Backen auf Deutsch, Part III: #89 Apfel-Cidre-Auflauf

Last week, I had the pleasure of hosting the last little book club meeting for His Dark Materials (rating: gold star). Knowing that my dear friend Meg is slightly picky when it comes to desserts, I started emailing options from 100 Kuchen to her a few days before. She's allergic to peaches and caramel. She doesn't like coffee-flavored things (except coffee milk). She doesn't like nuts or lemon. She said, "it doesn't matter! Make whatever you want!!" But I was now on a MISSION to create something delicious for her. Finally, approval went to...

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#89 Apfel-Cidre-Auflauf
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Apfel=apple
Cidre=cider
Auflauf=casserole...apparently...let's go with loaf, instead.

My best laid plans for finishing the reading, having a clean house with pumpkin spice candles lit, and baking the apple cake before they all arrived TOTALLY failed. The apartment was mostly clean, but I finished the book after Meg arrived and just as Josh did. Meg was happily recruited to assist me with the cake while Josh offered moral support. I forgot about the candles completely.

This recipe was extremely straightforward, with only "herber Cidre" tripping me up. I decided that it must be hard cider, but it could well have been spiced cider (if you know, do comment or email me!). I mostly chose hard cider because I only needed two tablespoons for the cake and it is DELICIOUS.

The apples were supposed to be whole and tiny and just shoved into the cake batter, but mine were too big, so Meg sliced them and we mooshed in the pieces:



The consensus: if the cake stinks, at least the batter itself is incredible.


Luc arrived fashionably late. We discussed Lyra, Will, and Dust while enjoying olives and wine. Soon the apartment smelled of spiced apples. Finally, it was done!



We thoroughly enjoyed it with vanilla ice cream:


Over the next few evenings, I paired it with the rest of the cider. Fabulous.

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Changes made:
~used apple slices instead of whole apples.
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Next time would:
~it was a wee bit dry...maybe add applesauce to the batter?
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Perfect for:
~FALL!!!
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P.S. if you'd ever like a recipe, I will email a translation to you!