Italian apple cake

Torta di mele
This time of year I am dying for other fresh fruit than oranges and fruity cakes make a worthy substitute for the real thing. You can almost make believe they are healthy.

This apple cake has a special forbidden buttery feel, because the apples are fried, before they are mixed with the dough and baked, but the amount of butter used equals what you would find in any recipe for a tart or a pie, and this version is much easier and quicker to make, because you don’t have to bother with rolling out the dough.

In other words, it is a really gorgeous cake that can be prepared with a minimum of effort.

Ingredients
4 peeled, cored and thinly sliced apples
125 g butter
3 dl flour
3 dl sugar
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp vanilla sugar
Grated skin of ½ lemon
2 eggs
Confectioners sugar

Preparation
Melt the butter over low heat
Mix flour, vanilla and baking powder with sugar and grated lemon peel in a mixing bowl and stir in 3/4s of the melted butter.
Add the eggs using an electric mixer
Fry the sliced apples in the remaining butter for 10 minutes until they are soft and almost translucent.
Fold the apples into the dought and arrange the mixture in a tall, greased oven-proof cake pan.
Bake the cake in a preheated oven (200°C/375°F) for 30-35 minutes until golden brown.
Allow the cake to cool before dusting with confectioners sugar