Jewish apple cake

Jewish apple cake is a wonderfully moist, apple-packed cake with a lovely hint of cinnamon. It’s quite different from a classic Polish apple cake (szarlotka) – there’s no pastry base or layer of cooked apples here. Instead, it’s packed with pieces of fresh apple baked into a light and fluffy sponge. The cake gets its lovely texture from thoroughly whisking the eggs and sugar, and there’s no baking powder at all. For me, this is what the perfect apple cake should taste like!

The recipe comes from the Jewish cuisine of Central and Eastern Europe, while its American version is known as “Jewish apple cake”. I love its simplicity and wonderfully homely flavour. It’s even better the next day, when it becomes deliciously moist and juicy from all the apples, with a thin, golden, crisp crust on top. A real favourite and definitely worth trying!

Ingredients for Jewish apple cake:

• 1 kg tart, firm apples
• 4 large eggs
• 180 g caster sugar
• 40 g butter
• 2 tsp vanilla extract
• 250 g plain flour
• ½ tsp salt

Additionally:

• 40 g caster sugar
• ¾ tsp ground cinnamon

All ingredients should be at room temperature.

Peel the apples, remove the cores and cut into approximately 2 cm pieces. Melt the butter and leave to cool, but it should remain lukewarm.

Place the eggs in the bowl of a stand mixer, add the vanilla and sugar. Whisk on the highest speed using the whisk attachment until pale and very fluffy, and the mixture has almost tripled in volume. With a stand mixer, this should take 7–10 minutes; with a hand-held electric mixer, 10–15 minutes. When lifted, the mixture should fall from the whisk in a ribbon and remain visible on the surface for several seconds. Slowly drizzle in the melted butter while whisking until combined. Sift the flour directly over the whipped mixture, add the salt and gently fold together with a spatula, just until combined. The batter should be fairly thick but still pourable. Add the apple pieces and fold through.

Transfer the mixture to a 23 cm springform tin lined with baking paper. Level the surface with a spatula. If it looks as though there isn’t enough batter, don’t worry – the cake will rise as it bakes. Mix the additional 40 g sugar with the cinnamon and sprinkle evenly over the top of the cake.

Bake at 200°C for 15 minutes, preferably using conventional top and bottom heat. Then reduce the temperature to 175°C and bake for a further 45–55 minutes. The top should be deeply golden, and a skewer inserted into the centre should come out clean, although it may be slightly moist from the apple juices. If the top starts to brown too much, loosely cover the cake with aluminium foil towards the end of baking. Remove from the oven and leave to cool completely.

Serve at room temperature, for example with vanilla ice cream.

Jewish apple cake can be stored covered in the fridge for up to 5 days. Serve chilled or slightly warmed.

Enjoy!

Recipe adapted from: cooking.nytimes.com,