My Oma’s Apple Cake

1 stick butter

1 tsp. baking powder

1 tsp. vanilla

1 ¼ cup sugar (divided)

4 egg yokes

1 egg white

2 ¼ cup flour

8 apples (a good variety is good) – peel, core and slice (I use my food processor, my Aunt coarsely cuts some and coarsely grates the rest)

1 tsp. cinnamon

¼ tsp. ground cloves

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Cream together butter and ¾ cup sugar. Add vanilla, eggs yokes and egg white. Add flour and baking powder. (My Aunt said that the 2 ¼ cups flour varies – sometimes for her it’s 2 ½ cups, depending on the size of the eggs – I’ve been pretty successful with 2 ¼ - but, if it’s too gooey, you know to add another ¼ cup flour.) Separate the dough into two balls, wrap in wax paper and refrigerate until ready to use.

Peel, core and slice/cut/grate apples. In a small bowl, combine ½ cup sugar, cinnamon and cloves. Reserve 1 tablespoon of the sugar mixture to sprinkle onto of the cake – the rest of the sugar mixture should be mixed with the apples. Make sure all the apples are coated.

Roll out one piece of dough on a floured surface to fit the bottom of a well-greased 9x13 pan. Layer the apple mixture. Roll out the second piece of dough to fit the top of the pan. (My Aunt says that the dough is rather forgiving when it’s in the oven and cooking and all melding together, so if you don’t have enough for a corner, just squish in a piece left over from somewhere else.) Brush top of cake with a little bit of a left over egg white and sprinkle with the 1 tablespoon reserved sugar mixture.

Cook 30-40 minutes – make sure it’s well-done!! – This means lightly to moderately browned – The only problem with this cake is that, because the bottom layer naturally stays a little gooey, if you don’t cook the whole thing long enough, it tastes, at least to me, too much like dough that hasn’t been cooked…. Otherwise – Guten Appetit!