APPLE – CHEESE – CAKE

(APFEL – KÄSE – KUCHEN)

Cake:

1  2/3   cups flour

1          teaspoon baking powder

    1/3   cup sugar

1          stick (8 tablespoons) butter or margarine

1          large egg

1          teaspoon vanilla extract

Filling:

3          large eggs

1          cup sugar

22        oz. ricotta cheese

1          lemon

    1/3   cup flour

2          apples (1 lb.)

            dash of salt

Cake:

Lay flour on a board or countertop and sprinkle with baking powder and sugar.  Make a well and drop in the egg and vanilla extract.  Cut the butter or margarine in slices over the top.  Knead into a smooth dough.  Roll out and line a greased springform pan (10” X 3”) with it making sure the dough is halfway up the sides (approximately 1 1/4").  Set aside.

Filling:

Separate eggs and beat the egg whites with a dash of salt until stiff.  Place in the refrigerator.  Beat the egg yolks with sugar until creamy, add ricotta cheese and grate the rind of the lemon over it.  Add the flour and beat until mixed well.  Peel apples, quarter them, remove the core and cut into thin slices.  Stir in the cheese mixture, fold the stiff egg whites into it and then spread evenly onto the cake dough.  Bake in a preheated oven at 330° for 60-70 minutes until the edge of the cake is golden.  After baking let the cake sit in the pan for ten minutes.  Loosen the edge with a knife and let it cool in the pan for 1 hour.  (Optional:  sprinkle 1 tablespoon powdered sugar over the top.)

Makes 1 cake