Gluten Free Apple Cake

This is a fairly easy recipe that comes together pretty fast once you have the apples peeled and cored. Preparing the apples is a kind of therapy for me, kind of like any other mundane food prep. Turn on your favorite music, sing a little and sneak a couple of dance moves in while no one is watching. Life doesn't get much better than that, until you see the finished product, give it a taste and share it with others. This cake turns out beautifully, with a nice crunchy top and not overly sweet flavor. Like most gluten free baked goods, it's best eaten in the first couple of days and I recommend placing the uneaten portion in the refrigerator.

Gluten Free Apple Cake

1½ pounds Granny Smith apples, peeled, cored and cut into 8 wedges, and sliced ⅛ inch thick crosswise
1 tablespoon Orange liqueur
1 teaspoon lemon juice
¾ cup, plus 2 tablespoons 1 to 1 gluten-free baking flour
¼ cup almond flour
1 cup granulated sugar
2 teaspoons baking powder
½ teaspoon salt
1 large egg plus 2 large yolks
1 cup canola oil
1 cup  buttermilk
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
2 tablespoons vanilla sugar

Place the oven rack in the lower third of the oven and set the temperature to 325 degrees. Spray a 9-inch springform pan with gluten-free cooking spray and place on a foil lined, rimmed baking sheet. (If you don't, you'll end up with a bit of a mess on the oven bottom)

Place apple slices on a microwave safe plate or pie dish, cover and microwave on high for 3 minutes, or until apples are slightly tender and pliable. Drizzle with orange liqueur and lemon juice and let cool for 15 minutes.

Place ¾ cup of gluten-free flour blend, almond flour, 1 cup of sugar, baking powder and salt in a large mixing bowl. Whisk to combine. Add one egg, oil, milk and vanilla extract and whisk until smooth. Scoop out one cup of the batter and place in another medium bowl.

Add egg yolks to the larger portion of the batter and whisk to combine. Fold in the cooled apple slices and pour mixture into the prepared pan, smoothing the top with a rubber spatula.

Whisk remaining 2 tablespoons of gluten-free flour blend into the remaining batter and smooth batter as evenly over the apple mixture in the pan as possible, taking care to spread it all the way to the edges.

Sprinkle the top with the 2 tablespoons of vanilla sugar and bake until the center of the cake is set, about 1 hour and 15 minutes.

Transfer pan to a wire rack and allow to cool for 5 minutes. Run a  plastic knife around the edge of the cake along the sides of the pan and let cool completely, about 2 hours more. Cut into wedges and serve with a scoop of vanilla ice cream.