Apple Poppy Seed Cake

Preheat the oven to 150°C fan (175°C top/bottom heat) and line a pan (approx. 31×31 cm) with baking paper.

Peel the apples, remove the cores, halve them and drizzle with lemon juice.

Stir the ricotta with 1 tbsp sugar and the poppy seed filling in a bowl until smooth.

Beat the soft butter with sugar, vanilla sugar, lemon zest and a pinch of salt until very fluffy.

Beat in the eggs one at a time, alternating with the cornflour (cornstarch).

Briefly stir in the natural yogurt until a homogeneous batter forms.

Mix the flour and baking powder and fold in briefly.

Spoon the batter into the prepared pan and smooth the top.

Place the apple halves cut-side up on the batter and fill the centers with the poppy-ricotta mixture.

Bake the cake for 45–50 minutes until golden and a skewer inserted comes out clean of wet batter.

Warm the apricot jam while stirring and brush the hot cake thinly with it.

Let the cake cool completely and cut into pieces.