Almás Piskóta

Ingredients

• 1⅓ lbApplepeeled, coarsely grated and squeezed dry or thinly sliced
• 4eggfor the sponge batter, at room temperature
• 5¼ ozsugarbeaten with the eggs
• 6⅓ ozWheat floursifted, for the batter
• ⅓ ozbaking powdermixed into the flour
• 1 tspcinnamonground, with the apples or in the batter
• 1lemonjuice to sprinkle over the apples or zest for the batter
• 1 pinchsaltfor the beaten egg whites (optional)
• ¼ cupvegetable oilmakes the batter moister (optional)
• ⅓ cupmilkin the batter or poured hot over the baked cake (optional)
• ⅔ ozbutterfor greasing the tin
• powdered sugarfor dusting before serving
• ¾ cupwhipping creamwhipped, for decorating or serving (optional)
• 3 tbspjamapricot or plum, to spread on the sponge layers (optional)

Method

1. Heat the oven to 170–355 °F. Line a baking tray or springform tin with parchment and grease it with butter.
2. Peel and core the apples, then either grate them coarsely or cut them into thin slices.
3. Squeeze the grated apple firmly dry; if you're using slices, sprinkle them with lemon juice and dust them with cinnamon.
4. Beat the room-temperature eggs with the sugar until pale and foamy. If you prefer, separate them instead: whisk the whites with a pinch of salt until stiff and beat the yolks with the sugar until light, and fold the stiff whites in gently only after the flour.
5. Mix the sifted flour with the baking powder, adding the cinnamon here if it hasn't gone onto the apples, and fold it gently into the egg mixture. If you grate the apple, add the grated lemon zest to the batter. Add the oil and the milk, or a little warm water, if you like a moister crumb.
6. Either fold the grated apple through the batter, or spread the batter in the tin and scatter the apple slices over the top.
7. Bake for 20–35 minutes, depending on how deep the batter sits, and test with a skewer to make sure it comes out clean.
8. Let the cake cool, dust it with powdered sugar and serve with whipped cream if you wish.

Tips and variations

This cake takes to all sorts of variations: caramelise apple wedges with sugar and butter straight on the base of the tray, pour the sponge batter over and turn the cake out after baking; or pour hot milk over the cake while it's still hot, which makes it especially moist. A deep sponge can be split into layers, spread with apricot or plum jam and stacked with a cooked apple filling — the filling can be thickened with vanilla pudding powder and orange juice. It also looks handsome if you colour half the batter with cocoa, marble it in and finish the cake with whipped cream. For a lighter version, use wholemeal flour and erythritol instead of white flour and sugar and add grated lemon zest; one version adds a teaspoon of rice vinegar to the batter. Handy to know: the sponge and the filling can both be made the day before and the cake assembled the next day. Serve with chopped almonds alongside.