Szarlotka (Polish Apple Cake)

Szarlotka is a traditional Polish apple cake and there are as many ways of making it as there are grandmas (and granddads!) to make them :) My grandma used to make one with a light mousse of egg whites, unfortunately, I have not found the recipe yet but once I do I will share it with the world on here :D It seriously was the best apple cake I have ever eaten! This is one is not bad either, don't get me wrong :) Here's how to make it! P.S. I apologise I don't have a photo of a slice of the cake, it was gone too quickly, but I am certain you'll all be able to imagine the delicious 3 layers of shortcrust pastry, apple filling and crumble top :)

Ingredients for a 26 cm round tin

For the shortcrust pastry:
250 g of flour
250 g of cold butter
150 g of sugar
1 egg
vanilla pod or vanilla sugar
cardamom / cinnamon
salt

For the filling: 
1.5 kg of apples
150 g of sugar
2 sticks of cinnamon
lemon
vanilla pod or vanilla sugar
bit of water

For the crumble:
100 g of butter
vanilla sugar
150  g of sugar
250 g of flour
cinnamon

Knead the butter, flour,  sugar and egg together to a shortcrust pastry and season with a scraped out vanilla pod or vanilla sugar, and cinnamon (or cardamom if you prefer) as well as a bit of salt. Wrap in cling film and leave to cool in the fridge for at least 30 minutes, an hour would be better.

For the filling peel, core and slice the apples. Place them in a sauce pan, add in the sugar, 2 sticks of cinnamon or a bit of cinnamon spice, a drizzle of lemon, the scraped out vanilla pod or more vanilla sugar and a bit of water to prevent the apples from sticking to the bottom of the pan. Turn your heat up and let them bubble away for a bit, when it all becomes mushy take out the vanilla pod and the cinnamon sticks if that is what you used for flavouring and set aside to cool.

To make the crumble, mix together the butter, sugar, flour and spices with a knife until you get the desired texture.

Roll out the shortcrust pastry thinly. Line the baking tin with baking paper or grease well. Place the pastry inside and form a 3-4 cm rim. Pour the apple filling inside and spread out evenly. Add the crumble mixture on top and bake for 50-55 minutes at 175°C. Serve with some vanilla ice cream if you'd like and enjoy :)