Saturday, October 14, 2017

Apple Sharlotka

Something yummy to do with the abundance of apples this time of year. And I use whatever apples I have on hand, homegrown, gifted or otherwise. Mostly, I just like saying ¨sharlotka¨. Good name for a cat.

I started with this recipe from Smitten Kitchen.  Her MIL is Russian, so I guess this must be pretty authentic.  In the comments it becomes clear that it´s a popular dessert from Poland to the Ukraine.





Mine doesn´t come out so blonde and pretty.  It may be because I use brown sugar.  It may be because our oven has no temperature marks, so I´m guessing about the 350 degree thing.  Mine are always toasted to a dark brown.  But there´s no question that the results are tasty.  Good for breakfast, dessert, tea time, there´s no end to the possibilities.  Also delicious with a cinnamon powdered sugar glaze drizzled over the top.  It can also be made with pears instead of apples.



Keys to success - you do have to push the batter down into the apple pieces, it won´t sink by itself.  Don´t forget to run a knife around the sides of the springform before turning it over or you risk the bottom of the cake sticking to the paper.




From the link above:
Butter or nonstick spray, for greasing pan
6 large, tart apples, such as Granny Smiths
3 large eggs
1 cup (200 grams) granulated sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 cup (125 grams) all-purpose flour
Ground cinnamon, to finish
Powdered sugar, also to finish

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line the bottom of a 9-inch springform pan with parchment paper. Butter the paper and the sides of the pan. Peel, halve and core your apples, then chop them into medium-sized chunks. (I cut each half into four “strips” then sliced them fairly thinly — about 1/4-inch — in the other direction.) Pile the cut apples directly in the prepared pan. Meanwhile, in a large bowl, using an electric mixer or whisk, beat eggs with sugar until thick and ribbons form on the surface of the beaten eggs. Beat in vanilla, then stir in flour with a spoon until just combined. The batter will be very thick.

Pour over apples in pan, using a spoon or spatula to spread the batter so that it covers all exposed apples. (Updated to clarify: Spread the batter and press it down into the apple pile. The top of the batter should end up level with the top of the apples.) Bake in preheated oven for 55 to 60 minutes, or until a tester comes out free of batter. Cool in pan for 10 minutes on rack, then flip out onto another rack, peel off the parchment paper, and flip it back onto a serving platter. Dust lightly with ground cinnamon.

8 comments:

  1. We've just been given five mushroom trays of apples...this sounds worth a try!

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  2. Hi, Coco!

    It seems easy; it certainly looks really delicious. Apples are in here, too. Now that you have me thinking about apples, I just remembered an Apple Brown Betty recipe that I haven't made in a long time. And apple butter, which Jo made me think of with her pear butter a while back. I have been experimenting with gluten free breads this week - every one of them has been a flop. It is tricky learning how different flours behave. One really promising recipe that I found comes from Slovenia so I have used an online converter to figure out how to convert all the metric measurements to mine (I hope). You brought this to mind with your comment about your oven not having temperature marks - how on earth to you figure out the right temperature?

    Pam

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  3. Hi Coco,

    Apple cake. Total 100% Yummo!

    The apples down here brown after being cut, and I'm not sure but I reckon it depends on the variety of apple. Dunno. A foodie mate told me about using ceramic or plastic knives to cut the apples just to stop them from browning, but it hardly made any difference at all.

    Chris

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  4. GZ, it´s pretty easy and fast and chances are you have everything you need on hand already. Hope you like it!

    Pam, the oven temperature is pure guesswork. Full whack is about 400, 3/4 turn is standard baking temp for cookies, pies, etc., 1/4 turn is slow roasting, and the lowest setting is for warming bread etc. Lots of trial and error, and overly toasted bits. I bought measuring cups that have both metric and USian measures so I´m good on both sides of the pond.

    Hi Chris, you can cut the apples into a bowl with water and some lemon juice, if the oxidation bothers you. I figure it´ll all brown in the oven anyway.

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  5. We have had a good crop of apples this year so spiced apple cake is on the menu plus lovely apple crumbles.

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  6. Hi Anne,

    Hope hurricane Ophelia doesn´t inflict any damage. All she´s managed to do around here is fan the flames of a hundred forest fires. At least it´s supposed to rain later this week.

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  7. It is all to do with the type of apple. You can add a tiny bit of citric acid to keep the colour golden but really every apple is delicious.
    Regards J.

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  8. Minwks, thank you for your comment! We have an apple tree that has apples which don´t taste especially nice. I think they must be for cider. When we have a press (on the list), we´ll see how they do. What a lovely cottage you have! Would love to know more about your espaliers. I´d keep bees, but the Velutina wasp is threatening apiaries here in Galicia, and it seems a bit complicated to get started.

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