Apfeltorte (Apple Cake)

Apfeltorte (Apple Cake)
 
 8 Small apples
 1/2 cup Raisins
 2 teaspoons Rum or rum extract
 3/4 cup Sugar; plus 3 tbsp, divided
 1 teaspoon Chocolate, grated
 3/4 cup Butter or margarine,  plus 2 teaspoons
 1 teaspoon Vanilla
 3 Eggs
 1 teaspoon Lemon extract
 1 1/4 cups All-purpose flour
 1 teaspoon Baking powder
 1/2 teaspoon Cinnamon
 3 teaspoons Almonds, ground
 Apricot jam
 Powdered sugar, sifted

Instructions:

Filling: Peel and core apples. Combine raisins, rum, 1 tablespoon of the sugar and the grated chocolate in small saucepan. Bring to boil. Set aside while preparing batter. Batter: Preheat oven to 350ºF. Lightly grease bottom of 10 1/2" springform pan. Cream 3/4 cup of the butter, 3/4 cup of the sugar and vanilla together. Beat in eggs, 1 at a time, and lemon extract, beating until light and fluffy. Sift flour, baking powder and cinnamon together. Gradually beat into creamed mixture. Turn batter into prepared pan; arrange apples on top. Fill apple centers with raisin mixture. Dot with 2 teaspoons of the butter. Bake at 350ºF. 45 minutes. Sprinkle with mixture of ground almonds and remaining 2 tablespoons sugar. Bake 10 to 15 minutes longer until apples are tender. Remove from oven. Brush jam over apple opening and sprinkle icing sugar over cake portion. From Geminis MASSIVE MealMaster collection at www.synapse.com/~gemini