Apple, Lemon Cake with Hazelnuts

This is a simple cake: moist, lemony and delicious for breakfast.



Note: Wash and dry the lemons thoroughly before grating.

Ingredients:

• 4 apples, peeled, cored and finely sliced (Golden Delicious would be the best apples to use)
• 2 eggs
• lemon zest from 2 lemons
• lemon juice from 1/2 lemon
• 1 cup ground hazelnuts or hazelnut meal/flour
• 1/2 butter, melted and cooled 
• 2/3 cup milk
• 1 vanilla bean
• 1 cup granulated sugar plus 1 Tbsp. for the top
• 1/4 cup all-purpose flour
• 1 1/2 tsp baking powder
• pinch of salt

Directions:

Preheat the oven to 350F. Grease a springform pan with extra butter.

Split the vanilla bean and scrape out the seeds, mix with the sugar. In an electric mixer beat the vanilla sugar and the eggs together until thick and light. Slowly add the milk and melted butter.

In a medium bowl mix together the hazelnut flour, all-purpose flour, baking powder and salt. Fold the flour mixture to the batter, then add lemon zest, lemon juice and three quarters of the apples.

Pour the batter into the prepared pan. Put the remaining apples over the top and sprinkle with one tablespoon of sugar.

Bake the cake for about one hour. Remove the cake from the oven and cool before serve.