Russian Apple Cake with Sour Cream

Cook the apples. Add the apples, lemon juice, water, sugar, and cinnamon to a skillet over medium-low heat. Cover with a lid and cook for 15-20 minutes or until the apples have softened. Check every 3-5 minutes and stir, making sure the apples aren’t sticking to the pan. When the apples are done, turn off the heat and transfer to a baking sheet to cool down to room temperature.
Make the apple frosting. Once the apples have cooled down, use a food processor or blender to puree the apples until smooth. Transfer the apple puree to a medium bowl and add in the sour cream, butter, and vanilla extract and mix until combined and smooth. Cover with plastic wrap and place in the refrigerator to chill.
Combine the dry ingredients with the butter. Add the flour, baking powder, butter, and sugar to a food processor and pulse until you get a crumbly texture with pea-sized bits of butter, just like when you’re making pie dough.
Cream the egg and sugar. In a separate bowl, cream the egg and sugar until smooth and paler in color then transfer the egg mixture into the flour mixture and mix or knead until a dough starts forming. The more you can keep the butter from melting the better so try to work quickly without warming up the dough too much. Form the dough into a ball, wrap in plastic wrap, and chill in the refrigerator for 30 minutes or up until 1-2 days.
Preheat the oven to 375F (190C) and line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
Make the cake layers. Remove the dough from the refrigerator, divide into 5 equal pieces and use a rolling pin to roll out each piece into an 8-inch (20 cm) disc. Lightly flour your work surface and rolling pin if the dough is sticking. The dough will come out pretty thin, it’s okay. Don’t worry about getting the edges to look even as you will trim the off later and pulse them into fine crumbs.
Bake. Poke each with a fork multiple times to keep it from puffing up in the oven. Bake the layers in batches. Place 1 or 2 layers in your prepared baking sheet and bake for 6-7 minutes or until lightly golden. The edges will brown, it’s okay. Repeat until you bake all the layers.
Trim the cake layers. Using a knife and a clean 7-inch (17-18 cm) bowl or plate as a guide, trim each cake layer into a 7-inch disc. Save the trimmings as you will need them in the next step. You’re doing this now and not before baking because you want the scraps to be baked too, if you were to trim the cake layers when still raw, you would have to bake the trimmings separately at a lower temperature.
Process the trimmings. Add the trimmings to a food processor or blender and pulse into crumbs. You will use these to decorate the sides of the cake. This is a very popular quick and easy way to decorate cakes in Russia.
Assemble the cake. Place the first layer onto your favorite cake stand or serving plate, then spoon 2-3 tablespoon of prepared apple frosting onto the center of the cake layer and use an off-set spatula to spread the frosting into an even layer. Top with another cake layer and repeat the same process until you run out of cake layers. End with a frosting layer. Use any leftover frosting to smooth out the top and the sides of the the cake, then press the reserved crumbs onto the sides of the cake. I added some extra sour cream, sliced apples, chopped walnuts, and cinnamon sticks on top but it’s totally optional.
Chill the cake. Cover the cake and chill in the refrigerator for 3-4 hours or overnight before slicing and serving. Store covered in the refrigerator for up to 3-4 days.

Russian Apple Cake with Sour Cream

Ingredients

For the Apple Frosting

For the Cake Layers

Instructions

Notes

Nutrition

Russian Apple Cake with Sour Cream

Ingredients 1x2x3x

For the Apple Frosting

For the Cake Layers

Instructions

Notes

Nutrition

Ingredients