Dutch Apple Cake

Yesterday we celebrated DH's birthday with some friends and colleagues. I made this appeltaart (Dutch apple cake) that everyone loved. The recipe is the one my best friend Hylkia, the Apple Tart Queen, sent me (zenks, Van Meer). I have had a go at translating it - cooking language is not my forte, but I hope you will be able to understand it!

Ingredients:
Just under 2 kilograms of apples*
300 grams plain flour, sieved
200 grams cold butter, cut in cubes
150 grams caster sugar
2 eggs
juice of 1 lemon
cinnamon
raisins

Preparation:
Put flour, butter and sugar in a large bowl. Beat the eggs and add to the bowl, keeping a few tablespoons apart. Knead the dough with a firm, cold hand (as it says in Dutch cooking books) until it forms a ball. Put aside in a cold place.
Peel and core the apples, cut into small pieces, put in another bowl. Add lemon juice, a few tablespoons of sugar and a lot of cinnamon. Add some more cinnamon (these are the exact instructions of my friend Hylkia).
Preheat the oven to 175 degrees C. Grease a large springform pie dish and use 3/4 of the dough to cover the bottom and sides. Add a layer of the apple mixture, then a layer of raisins, then another layer of apple mixture etc. End with the apple mixture (if the raisins are in the top layer they will burn).
Use the rest of the dough to make a lattice topping on top of the cake. Brush with the remaining egg and place in the oven for 1 - 1,5 hours.
Traditionally, appeltaart is eaten cold with whipped cream, but it is also very yummy when it is still hot, with vanilla ice cream.
Enjoy!

* Traditionally in the Netherlands goudreinetten are used for appeltaart. I haven't been able to find these apples in Australia and use Pink Lady apples instead.



PS I generally don't like to read recipes on quilt blogs and I certainly do not intend this blog to become a food blog, but after mentioning that I was going to bake a Dutch apple cake on Facebook I had so many requests for the recipe that for just this one time I will put it here!