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Moist Whole Wheat Sharlotka (Apple Cake)
Sharlotka is a delicious Russian apple cake that works well for breakfast, snack, or as dessert. It can be served alone or with ice cream, creme anglaise, or whipped cream. The thin slices of granny smith apples create bursts of tart flavor throughout the aromatic rouge de bordeaux cake. Sharlotka is a sponge cake, so frothy beaten eggs do the leavening and it is moist and tender even though there is no oil or butter in the batter. Our whole wheat sharlotka combines elements of the recipes of Food & Wine, Smitten Kitchen, and Natasha’s Kitchen. The sugar amount is reduced compared with these recipes, but if you choose a sweeter apple variety or a flour that reads sweeter, such as emmer or einkorn; you could drop the sugar by another 10-20 grams.
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Layers of tart apple
Tips for a Fluffy Cake
The most time consuming part of making this cake is peeling and thinly slicing the apples, but it’s worth it in my opinion. Each 1/8 apple wedge is peeled and further cut into four slices. These thin apple slices float in the foamy batter and resist sinking to the bottom of the cake.
The batter for this cake is merengue-like. You’ll beat the eggs, slowly add the sugar and almond extract, and keep beating until when you lift the whisk, the foamy batter makes ribbons (see pic below). This takes 7-8 minutes and adds a lot of air into the batter.
Make sure your nine-inch springform pan is prepped and your oven is preheating before you fold in the dry ingredients and apples. You want to minimize the time the bubbles can pop or apples can sink down before the cake hits the oven heat. Use a spatula to gently fold in the dry ingredients followed by the apple slices, reserving about one cup to lay on top of the batter. This ensures you’ll have tart apple flavor at the top of each slice of cake — and it’s pretty!
Moist Whole Wheat Sharlotka (Apple Cake)
Sharlotka is a moist and fluffy Russian apple cake that is leavened with beaten eggs. In this variation, tart granny smith apples are paired with aromatic rouge de bordeaux flour. Serve the cake warm as is or with ice cream, creme anglaise, or whipped cream. Other flours and apple varieties work well too, but try this combination if you can.
Ingredients
Instructions
Shopping List
Rouge de Bordeaux Whole Grain Flour
Heirloom Rouge de Bordeaux Wheat Berries
Magnetic Measuring Spoons
$17.00Stainless Steel Measuring Cup Set (4 pc)
$22.00$14.95Flour Duster
Skinny Spatula
Parchment Paper Sheets — 200 Sheets
$19.00Breadtopia’s Choice Kitchen Scale
$18.00Moist Whole Wheat Sharlotka (Apple Cake)