Remembering Nana's Apple Sour Cream Kuchen

A while back I picked up some pristine, perfectly-rounded small apples at the farmers market -- Ginger Gold, if memory serves. They shimmered with flecks of green and gold, and just a dab of pink blush.

For some reason, I immediately thought of Nana's Sour Cream Apple Kuchen. I hadn't tasted it in years, but the sweet memory was still vivid - buttery apples, dusted with cinnamon and arranged in a mosaic atop molten yellow cake.

Perhaps it was their perfect shape, but I could easily picture those apples sliced into perfect half moons, radiantly adorning the top of one of Nana's celestial kuchens.


Now I'm certain Nana – who passed eight years ago – probably never tasted a Ginger Gold apple. But she had an eye for perfect slices, and her Apple Kuchen, neatly arranged in a 9-by-13 baking pan, was present at many family gatherings. Ask my brothers or cousins – they’re certain to remember it.

Returning to my desk, I call Mom. Do you have the recipe for Nana’s Apple Kuchen? No?? Astonishing, since hoarding recipes has proven to be a genetic trait.

I search the Internet for kuchen recipes, but they seem complicated and some even require yeast. Not likely - Nana was good, but scratch baking was usually reserved for cookies. And, I didn’t remember yeast in the kuchen. It was more a homey, easy-to-prepare recipe, with love as the main ingredient.

Then Mom calls me back – she’s located a recipe in one of her newer cookbooks that might come close. It sounds right, so I give it a try. My little mandolin slices those Ginger Gold apples into paper-thin crescents. And the aroma? I am ten years old again.

I take the Apple Sour Cream Kuchen to the office, where Zany, Mad Me-Shell and the boss dig in. It’s a little like sharing the vivacious spirit of Nana, even today.

Here’s the recipe if you’d like to give it a try. Don’t judge me for using a box cake mix. The taste is absolutely what I remember, and I think Nana would have approved. Overall, I think she was a believer in the end result of baking, and not a stickler about the process.

Apple Sour Cream Kuchen

(Adapted from The Cake Mix Doctor by Anne Byrn ©1999)

Butter for the pan
1 package (18.25) plain yellow cake mix
1 cup sour cream
8 tablespoon butter (1 stick) melted
1 large egg
3 cups peeled, sliced cooking apples
1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice
½ cup sugar
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease a 13 by 9 inch baking pan with butter.
Place cake mix, sour cream, 4 tablespoons melted butter and the egg in a large mixing bowl. Blend with mixer on low until the dough just comes together. Press dough evenly over the bottom of the pan, pressing up the sides. Bake in oven for 10 minutes.

Toss apples with lemon juice in a large mixing bowl. Place sugar and cinnamon in a small bowl and stir until combined. Remove cake from oven, but leave oven on.

Arrange apple slices in rows across the top of the warm cake. Sprinkle sugar mixture over apples. Drizzle remaining 4 tablespoons of melted butter over the sugar mixture. Return the pan to the oven and bake until golden brown, about 30 to 32 minutes. Cool on wire rack for 20 minutes.

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