Sometimes a simple misunderstanding can cause a whole lot of problems. Honestly if people would only take 10 minutes to sit together and talk instead of writing  e-mails, life could be so much easier. We had some troubles with a business partner and contractor and they were discussing heavily about some invoices and couldn’t agree on the sum to be payed. Everyone made a suggestion and not a single word was heard any more. My partner didn’t trust the silence and asked one of the party about the outcome of their discussion and the answer was not satisfying. After calling the other party and hearing that this person was very upset about the situation and willing to bring a legal adviser into the game, he almost freaked out. So he took over the role of a counselor and decided to bring  the two parties to one table in order to find a solution. In order to calm them down he asked me to make a cake. I decided to make my favorite apple cake with grandma’s recipe, which was very much appreciated by the receiver and -tadaa- they finally agreed after a face-2-face meeting. So let there be love, peace and cake! 

Apple cake

• 300 g flour sifted
• 100 g sugar
• 1 pinch of salt
• 200 g butter at room temperature
• 1 egg lightly beaten
• 1 kg apples (I prefer Boskopp or Braeburn)
• 1 tbsp lemon juice
• 3 tbsp sugar
• 1 tsp cinnamon
• optional 1 handful of raisins or roasted almonds (if you like)

Sift the flour into a bowl and mix with sugar and salt. Add flakes or dice of butter to the flour mixture. With my KitchenAid stand mixer I always use the flat beater attachment at the speed of  2. Then gradually add the egg and quickly work to a dough. Do not beat the pie crust too much as we don’t want any air in it. Otherwise it will form blisters and won’t look so nice.

Split the dough 1/3 and 2/3. Roll out the dough in plastic foil to rounds and chill them in the fridge for at least 30 minutes. You can also do that with your baking dish after you greased it with neutral oil.

Preheat the oven to 175°C with fan. Remove the bigger part of the dough from the fridge and roll out on a floured surface to large round. It should have the size of your tins diameter plus the height of your tin. Place the tin next to your round and carefully remove the dough from the surface, rolling it up to your rolling pin. Then place one end of the round on the edge of the tin and slowly try to push it into the tin without using too much pressure. Unroll the rest slowly and let it slide into the tin. Once the dough is in there, flatten the dough to the sides of the tin and trim the edges with a sharp knife. You can also check the pie crust part of my Tarte au citron recipe for more detailed description. Put the tin back into the fridge and roll the other round on a floured surface to the exact size of your tin. Peel and core the apples, cut them into small dice and sprinkle them with lemon juice so they do not turn brown. Mix them with sugar, cinnamon and the optional ingredients and fill your pie crust completely. Put the tin sized round on top and press the edges together. Bake for 30-40 minutes and let cool on a wire rack. When cooled sprinkle with icing sugar and enjoy with whipped cream!