Sharlotka apple cake

Ice cream is an important extension of this cake!

This cake reminds me of an impressive cake a friend baked a long time ago. So when I came across this on Flipboard, memories of that cake on that Christmas pig-out all came back to me. It’s imperative I bake this, esp when it is a one-bowl kind of cake.

I cut back the sugar by ⅔ but one can do the full recipe with an additional sprinkling of sugar just before serving/instagram. Actually with the Kitchen Aid as my sidekick, the most arduous task was actually peeling and cutting up the apples!

Verdict: The cake is dry, likely because I whisked the eggs past the ribbon stage. The structure , as seen from the cross section, is weak as a result causing the top layer of apple to collapse onto the first. Lesson learnt: Don't get complacent with that electric mixer.

Credits: Russian Sharlotka Cake with adjustments

Ingredients:

3 apples, peeled, cored and cut to thin slices. I just peeled, quartered them and cut to thin wedges

3 big eggs + ⅓ cup of castor sugar

½ tsp cinnamon, ½ tsp sea salt

½ tsp vanilla essence

1 cup plain flour

Method:

Preheat oven to 180C, with low rack in place.

Prepare an 8 inch springform pan. Grease and line the base.

Divide the prepared apples to 2 portions.

Arrange one half of apples in the pan.

In the mixer, whisk eggs, sugar, cinnamon and salt at high speed for 5 minutes or until mixture is pale and forms ribbons.

Whisk in vanilla.

In 3 portions, sieve in the flour gently.

Fold to combine.

Repeat for the other 2 portions.

Pour ½ of the egg batter onto the pan with 1st layer of apples.

Arrange the 2nd portion of the prepared apples on the batter.

Pour the remaining batter onto the 2nd layer of apples.

Baked in the preheated oven at 180C for 55 mins.

Remove and cool.

Before your instagram post, sprinkle with sugar if preferred.

Enjoy!

Apple cream cheese tart

Apples is one of my favourite convenience food. So when Giant Hypermart had the mega Fuji apple sale  recently, I decided to  jazz up my apple snack and turn it into one mean cream cheese apple tart. The mission became all the more urgent as some leftover cream cheese, hibernating in the fridge for the nth week, needed my immediate attention.

I omitted peeling the apples to give it extra bite, something my hubby would happily miss. Still, the choice is yours, peeled or unpeeled. Either way, it should find some fan at the dinner table.

My only regret is that I should have doubled the portion since my spring form cake is bigger than 9 inches, resulting in a rather thin cheese cake. If I have my way, I will further reduce the amount of sugar used with the apple by another 10% for a more subtle sweetness.

Verdict : the sweet pastry crust has just the right amount of crumbs which can hold court on its own, the  mildly sweet cream cheese is counter balanced by slightly crunchy apple with sporadic bursts of cinnamon. Finally to top if off, the walnuts provides  textural contrast to the creamy filling, all making it a joy to eat. The 3 of us polished off the tart in two days. It's terrible, I know, but we can’t help it!

Adapted from joyofbaking.com

Crust:

130 g all-purpose flour

30 g icing sugar

113 g cold unsalted butter, cut into small pieces

Filling:

200 grams cream cheese, at room temperature

40 grams fine sugar

1 egg

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Topping:

40 g fine white sugar

2 g ground cinnamon

3 Fuji apples, sliced

2  tablespoons ground almond

Method :

Make the tart in this order.

Crust :

Oil a 9 inch spring form pan.

Mix flour and sugar in a bowl and transfer to a food processor. Pulse butter ,flour until it forms crumbs. Transfer to the spring form pan and pat down the crust mix. Chill pan and proceed to the next step.

Apple topping :

In a large bowl, mix sugar , ground almond and cinnamon. Set aside. Core apples and slice to small pieces. Toss  apples in the sugar cinnamon mix. Set aside until ready to use.

Cream cheese filling :

Pulse sugar, cream cheese, vanilla, egg until mixture appears homogenous.

Assembly :

Preheat oven to 230 C. retrieve the chilled spring form pan with crust. Pour cream cheese filling into the crust and level with a  spatula.  Gently put the apples topping on the cream cheese. Sprinkle with a couple of walnuts if desired.

Bake the tart for 10 minutes at 230 C and another 25 minutes at 200 C. retrieve tart and cool for 20 minutes. Chill tart overnight before serving .