German apple cake, frenchified - Test 2

http://allrecipes.com/recipe/7915/german-apple-cake-i/?internalSource=recipe%20hub&referringId=631&referringContentType=recipe%20hub

1 - I've made several changes to the original recipe, and I'm looking forward to tasting the results! The dough, indeed, is quite stiff.

The cake was delicious, very much like a coffee cake. The apple, however, was not very decorative. It shrank and left an unattractive depression in the cake and the apple flesh was a weird beige lump in the depression. Next time I will mix the apple into the batter.

Also, the cake was difficult to get out. I've added instructions on how to prevent sticking (hopefully it will work).

2 - Again, delicious, and the changes I made worked beautifully! 

3 - As I use food that is available I change my approach to cooking. I am moving away from vague references to size (what is a medium apple?) and veering towards mass (mostly in grams) because, well, we have a wild apple tree and the apples are all sizes, and I want to know how many I need to make the recipe. I may eventually make my way to doing away with all measurement tools except for my hands. But not quite yet.

I am also trying different spices, moving away from cinnamon. Someone complained about cinnamon being used everywhere, and while I don't usually take to criticising food, it did make me think that diversifying options for flavoring would be fun to explore. I've started saving suggestions for potential pairings, starting with apple and this recipe.

2 eggs
1 cup vegetable oil melted butter
2 1 cups white sugar
2 tsps ground cinnamon or Poudre Douce
1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp vanilla extract

1 tsp baking soda
2 cups all-purpose flour
4 cups medium apples (350gr) peeled, cored and diced

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Grease and flour one 9x13 inch bundt cake pan with vegetable oil, clarified butter (ghee) or lard, not butter - the milk solids in butter will act like glue and make your cake stick. Powder with a bit of flour for even coverage everywhere and tap out any excess.
2. In a mixing bowl whisk together the beat oil eggs and butter until creamy. Add the sugar, cinnamon, salt and the vanilla and beat well.
3. With the mixer on slow or gently by hand, a wooden spoon, beat add in the baking soda and flour and mix only until combined. The batter will be very thick. 
4. Mix in the diced apple until evenly distributed. It will look lumpy and messy, but don't worry, the batter will puff up and even out while baking. To slice the apples, cut first in half, then in quarters to remove the core. Keep the apple form together and slice into 1/8" slices. Keeping the apple form together, set cut-side down on the bottom of the bundt pan until the apples cover the bottom of the pan. Pour the batter over this decorative apple layer in globs to try and cover the apples while not disturbing their position. Any extra apple pieces can be pressed into the batter. Fold in the apples by hand using a wooden spoon. Spread batter into the prepared pan.
5. Bake at 350 degrees F (175 degrees C) for 45 minutes or until cake tests done. Let cake cool for about 10 minutes before inverting it on a wire rack. If the cake doesn't pop out, just leave it like this and it should come out once it has cooled a bit more and shrunk. Once cake is cool, turn out of the pan and serve with a dusting of confectioners' sugar or with a cream cheese frosting.