I never knew Mrs. Schunke, but I understand she employed my mother to clean her house when my family first came to the United States, years before I was born. The only relic I have of her role in my family's life was a stained 3x5 card with a typed recipe for apple kuchen. It was one of those 1,1,1,1 recipes so popular in the 1950's--simple ingredients and a formula that was impossible to forget. Eggs, flour, sugar, butter: make it once and the recipe would be forever imbedded in your mind. My mother would often make this cake on a summer's day, substituting peach slices or halved prune plums for the apples. It's a nice, light dessert or afternoon snack with coffee or tea, but I've also served it as a coffee cake for a weekend breakfast. This cake is best eaten the day it's made, but leftovers will keep for a day or two in a tightly-covered container at room temperature.
<br />I just realized that the old recipe card has different proportions than the card my mother shared with me...rest assured the 4 eggs make for a light, tender cake.

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