Apple Sharlotka

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It's quite interesting when American woman makes Russian Jewish food. I'm one of the greatest fans of Deb Perelman cooking blog and deeply admire her how she learned Russian (Soviet) recipes from her mother-in-law. For many of you, her name does not say anything. For me it does say a lot. Everything began with a short article on npr website. Then I tried a couple of her recipes, then I introduced my Russian readers to her recipes. Now I follow her blog and look forward for her first cooking book.

Working on my article for Russian newspapers, I decided to test one of the Deb's Russian recipes. Here it is:
Apple Sharlotka

Adapted from Alex’s mother, who adapted it from her mother, and so on…
Butter or nonstick spray, for greasing pan
6 large, tart apples, such as Granny Smiths
3 large eggs
1 cup (200 grams) granulated sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 cup (125 grams) all-purpose flour
Ground cinnamon, to finish
Powdered sugar, also to finish
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line the bottom of a 9-inch springform pan with parchment paper. Butter the paper and the sides of the pan. Peel, halve and core your apples, then chop them into medium-sized chunks. (I cut each half into four “strips” then sliced them fairly thinly — about 1/4-inch — in the other direction.) Pile the cut apples directly in the prepared pan. Meanwhile, in a large bowl, using an electric mixer or whisk, beat eggs with sugar until thick and ribbons form on the surface of the beaten eggs. Beat in vanilla, then stir in flour with a spoon until just combined. The batter will be very thick.
Pour over apples in pan, using a spoon or spatula to spread the batter so that it covers all exposed apples. (Updated to clarify: Spread the batter and press it down into the apple pile. The top of the batter should end up level with the top of the apples.) Bake in preheated oven for 55 to 60 minutes, or until a tester comes out free of batter. Cool in pan for 10 minutes on rack, then flip out onto another rack, peel off the parchment paper, and flip it back onto a serving platter. Dust lightly with ground cinnamon.
Serve warm or cooled, dusted with powdered sugar. Alex’s family eats it plain, but imagine it would be delicious with a dollop of barely sweetened whipped or sour cream.
I decided to enhance the recipe with a lemon zest and lemon juice. So, I added 1 lemon. Before beating sigar with eggs, I mixed the sugar and zest in a medium bowl and rub the ingredients together until the sugar is fragrant. In the end, I added a lemon juice.