butter/sugar mixture – mix in each addition. Add raisins or sunflower seeds if using, and the lemon juice.

9.Add half of your dough to the bottom of the spring form and spread it around. Place half of your apple quarters with the core side facing up around the cake.

10.Add the other half of your dough and spread this around. Place the
rest of your apples on top, core side facing down this time. Arrange into beautiful patterns, realize that it’s hard to do, and tell yourself that it will look good anyway. It will, I promise.

11.Once satisfied, place cake into pre-heated oven for ~1 hour. It will turn brown on the top, and the apples will get soft.

i:If you have apricot jam to use, add 1 tablespoon (additional) butter to a small pan, and 1 tablespoon of the jam. Melt them together, and use a brush to gently spread this mixture over the top of the cake. This will leave it looking even better, and it will add a slight taste accent.