Jewish Apple Cake - Testing

https://www.allrecipes.com/recipe/7969/jewish-apple-cake-i/

https://www.askchefdennis.com/jewish-apple-cake/

1 - It was so beautiful! Until I removed it from its mold and realized the middle wasn't cooked at all! I should use a long wooden skewer to check next time. It was good, but I tried substituting the orange juice and zest with lemon and lime and it was a very harsh flavour and not pleasant to my palate.

2 - Success! I used mandarin oranges and I baked the cake for 90 minutes, then turned off the oven and left it for another 15. I really don't know why it didn't bake last time. Anyway, it was perfectly done, and the milder mandarin flavor was much better. Next time, I'll use half the sugar because it seemed too sweet to me, leaving that slightly sour aftertaste of too much sweet. The mystery currently is why the apples seemed to all float up to the top of the cake while baking...

3 5 apples - peeled, cored and sliced (70-100 gr per apple or 350 - 500 gr of apple))

Cinnamon sugar (2 tsps ground cinnamon + 5 tsps white sugar)

3 cups all-purpose flour

1 tsp salt

1 Tbsp baking powder

2 1 cup sugar

1 cup vegetable oil

4 eggs, beaten

¼ cup orange juice

1 Tbsp orange zest

2 tsps vanilla extract

1. Preheat oven to 350F. Grease and flour one 10 inch tube pan. 
2. Combine the ground cinnamon and the 5 tsps of sugar together and set aside.
3. Prepare the apples, then toss together with the cinnamon sugar and set aside while make the batter.
4. In a large mixing bowl, combine the flour, salt, baking powder and 2 cups of the sugar. Stir in the vegetable oil, beaten eggs, orange juice, zest and vanilla. Mix well.
5. Pour a quarter of the batter in a thin layer at the bottom of the pan, then a third of the apples. Pour another layer of batter, don't worry if the apples in the lower layer show through, and NOTE that the batter is quite thick, don't worry about making it look neat. Repeat the operation a third time and top with the remaining batter.
6. Pour 1/2 of the batter into the prepared pan. Top with 1/2 of the sliced apples and sprinkle with 1/2 of the cinnamon sugar mixture. Pour the remaining batter over the top and layer the remaining sliced apples and cinnamon sugar.
7. Bake at 350F for 70 to 90 minutes. Check with a long wooden skewer than the middle is cooked.
8. Allow to cool for about 15 minutes - if the cake is too hot it may break apart. If it's too cold it may stick to the pan.