The marzipan apple cake from the new cookbook “Classic German Baking”. The dough includes grated sweetened almond paste (marzipan), which brings the cake into a different level.
Apple Marzipan Cake:
I made several changes to the original recipe, so I’ll write it up with my changes. I reduced the amount of marzipan, and it was still very sweet and ‘marzipan-y’'’. I also divided the batter into 2 spring cake pans, a 8 inch diameter and a 5 inch diameter spring pan, and omitted the apricot jam.
- 4 medium apples, (1 3/4 pounds, 800g)
- 1 organic untreated lemon, zested and juiced
- 1 TB butter
- 1 TB sugar
- 100g almond paste
- 3/4 cup (150g) sugar
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 14 tablespoons (200g) unsalted butter, melted and cooled
- 1 teaspoon almond extract
- 4 large eggs, at room temperature
- 1 cup, 3 tablespoons (150g) flour
- 4 tablespoons cornstarch
- 2 teaspoons baking powder
2. Peel and core the apples. Divide the lemon juice into two separate bowls. Slice two of the peeled and cored apples into 1/2-inch slices (3 slices per quartered apple), and toss the apple slices in one bowl of lemon juice. Dice the other two apples into 1/3-inch (1cm) cubes. Toss in the other bowl of lemon juice.
3. On the stove top, heat a larger pan with 1TB butter, and 1 TB sugar, and once melted add in the diced apples and saute for 5 minutes. Let cool.
4. Preheat the oven to 350ºF (180ºC).
5. Using a grater with large holes, grate the almond paste into the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment. Add the sugar and salt and mix until the almond paste is finely broken up.
6. Add the melted butter, almond extract, and lemon zest, and continue mixing until smooth. Add the eggs one at a time, stopping the mixer and scraping down the sides of the bowl after each addition.
7. Whisk together the flour, cornstarch and baking powder in a small bowl. Turn the standmixer to slow, and spoon in the dry ingredients into the almond batter mixture. Once done, stop the standmixer, and fold in the warm, diced apples by hand.
8. Scrape the batter into the prepared pan and smooth the top. Place the sliced apples in concentric circles on top of the batter, pressing them in very lightly.
9. Bake the cake until the top is golden brown and a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean, about 1 hour for the large spring pan, and 45-50 min for the smaller one.
9. Remove the cake from the oven. Let cool, and then run a knife around the inside of the cake pan to release the cake, and remove the sides of the cake pan. Serve with cognac whipped cream or vanilla icecream.
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