Viennese Apple Cake

 

 

Viennese Apple Cake

or, Apfelkuchen

 

 

Prep Time:  50 minutes

Bake Time:  1 hour, 15 minutes

 

Crust:

1-2/3  Cups  Flour

1  Tablespoon  Sugar

1/2  teaspoon  Baking Powder

9  Tablespoons  Cold Butter

1  large  Egg, beaten with 1 Tablespoon Water

4-6  Tablespoons  Cold Water

 

Apple Filling:

2.2  pounds  Apples (1 kg, or about 5)

Juice from 1/2 Lemon

 

Cake Filling:

2/3  Cup  Sugar

13  Tablespoons  softened Butter (3/4-cup + 1 Tablespoon)

1  Egg

Zest from 1/2 Lemon

3/4  Cup  Flour

1/2  teaspoon  Baking Powder

15  Tablespoons  Whipping Cream (1 cup, minus 1 Tablespoon; or a scant 1-Cup)

 

Topping:

3  Tablespoons  Sliced Almonds

3  Tablespoons  Sugar

 

Whipped Cream for serving

 

For the Crust:

Make like a pie crust:  mix Flour, Sugar and Baking Powder in a bowl.  Cut cold Butter into dry ingredients until small crumbs form.  Beat Egg with Water; stir into dry ingredients.  Stir in 4-6 tablespoons Water, adding Water just until the mixture forms a ball.  Gather into a ball; refrigerate until needed.

 

Chop Apples:

Peel and quarter Apples.  Cut each quarter into 3 slices, then, to quote the original recipe, "cut crosswise into small trapezoids."  Toss Apples in Lemon Juice; set aside.

 

Make Cake Batter:

In mixer, beat Butter and Sugar until light and fluffy.  Beat in Egg and Lemon Zest.

In a small bowl, mix the Flour and Baking Powder, adding a dash of salt if using unsalted Butter.  Stir into creamed mixture; beat until smooth.

Add in Whipping Cream a little at  time, beating between additions.

 

Assemble and Bake Cake:

Preheat oven to 350*.

Grease and Flour a 9- or 10-inch springform pan (or 11-inch tart pan).

Roll out crust to fit pan and line pan, piecing crust if necessary to form crust up the sides of the pan to the lip.

Place drained Apples in pan.

Spoon Cake Batter over the Apples in dollops, then smooth out over Apple to the edges.

Sprinkle with Sliced Almonds and then Sugar.

 

Bake for 1 hour, then turn off oven and leave Cake in the oven for 15 minutes.  Crust should be golden brown and filling will be moist but set--testing with a toothpick will not work for this cake.

 

Cool completely to room temperature--do not serve hot.  Filling will become firm as when completely cool. 

Serve with Whipped Cream, at room temperature or chilled.

 

Serves 12.

 

Store any remainders in the refrigerator.

 

"A new commandment I give unto you,

that ye love one another;

as I have loved you,

that ye also love one another.

By this shall all men know that ye are my disciples,

if ye have love one to another."

--John 13:34 & 35

 

Cut the Butter into the Flour, Sugar, and Baking Powder

Stir in the Egg and Water until it forms a rough ball

 

Not that you need a photo of Egg and Water--

I just like this little bowl

 

And here are my "Apple Trapezoids"

I think an engineer must have written the original recipe!

 

 Adding in the Cream

 

The Crust, fitted into the pan

Filled with Apples

Dollops of Batter

Smoothed out

Topped with Almonds

Sprinkled with Sugar

 

 

I was looking for a new fall dessert to serve to our Church Bible Study group.  It had to be a recipe which I could make a day ahead.  I found this at GermanFood.About.com, via Pinterest.  If you're looking for a not-so-sweet fall dessert, this is it!  It is very refreshing with a hint of Lemon in the custard-like Batter.  The original recipe was written with metric measurements and then converted to US measurements, which is the why-and-wherefore of the 15-tablespoons instead of a full 1-cup.