Passover Apple Cake

Reprinted with permission from Claire Sauerhoff.

• Servings: Makes 1 9 x 13 cake.

After winning a national brownie competition, New Yorker Claire Sauerhoff opened The Exceptional Brownie, a kosher bakery.  While the bakery is no longer in business, we can still make her popular apple cake which is both delicious and kosher for Passover. 

Whether you use a disposable aluminum pan to keep the recipe kosher for Passover, or a conventional glass baking dish, only fill it to below the edge because you need room for the layer of apples that will be placed on top and also for the cake to rise.  If you have leftover batter you can bake it in a separate little cake pan, perhaps to save for breakfast.

Ingredients

• 3/4 cup cake meal
• 3/4 cup potato starch
• 2 1/3 cups sugar
• 5 eggs, separated
• 1 cup orange juice
• 2 tablespoons grated orange rind
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 3 or 4 apples, peeled, cored and sliced thin (Granny Smiths are a good choice)
• 2 teaspoons cinnamon

Directions

1. Preheat the over to 325° F.
2. Sift matzo cake meal and potato starch together in a large mixing bowl.
3. Add 1 1/2 cups of the sugar.
4. Make a well in the center and add the egg yolks, orange juice and rind.
5. Beat until smooth.
6. In a separate bowl, beat the egg whites with salt until stiff but not dry. Gradually beat in 1/2 cup of sugar and continue beating until stiff. Fold into the batter.
7. Turn into a greased 13 x 9 x 2 inch pan, filling to about 1/2-inch below the rim. Do not over-fill.
8. Arrange the apple slices on top of the cake batter, slightly overlapping in five or six rows.
9. Mix the remaining 1/3 cup of sugar with the cinnamon and sprinkle on top of the cake.
10. Bake approximately 1 hour to 1 hour and 15 minutes or until a cake tester comes out clean.

Let cool completely before cutting.