Baking with Marianne

On my 11th birthday I received my first adult baking book and this marked the beginning of making German cakes and torten for my family. One of the first recipes that I made from this book was "Gedeckter Apfelkuchen".  It is a "covered" cake with a delicious apple, almond and raisin filling which is very similar to an apple strudel filling. For me this apple cake is a very typical German cake; it's a cake that you find in every German pastry shop. I remember when I was little my family and I visited museums on Sundays and occasionally we went to the pastry shop after our museum visits in order to get some slices of cake for afternoon tea. I always chose a slice of Prinzregententorte but my dad chose almost every time a slice of "Gedeckter Apfelkuchen" and I always managed to sneak a little bit of my dad's apple slice.



This cake is one of my all time favorite apple cakes - besides my beloved Saturday Oatmeal Apple Cake of my mom. Ever since I made the cake for the very first time I make the "Gedeckter Apfelkuchen" every single year. The cake is such a beautiful rich and delicious apple cake which is so comforting for the colder months of the year. 

• 50 g hazelnut flour
• 200 g all-purpose flour
• 125 g unsalted cold butter (cut in cubes)
• 75 g granulated sugar
• 1 pinch of salt
• 1 egg yolk

• 50 g raisins
• 1 tablespoon of rum
• 375 g tart apples
• 45 g almond slivers (toasted)
• 25 g granulated sugar

• 50 g confectioners' sugar
• 1 1/2 tablespoons of apple juice or water
• 2 tablespoons of  almond slivers (toasted)

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• Knead hazelnut flour, all-purpose flour, butter, granulated sugar, salt and  egg yolk to a dough. Wrap the dough into clingwrap and refrigerate for at least 1 hour. 
• For the apple filling wash the raisins in hot water. In a small bowl let the raisins soak in rum. 
• Peel and core the apples and cut them into small cubes (about 4 cm). 
•  Mix apple cubes, rum soaked raisins, almond slivers and sugar in a bowl.
• Preheat the oven to 200°C. 
• Line the bottom of your springform pan with parchment paper and grease and flour your pan. 
• On a floured surface roll out 2/3 of the dough into a circle (the circle should be bigger than the springform). Gently lay the dough into the cake pan.
• Place the apple filling into the pan. 
• Roll out the remaining dough to a circle and lay the circle on the top of the apple filling, Press the edges together to seal the dough. 
• Bake the apple cake for 35 to 40 minutes. If the top of the cake gets too brown cover the cake  with aluminium foil. I usually cover the cake with aluminium foil after 30 minutes.
• Mix confectioners' sugar and apple juice or water. While the cake is still warm brush the top of the cake with icing and sprinkle with toasted almond shivers.