Apple Cake

For our son's birthday, I made an apple cake. This recipe for a "sunken" apple cake ("Versunkener Apfelkuchen" in German) is from my Mom. This cake is simple to prepare, tastes great and is best with sweet apples like Golden Delicious. Fortunately, we have an apple tree in the backyard.

Ingredients

• about 2 lb / 1 kg apples (e.g. Golden Delicious)
• 2 oz / 60 g granulated sugar
• juice of 1 lemon
• 9 oz / 250 g all-purpose flour
• 2 tsp baking powder
• 4½ oz / 125 g unsalted butter, softened
• 6 oz / 175 g granulated sugar
• ½ tsp salt
• 3 eggs
• 2 tsp vanilla extract
• zest of ¼ lemon, finely grated
• about ⅔-¾ cup / 150-180 ml milk, depending on the size of the eggs
• butter and flour for greasing the springform pan

Preparation

1. Peel, quarter and core apples. Cut into thin slices and sprinkle immediately with lemon juice to prevent the apples from turning brown. Add 60 g sugar, stir carefully and set aside for at least an hour.
2. Grease a 10 in / 25 cm springform pan with butter and flour. Preheat oven to 375°F / 190°C.
3. Mix flour and baking powder. Sift.
4. Whisk together butter, sugar, salt, vanilla extract and lemon zest. Whisk in eggs.
5. Stir in flour-and-baking-powder mixture and milk. Start with about ½ cup / 120 ml of milk and then add more until batter is smooth but not runny.
6. Pour batter into the springform pan. Stick apple slices into the batter, upright and in concentric rings.
7. Bake for about 45-60 minutes.
8. Let cool, then remove from the springform pan.