This is the third year in a row that I've made an apple-inspired cake for my mom's birthday. Two years ago it was an applesauce spice cake. The cake was dry and tasteless, and the frosting was way too sweet. Last year it was a velvet spice cake with an apple-raisin filling and seafoam icing. The icing didn't hold up and slid off the cake - even in the fridge. The filling was good but it wasn't the right consistency for a cake with icing that needed to be refrigerated.

I don't seem to have much success with cakes. They always leave something to be desired. I thought this one was going to be different. It looked and smelled so good, but it turned out to be slightly overdone and dry. I even took it out a couple minutes early.

It's surprising that my family still lets me bring dessert.

I really think this could be a great cake though. I have plenty of apples left so I'm going to give it another shot this week, with a few changes:

• Full-fat yogurt, for starters. I think that's why I haven't really liked the yogurt cakes I've made. Fat-free yogurt just doesn't have the same effect. That should help with the moisture. Substituting buttermilk would probably work well also. I love buttermilk-based cakes.
  
  
• More apples. I used four apples in this one because they were pretty small, but I still think it could use even more. I would also toss them in a little cinnamon-sugar mixture before layering them on the cake, and instead of putting all the apple slices on top, I would put half of them between two layers of batter.
  
  
• Less almond extract. I'm not a huge fan of almond extract. It tastes a bit fake and overpowering to me. I remember thinking that when I made the Honey-Almond Yogurt CakeHoney-Almond Yogurt Cake, but this recipe called for half the amount so I didn't think cutting back on it would be necessary. It might be good with 1/2 tsp vanilla extract and 1/4 tsp almond extract. Real Amaretto would be even better, but I didn't have any on hand.
  
  
• Add some spices to the batter. Some cinnamon, a pinch of cloves, a sprinkling of nutmeg. Nutmeg makes everything better.
  
  
• Adjust the baking time. One hour was way too long. The bottom and sides of the cake got too dark and tough. Maybe 45 minutes would do it.

Original recipe, from Dragon's Kitchen

1 1/2 cups all purpose flour
3/4 cup granulated sugar
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt
2 eggs
2/3 cup plain yogurt
1/4 cup butter, melted
1/2 tsp almond extract
3 apples, peeled and thinly sliced
1/4 cup almonds, sliced
3 tbsp granulated sugar
3/4 tsp cinnamon

Preheat oven to 350°F. Butter and flour a 9 inch springform pan.

In a bowl, stir together flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda and salt. In a separate bowl, beat eggs. Add yogurt, butter and almond extract. Stir wet ingredients into the flour mixture just until combined. Pour batter into prepared pan. Arrange apples over the batter.

For the topping; combine almonds, sugar and cinnamon. Sprinkle the topping over apples. Bake for 1 hour or until cake tester inserted in the center comes out clean.