Apple Sharlotka Cake

This is essentially an Apple Genoise, which sounds really complicated, but is actually one of the easiest cakes to make, in my opinion/experience. The only thing you have to do is make sure that you prep everything ahead and take the time to get lots of air into your batter. If you do that, you will be left with a light and fluffy, heavenly textured apple cake.

First off, I’ll give you my great-gran’s tip for a guaranteed light sponge: sieve the flour three times. It sounds like a gimmick, but it makes a huge difference. If you want to guarantee a perfectly light cake, take the extra 60 seconds and sift away! This isn’t just for Genoises (I don’t think she had much truck with ‘fancy’ cakes like that) but it makes it is also an indispensable tip for Victoria sponges and Yorkshire puddings. Get the air into the flour and 50% of your work is done for you.

My other tip is to work fast. You have to take 6 minutes to whisk your eggs with an electric whisk (apparently 8 minutes with a stand mixer, but I’ve never tried that), again to get the air in, and as soon as that is done be sure to get your dry ingredients and apples in quickly and get that cake straight in the oven. Sugar reacts with egg yolks and if you leave the egg/sugar mixture standing there while you get other ingredients sorted out, you’re going to end up with a tough cake. Pre-prepare your ingredients!

Anyway, enough with my rambling, here’s the recipe:

• 6 eggs
• 200g granulated sugar
• 150g flour
• 1/2 tsp baking powder
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 1 tbsp melted butter or neutral oil
• 680g sour apples (e.g. Granny Smith or Braeburn)

1. Preheat Oven to 180°C. Line bottom of un-greased 9” springform tin with a ring of baking paper.
2. Peel, core, chop and thinly slice your apples. Cover with a tea towel to prevent them from discolouring and set aside.
3. Add 6 eggs to the bowl and whisk for 3 minutes on high speed. Keep whisking for another 3 minutes on high speed, slowly adding in the sugar. This might sound like a faff, but I promise, it works every time.
4. Add the flour and baking powder mixture into the beaten egg batter in 3 increments, folding between each addition. Scrape from the bottom of the bowl to ensure pockets of flour aren't missed (they hide). Make sure everything is incorporated, but don’t over-mix! Quickly fold in the vanilla extract and butter just until incorporated.
5. Fold in sliced apples, reserving 1 couple of handfuls for the top. Fold just until combined into the batter then pour batter into prepared tin. Spread batter evenly with a spatula (do not tap the pan) and scatter the remaining apple evenly over the top. Bake at 180˚C for 50-55 minutes. The top will be golden brown.
6. Remove from oven and rest in tin 15 min. Slide a thin spatula or knife around the edges of the pan to loosen then transfer to a cake platter to cool to room temperature.

Serving Suggestion

Serve with Gin and Tonic.

https://courtneys.online/gin/the-exe-gin/

This cake is pictured with preserved bilberries, but raspberries and blueberries work very well too.