Apple Cream Cake

Originally, this cake is known as Apfelkuchen mit Rahmguss.  Hubby bought lots of apples on his way home from the countryside during the week - to be exact 3 bagfuls of apples, each weighing about 3 kgs each.  The following recipe is another version of the famous German apple cakes available.  To give the cake a shine, I brushed the top and edges with warm apricot jam and sprinkled roasted almond slices.  Kurzum (in short), another moist and tasty cake for teatime today!

Ingredients:
160 g cold butter
80 g fine sugar
250 g flour
1 medium-size egg
a pinch of salt

8 medium-size apples
50 g ground almonds
1 tsp cinnamon powder

2 medium-size eggs
a pinch of salt
1 vanilla pod, to be halved and seeds scraped
150 fine sugar
50 g vanilla pudding powder or cornflour
250 g fresh cream

110 g apricot jam
30 g sliced almonds

Method:
Grease a 26 cm diameter springform with a little butter and leave it aside.  In a mixing bowl, mix together cold butter, sugar, flour, egg and salt.  By using the kneading hook, knead dough until well mixed.  Wrap in cling film and store in the fridge for at least 30 minutes.  Then, line the springform with dough as shown below.

In the meantime, prepare cream filling - in a bowl, light whisk eggs, salt, vanilla seeds and sugar together.  Add vanilla pudding powder and fresh cream alternately.  Mix well and set aside.

In a small bowl, mix ground almonds and cinnamon powder together and set aside. Quarter 3 apples, core and peel the skin.  Slice each quarter into 4 slices lengthwise. Arrange apple slices on base of dough as shown below.  Sprinkle the ground almonds/cinnamon mix on top and then, pour 1/3 of cream filling over them.

Quarter, core and peel the balance of apples.  It is advisable to work with one apple at a time in order to avoid the peeled apples turning dark.  Slice thinly and arrange as shown below.  Repeat procedure for the next layer.  Altogether, there should be 3 layers.

Pour the balance of cream filling over the apples and bake in a preheated oven (do not use fan) at a temperature of 200° C for about an hour.  If the top of cake gets brown before the baking time is up, cover top of cake with a piece of aluminium foil.  Note:  I had to cover the top of my springform about 20 minutes before baking time is over.

Leave cake in its springform to cool down completely before removing the ring.  In the meantime, roast almond slices in a small pan without oil until almost golden brown.

In a small pot, heat apricot jam over low heat.  Pass through a sieve into a small bowl.  Brush top and edges of cake with apricot jam and sprinkle the roasted almond slices along the edges as shown below.

Cut into serving portions!

Happy Baking!