Apple Sharlotka Cake #CakeSliceBakers

September 20, 2019

Apple Sharlotka Cake #CakeSliceBakers

Here in southern New Mexico, we are a very agricultural community. Pecans, chile, cotton, corn, and apples! There is a wonderful U-Pick Orchard 15 minutes away from my house, with lovely organically grown apples that people can come and pick for a small fee. The trees are loaded with apples, and many of the branches are low enough to the ground for kids to pick. For the past couple of years, I've taken my kiddos to pick them. When I saw an apple choice for September's Cake Slice Bake, I knew I needed to make it.

What do chickens have to do with Apple Sharlotka? Nothing! Creative staging at work :)

This year, while picking apples, we met a lovely Turkish family who were also partaking of the bounty with their children. The wife asked me about my apple pie recipe, and she told me hers--cookies filled with shredded apples and walnuts. I will definitely be trying out a recipe before my remaining apples go bad. I don't know if it would be necessarily authentic, but I think I'll add some rose water into the apple mix. I have not had many Turkish sweets, but rose-flavored Turkish delight is my bae. Stay tuned for the results of that experiment!

Apple Sharlotka is an Eastern European cake that seems to have as many variations as our apple pie. It is very popular in a part of the world with a short growing season--since apple trees tend to be pretty reliable and the fruit has a long shelf life. The name "Sharlotka" has just as many origin stories as variations of the recipe. It could be a variation of the name of an English eggy dessert called a "charlyt," a Russian riff on the famous "Charlotte Russe," or even a confection invented by a humble cook to win the love of a woman named Charlotte. Whatever the etymology, the cake seems to have been simplified during the Soviet era.

Hello Fall! Even though it is still in the 90s here, haha!

Speaking of names and roses, I think Shakespeare might have it wrong with his line, "A rose by any other name would smell as sweet." While other Sharlotka recipes I looked at called their cake's texture "airy," or "coffee cake-like," the texture of this cake was very different. The cookbook author calls it a cross between an apple cake and a Ukrainian cheesecake. I've never had Ukrainian cheesecake, but *at first* I was not a huge fan of this Apple Sharlotka. It is quite moist and dense--stodgy for a cake.

However, when I thought of it as bread pudding and not cake, I liked it a lot! Weird how changing the name put it in a different category and changed my response to it. I thumb my nose at thee, Shakespeare!

Smother it with a bourbon sauce or custard and it would be a bread pudding to rival any bread pudding I've had.

I made this wall-hanging out of an upcycled cabinet door. It's the Organ Mountains, which are my view when I look out the window every day.

So try this Apple Sharlotka with your apples this fall. Just remember it's Russian Bread Pudding :)

Apple Sharlotka Cake

(from the European Cake Cookbook by Tatyana Nesteruk)

16 oz cottage cheese
1/2 c softened butter
1 c sugar
1 tsp vanilla extract
4 eggs
1 c milk
2 c flour
4 teaspoons baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
2 peeled apples, diced
1 T cornstarch
powdered sugar (for dusting over the top)

1. Heat the oven to 335 degrees. Place a circle of parchment in the bottom of an 8-inch springform pan.
2. Put the cottage cheese in a cheesecloth and wring out as much liquid as possible. If you do this in batches it is a much easier task.
3. Cream the butter and sugar together in a mixing bowl. Add the vanilla and eggs, one at a time. Pour in the milk and mix again.
4. Sift in the flour, baking powder, and salt--only mixing until it is just combined.
5. Toss the diced apples with the cornstarch, reserving 1/2 cup for the top. Fold the remaining apples and cottage cheese into the batter.
6. Pour the batter into the springform pan, and top with the reserved apples. Bake for 1 hour and 15 minutes--until the top is set. Take it out of the oven and allow it to cool on a wire rack.
7. Sprinkle with powdered sugar and serve warm. Vanilla ice cream or custard would be a lovely addition.

Enjoy!

Each month The Cake Slice Bakers are offered a selection of cakes from the current book we are baking through. This year it is The European Cake Cookbook by Tatyana Nesteruk. We each choose one cake to bake, and then on the 20th - never before - we all post about our cake on our blogs. There are a few rules that we follow, but the most important ones are to have fun and enjoy baking & eating cakes! Follow our Facebook, Instagram, and Pinterest pages where you can find all of our cakes, as well as inspiration for many other cakes. You can also click on the thumbnail pictures below to take you to each of our cakes. If you have a blog and are interested in joining The Cake Slice Bakers and baking along with us, please send an email to thecakeslicebakers at gmail dot com for more details. The Cake Slice Bakers also have a new Facebook group called The Cake Slice Bakers and Friends. This group is perfect for those who do not have a blog but want to join in the fun and bake through this book.