As I said on my Facebook page, the last couple of days have been pretty hard for our family. We celebrated my dear sweet mother-in-law’s 67th birthday yesterday, and today we celebrated the four year anniversary of her leaving us. I decided to show my love for her through something she loved so much and loved to share with her kids and everyone around her… Food.
Photo Courtesy of Aleta Sanford
I can’t remember a time (up until the very last) when she wasn’t in the kitchen, whipping up something fabulous. Whether it was one of the many yummy desserts she made or a pot of her famous potato soup, she loved cooking. She even made my wedding cake (and the other three cakes we had)!
She was an amazing woman. She danced in the ballet prior to having kids. She traveled all over Europe and then landed in the US to raise my wonderful sister-in-law and my terrific husband.
Photo Courtesy of Aleta Sanford
And she loved her grandbabies. Absolutely adored the ground they walked on. And they loved their BooGoo. Loved everything about her and still do.
Photo Courtesy of Aleta Sanford
Anyways. I’m going to get pigfaced here before I even begin.
One of the first German foods my mother-in-law made me was her Apple Cake (or Apfelkuchen). I am not a big apple fan. I just never really liked apples. I’m a weirdo, ok?
OK Get all your ingredients together and preheat your oven to 350 degrees. Grease up a spring form pan and put it on a cookie sheet with sides. Trust me, you’ll need that pan.
You’ll also need a couple of key ingredients. One is Dr. Oetker’s Vanilla Sugar, which you can get on Amazon.com and you’ll also need what the recipe calls Lemon Essence. You can get it at Amazon.com also, but I found that a very SMALL amount of lemon extract will do the same.
Beat your margarine (mutti always used margarine in recipes, never butter) and sugars until combined and fluffy.
Scrape the sides of the bowl and add your eggs, one at a time and beat on medium speed for 30 seconds after each addition. Also add your lemon essence or extract.
OM NOM NOM
Add your flour, alternating with milk.
Ahhh my good ole mixer and me.
And beat a little more.
Pour your batter into the prepared pan and glory in its wonderfulness.
Get your apples ready. Or peel one and then have your hubs push you outta the way to finish them “The right way”.
He’s so damned cute. What you can’t see is that his tongue is sticking out lol.
Fan out the apples in a decorative fashion, or just push them in wherever. Doesn’t really matter. Well it would to my mother-in-law lol.
Melt some butter and stare at it longingly.
Then pour it over the batter and apples. EHRMERGERD.
Put it in the oven. And wait. The waiting is horrible. Because soon your house will be filled with apple-y goodness and your mouth will start watering.
Take the cake out of the oven and pop the ring. Let cool (or serve warm, it doesn’t matter)
Cut it into wedges and sprinkle with powdered sugar and consume mass quantities.
This is seriously the most fabulous cake ever. Serve it with a good cup of German coffee and enjoy.
Please let me know if you try this recipe. It would mean a lot!
Recipe
Apple Cake
Topping
1/2 c butter or margarine
3 cups apples, peeled, cored and sliced
Cake
2 sticks butter or margarine
1 c Sugar
1 pinch salt
1 pkg Vanilla Sugar
2-3 drops lemon essence or extract
3 eggs
2 c Flour
2 tsp baking powder
3-4 tsp milk
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease spring form pan and place on cookie sheet.
Beat softened margarine. Add sugar, vanilla sugar, salt and lemon extract. Add one egg at a time, beating for 30 seconds after each egg.
Add dry ingredients to liquid ingredients alternating milk and flour until all is combined.
Spoon into pan, arrange sliced apples on top and pour over melted margarine.
Bake 45 minutes until golden brown.
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