Invisible cake

I have been intrigued by this apple cake on Instagram for the last year called thousand layer apple cake or French invisible apple cake. But can you really call it a cake? Although I have seen some recipes using baking powder or self-rising flour, most of the recipes don’t use any leavener. It is basically very thin apples encased in a crepe-like batter. The apples melt in your mouth and the cake disappears faster than you can make it, hence the name. It has custard-like texture like Clafouti. Some people finish with apricot glaze when it comes out of the oven or sprinkle almonds on top before baking. I chose to do both except I sprinkled the almonds on the glaze after baking. You can use granulated or caster sugar and I have both so I used the finer caster sugar. Some recipes used orange and some used lemon; I rarely have oranges in my fridge so I went with lemon—plus I wanted to glaze with my Meyer lemon marmalade. Some had cinnamon and some nutmeg while others used both. I like nutmeg with my apple desserts. I made the batter first so the apples wouldn’t brown. You can eat it as is or with ice cream or whipped cream. I had some caramel in a jar, which I melted and drizzled over my ice cream. Serve it warm or room temperature, but not fridge cold.

French invisible apple cake
3 eggs

2/3 cup granulated or caster sugar, sifted

1 teaspoon vanilla

2 tablespoons melted butter

1/2 cup milk

1 cup all-purpose flour, sifted

3/4 teaspoon kosher salt

1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg

2 1/4 lbs. apples, peeled, about 5 large

1 lemon, zest and juice

2 tablespoons marmalade or apricot jelly

1/4 cup toasted sliced almonds

Icing sugar

Preheat oven to 375°F. Butter or spray a 9×5 loaf pan and line bottom with parchment paper. In a large bowl, cream together eggs, sugar and vanilla by hand or use an electric mixer, until light and foamy, about 5 minutes. Stir in butter and milk until incorporated. Add flour, salt, and nutmeg and whisk until smooth. Thinly slice apples using a mandoline and mix with zest and juice of lemon. Add apples and fold in until completely coated with batter. Put 1/3 of apple mixture in prepared pan and push down to evenly distribute. Repeat twice more and scrape any remaining batter from bowl. Smooth top so filling is even and smooth. Bake for an hour until top is golden and toothpick inserted in middle comes out smooth and apples are very tender. Rotate pan halfway while baking. Remove from oven and let cool for 5 minutes. Spread marmalade on top and sprinkle with almonds. Let cool completely before removing from pan. Finish with icing sugar sprinkled on top.

Makes 8-10 servings.