Bolzano Apple Cake

I was out blog-walking one morning and stopped by Alexandra's Kitchen where I tasted this recipe with my eyes and just knew I had to try it!

It was a bit chilly here in HAVRE, MONTANA today, so I thought it'd be a good idea to bake something in my new oven. My gardener bought it for me, and he is gonna get double smooches tonight for that, let me tell you!

The stove has five burners... one for simmer, one for big time pans and three for regular cookin', doncha know. (Have you ever watched the movie, Fargo... it's hilarious!)

Alexandra also has an Orange and Olive Oil Cake that I'm freakin' dyin' to make, but first I have to place an order with Temecula Olive Oil Company for a bottle of their Citrus Reserve Olive Oil-Late Harvest (and a few other items... you'll know what I mean when you visit their site).

But for now... back to the Bolzano Apple Cake.

From what I gather, this recipe was published in the New York Times and when The Chefs of America (that's you and me, folks) tested this recipe they found that something was just a little bit off. So, The Times ran a correction , and presumably, (I like that word today, don't you?) that's the one to go with.

So, use it if you must...but I hafta tell you that my version turned out super-delicioso... but do what feels good... after all, the U.S. of A. is still a free country. Yay!

This cake, presumably, is named for the use of the olive oil in the recipe from Balzano, Italy? I'm guessing here, but it sounds right, eh?
Okay, let's get started. Spray a 9" cake pan with cooking spray. Cut a piece of parchment for the bottom, put it in the pan and then spray the parchment. I put a couplaeggs and 1/2 cup sugar into the mixer and set it on low. I slowly added the rest of the sugar and mixed until thick.

I took out a loan at my favorite bank and bought some vanilla beans. I scraped the seeds and put them into the butter/sugar mixture.

I melted a stick of butter (that's 4 ounces) and set it aside. The vanilla pod went into the melted butter.

I peeled four small Gala apples...

... then thinly sliced the apple pieces.

Remove the vanilla pod from the butter and toss it. Stir the butter into the sugar/egg mixture. Look at that batter... doncha just want to hop right in there?? You can see the vanilla seeds in the batter!

I combined the flour, salt, and baking powder, then mixed that into the batter, alternating with the heavy cream.

I added the apple slices and stirred them in by hand, making sure each apple slice was is coated with the yummy, gooey batter I just created.

The recipe said to "pour" the batter into the pan. This batter was so thick of everything good, I pretty much "placed" it in the pan. (This might have had something to do with using heavy cream instead of milk, which the recipe called for.)

The recipe says to bake for 25 minutes at 350 then rotate the pan (I didn't) and bake for another 30 minutes until the cake pulls away and is brown on top.

Cool for 30 minutes (if you can wait that long) then cut into wedges. Sprinkle with powdered sugar (if you can wait that long).

This cake is SO good. I offered my gardener a slice and he loved it. The eggs and cream make a light, but rich, custard that surrounds the apple slices and just melts in your mouth.

I knew I didn't want this cake hanging around because I'd eat the whole thing... so my gardener took half of it over to the Havre Relatives... there's no sense in them being the only skinny ones around.