Mrs. Vollmer's German Apple Cake

This comes from the St. David's School Cookbook (1974) and I have been making it now for thirty years. It's wonderful for parties; it's very elegant and rich, and really extraordinarily delicious. The pastry--which is really like shortbread--is good enough to eat by itself; the combination makes for a great dessert. It is rich enough that it doesn't need whipped cream (though I wouldn't stop anyone from adding some).

• Ready In: 1 hr 30 mins
• Serves: 12-16

Ingredients

• Crust

• 1  lb sweet butter, softened
• 1  cup granulated sugar
• 4  egg yolks
• 1  teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1⁄4 teaspoon salt
• 4 -5  cups unbleached white flour

• Filling

• 5  lbs apples (I recommend a combination of Granny Smith and Mackintosh)
• 8  ounces  apricot jam
• 1⁄2 cup fresh lemon juice
• 2  teaspoons cinnamon
• 1  cup sugar
• 1⁄2 cup  slivered almonds (optional)

Directions

1. For the crust:
2. Blend the softened butter with the sugar thoroughly.
3. When creamy, add egg yolks vanilla and salt.
4. Mix well.
5. Blend in flour gradually, mixing lightly by hand until a homogenous mass.
6. Pat dough into a 12" rectangular pyrex baking dish until it is evenly distributed over the bottom and part way up the sides.
7. For the filling:
8. Peel and core apples and slice them into fairly thin slices.
9. Sprinkle the slices with lemon juice, cinnamon and sugar as you go, placing them into a bowl, until all the apples are sliced.
10. Warm the jam.
11. If it is in a glass jar, loosen the lid and place the jar in a small pot of water, with the water coming half way up the side of jar.
12. Simmer over low heat until jam is soft.
13. Spread half the jam on the surface of the crust, and then place the apples, slightly overlapping, in as many rows as the bottom will take.
14. If you are using Mackintosh apples, they will shrink more and tend to break.
15. Keep your prettiest slices for the top, and arrange them attractively.
16. Using a pastry brush, spread the rest of the jam across the the top of the cake.
17. Sprinkle the top with almonds (I always leave this out unless I'm making it for a certain person).
18. Bake in a 350° oven for about an hour, until crust and apples are golden.