Easy-peasy apple sponge cake

There are many version of Sharlotka, a Russian apple cake, I give you one I think is the easiest and never failing to work. The word Sharlotka is a bastardised version of Charlotte, but it has nothing to do with the Charlotte Russe. Maybe the original cake was made by a French cook called Charlotte (I am just fantasising aloud).

You will need
2 medium apples, preferably not too sweet
2 medium eggs
One cup of granulated sugar (170g)
One cup of plain flour (170g)
1 tsp of bicarbonate of soda
A squeeze of lemon, just enough to make all soda go in airy bubbles
1 heaped tbsp of sour cream
1 tbsp of softened butter, unsalted, plus more for greasing the spring form
Cinnamon
Vanilla essence (optional)

I should probably specify that by cup I don't mean an American measurement, as a kid, I used a mug to measure sugar and flour for this cake. If you prefer the exact amount, it is 170g.

1. Preheat the oven to 180C/355F/Gas 4.
2. Place the sugar and eggs into a bowl and whisk together. Add the bicarbonate of soda (squeeze the lemon juice on top of it while still in the spoon, once it all goes bubbly, then it is ready to be added to the eggs). Add flour, cinnamon, butter, sour cream and vanilla essence, and beat it all together with the blender.
3. Chop apples into small sized pieces. Add to the cake mix and stir well with the spoon.
4. Grease the spring form and pour the cake mix with apples into it.
5.  Bake for about 30 minutes until all golden. To check if the sponge is ready, insert a skewer into the top of the sponge, if it comes out sticky, return to the oven to cook for another five minutes.
6. Decorate with the icing sugar if you like.

Simply Food is celebrating apples this month, and I submit this recipe to their Desserts with Apples event. event runs from November 1st – 30th November.
Raven from CookEatDelicious.com is the founder of this event.