Bolzano apple cake

Portions:

9 à 12

Cooking:

60 min.

Ingredients

6 tart apples (Paulared or Spartan), approx. 1 kg (2 lb)
Juice of 1/2 lemon
160 g (2/3 cup) melted butter
3 eggs
250 g (1 1/4 cups) sugar
180 ml (3/4 cup) milk
120 g (3/4 cup) flour
11 ml (2 1/4 teaspoons) baking powder
Powdered sugar, for dusting

Preparation

Preheat oven to 180°C (350°F). Line a 20 cm (8") square glass baking dish with parchment paper.
Peel and trim the apples, then cut them in half. Finely slice with a mandolin, then add the lemon juice and mix well to prevent the apples from darkening. Set aside for later use.
Melt butter in microwave oven. Set aside. Whisk eggs, sugar and vanilla seeds vigorously in a bowl until mixture whitens and triples in volume. Pour the melted butter into the mixture, mixing gently until smooth.
Stir in half the milk, then add the flour sifted with the yeast and gently whisk the mixture until smooth, then add the remaining milk and stir. The dough becomes thick and homogeneous.
Add the lemon apple slices and gently fold them into the dough with a flexible spatula so as not to break them.
Pour the batter into the prepared tin, smoothing the surface with a spatula. Place in the oven and bake for approx. 60 minutes. Cool before unmolding. Sprinkle with powdered sugar. The cake is easier to cut when cold.

Tips and tricks

The Bolzano Apple Cake was created by Scott Carsberg, chef at Bisato (formerly Lampreia) in Seattle. It's a cake that contains lots of finely sliced apples, resulting in a very melt-in-your-mouth dessert. The cake batter serves only as a sealant for the apples and doesn't contain much flour, so the texture is somewhere between a flan and a clafoutis.