Apfel Kuchen @ Frau Stadler

I first read about Kuchen in my German lessons. But at that time, my knowledge was confined to the translation cake=kuchen. Actually, Kuchen is much harder than our normal cakes, with a pie like outer covering & stuffing inside. It was only after I started going to the carnival at the German Embassy that I began to flirt with Kuchen, torte, Kartoffelpuree, Spatzle etc. But the carnival doesn’t happen every day & I haven’t been able to find a good affordable German eatery near my place.

Knowing my love for food & calories, God acted kind. I got married into a family where one of our close relatives is German. So, this time when I visited them, I raided their kitchen & expressed so much love for their cuisine that Mausi happily ordered 2 Kg apples & made not 1 but 2 Apfel Kuchens that I even got to carry to my Hostel!

So, here’s recipe for Apfel kuchen that I got to savor at Mausi’s place –

For the kuchen, you will require (this is a recipe for 2 cakes)

Apples – 2 Kg

Cinnamon (goes really well with any apple dish) – as per your taste

Baking Powder – 1 tsp

Sugar – to taste

Refined Flour (maida) – 1 kg

White unsalted butter – 300g

Cream /milk – to knead the dough

Method –

Sieve the refined flour & baking powder together. Then, add the unsalted butter & knead a stiff dough using milk/cream. Once the dough is done, rest it under a moist cloth for 15-20 min. This time can be utilized to prepare the filing.

It’s not the best thing to peel & slice 2Kg apples, but enthusiasm makes everything possible! Anyway, once the apples are done (slices shouldn’t be too thin), add sugar to taste & generous amount of cinnamon and mix it well.

The stuffing

The apples go inside

Then, grease a cake mould, dust it and line it with a thick rolled sheet of the dough, covering even the sides. Then fill the stuffing inside & sprinkle few dumplings of the dough on top.

All set to be baked

The cake is all set to through the grill, oops, bake! Their oven was a 2^nd generation gas oven (I doubted its capabilities, till I saw the perfect cake baked). But you can use a normal preheated oven at 350⁰F. Bake the cake for approximately 30-45 minutes. 

The Oven

Once the cake was out, all of us started behaving like kids, ready to pounce on the cake. The aroma of freshly cooked apples with cinnamon….Oooh, you have to experience it to understand.

So, I suggest you try out this one & lemme know!

Kuchen is ready!

Another thing, unlike our usual cakes that become hard with time, Apfel Kuchen tastes best when eaten a day after!

Tempting

Bon Appetit!