The Apple Cake

Here I go again dreaming, here I go again.
Having a good time baby, wish you were here.
Thinking about you baby, it feels like you're near,
And you can't do a thing, to stop me...
(Chris Isaak, Can't Do a Thing To Stop Me)


Sometimes things happen that distract you, you don't see that yet another year is slipping away, nor the 78 blog-free days that are going with it. But sometimes other things happen that put you back on track. Like an apple cake, the Christmas tree, Lucio Battisti, or some birthday wishes.

It was my first cake ever, we were 9 or 10 year old, messing around in the kitchen during summer afternoons, we had the same dreams about our future, but different ideas on boiled rice.
It's one of those memories we must go back to, the kind that makes you feel good right away, a long hug, welcoming and delicious.

And in the end it doesn't matter whether or not it's been the first that ever came out of your oven: apples, cinnamon and sugar, and eternal gratitude to the apple cake.

Apple Cake
for a round cake pan of 9" diameter

butter, room temperature 125 gr
sugar 125 gr
vanilla 1 teaspoon
eggs 2
lemons 2
flour 200 gr
corn starch 50 gr
baking powder 6 gr (2 teaspoons)
salt a pinch
milk (or buttermilk) as needed
apples, medium size 3
sugar, cinnamon, powdered sugar as needed

Beat butter until creamy and gradually add sugar, vanilla, eggs, grated rind and juice of one lemon, and salt. Sift together flour, baking powder and corn starch, then gradually add them to the butter mixture. Add a little bit of milk (buttermilk for me... sorry but my foodblogger soul and the need for tenderness forced me to make a change on the original), until the batter is soft enough (about half a glass).
Peel the apples and cut them into wedges. Line them with a fork, and mix them with sugar, cinnamon and lemon juice.
Pour the batter into the baking pan, previously greased and floured, and arrange the apple slices on top.
Bake at 360 for about 45 minutes until a toothpick inserted in the middle comes out clean. Let the cake cool off on a wire rack and serve dusting it with powdered sugar.