Dairy-free apple cake

My boyfriend's brother lives on the family farm where a very big apple tree looks out over the fields and every year we climb into it to help with the harvest. Because of the hot summer the apples had ripened quicker than usual this year, and when we arrived to fill some crates, the tree had already rolled out a carpet of fallen apples for us. Fortunately, there were plenty left in the top, were the sun gives them an extra nice golden-red colour, typical of the Belle de Boskoop (in Dutch: Goudreinet). It was a dangerous task, for the apples were so ripe they could fall at the slightest touch. When I got one of the very biggest right on my head while standing on the ground, I decided that it would be safer sitting on the highest branches of the tree, for if the apples would fall, it wouldn't hurt so much. So I spent a couple of hours in there, sitting uncomfortably, swearing every time some of the most beautiful apples slipped out of my hands and landed a couple of meters below. My boyfriend and I filled so many crates we were immensly satisfied! Belle the Boskoop is a tart apple, perfect for jams or bakes such as apple cake. It can be stored for a very long time and the longer you wait, the sweeter it gets. This orginally Jewish recipe I got from my mother, who found it somewhere on the Internet a very long time ago. It is quite a lot of work to peel and slice all the apples that are needed for this cake, but the result is simply delicious and the steps are very easy. If you don't have Belle de Boskoop, you could use another tart apple variety. Ingredients for 1 big cake For the apple mixture: - 1,2kg Belle de Boskoop, peeled and thinly sliced - 3 tbsp sugar - 3 tsp cinnamon - zest and juice from 1 organic lemon For the batter: - 250g wholemeal flour - 2,5 tsp baking powder (or cream of tartar) - 4 organic eggs - 150g dark brown caster sugar - 1 tsp of cardamom - 1 tsp of ground ginger - 150mL sunflower oil Preheat the oven at 180 degrees Celsius. Grease a cake tin of 24cm and cover it with a thin veil of flour. Put the sliced apples in a big bowl and add the ground cinnamon, sugar, lemon zest and juice. Mix well at set aside. Mix all the dry ingredients (baking powder, wholemeal flour and spices) in a bowl. Break the eggs in another bowl, add the caster sugar and beat together until the mixture is light and frothy (about 5 minutes). I used a mixer, medium power. Add sunflower oil and mix again, shortly. Add the mixture of dry ingredients and gently stir using a spatula, until your batter is smooth and slightly elastic. Pour one half of the batter in the cake tin (make sure you spred it out evenly) and cover it with half of the apple mixture. Then cover with the remaining batter, which should be well-spread over the previous layer. Finish with the remaining apples. You could do it carelessly like I did, or arrange the apple slices in a spiral. Strew some sugar over the dish and bake in the oven for 1,25 to 1,5 hour. If you notice the top is darkening to quickly, cover with a sheet of aluminium foil. To check whether the cake is done, you should insert a skewer in the centre and if it comes out clean, then you're done! Enjoy!