Apple Cake with Crackly Meringue

Ingredients

 * 10 oz all-purpose flour (about 2 cups)
 * 10½ oz sugar, (about 1½ cups)
 * pinch of salt
 * 1½ sticks unsalted cold butter, cut into small pieces
 * ¾ cup milk
 * 2 large eggs
 * 1 tsp vanilla
 * 2 tsp lemon zest
 * 1 tbsp baking powder
 * 2 large Granny Smith apples
 * 1 large egg white
 * 3 tbsp flour
 * 2 tbsp sugar

Directions

 * 1) Place a rack in the center of the oven and preheat to 375 °F.
 * 2) Grease and flour a 9-inch spring-form pan.
 * 3) In a large bowl, add salt, butter, 2 cups flour, and ½ cup sugar.
 * 4) Cut in butter with your fingers or with a pastry blender until crumbly.
 * 5) Remove 1 cup of the crumbs and press them over the bottom and about ½ inch up the sides of the spring-form pan, making a crust about ⅛ inch thick.
 * 6) Make a well in the remaining crumb mixture.
 * 7) Add the milk, eggs, vanilla, lemon zest, the remaining 3 tbsp flour, and the baking powder.
 * 8) With a whisk, blend this mixture thoroughly, without incorporating the crumbs.
 * 9) Then, with a wooden spoon stir in the crumbs until well blended but still a little lumpy.
 * 10) Core, peel and chop apples into ½ inch pieces, then fold the apples into the mixture.
 * 11) Scrape the batter into the pan.
 * 12) In a small bowl, beat the egg white until foamy.
 * 13) Beat in the remaining 2 tbsp sugar and beat until the whites barely stand in peaks.
 * 14) Spread over the top of the batter.
 * 15) Bake 65 – 75 minutes or until a knife inserted in the center comes out clean.
 * 16) Remove from the oven and cool 30 minutes on a wire rack.
 * 17) Slip off the sides of the pan and finish cooling the cake.
 * 18) Serve at room temperature.
 * 19) Covered in plastic wrap, the cake holds well at cool room temperature up to 2 days. It keeps a week in the refrigerator. Either way, warming it in the oven makes it even tastier.
 * 20) Easy to move around and heat if you leave it on the pan base (when cold, put in a cold oven on a tray, set temperature to 350 °F. Turn off oven when temperature reaches 350 °F).
 * 21) Delicious served alone, but one could add whipped cream.