Overnight Apple Cake

4 pounds tart cooking apples, like Granny Smith
1 orange
3/4 to 1 cup sugar, depending on your apples
2 tbl butter

1. Preheat the oven to 175 F. Choose a 6-cup souffle dish, generously grease it with one tablespoon of butter. Cut a round of parchment to fit inside the dish, generously grease it on one side with the remaining tablespoon butter.
2. Place the sugar in a bowl. Zest about 1 tablespoon of the orange zest into the sugar bowl, rub the zest into the sugar with your fingertips. Halve the orange and squeeze its juice into another bowl. Peel the apples, core them, and thinly slice them into rings (if you don't want to bother coring, simply halve them and thinly slice). Add the apple slices to the bowl with the orange juice as you work to prevent discoloring, tossing them to coat.
2. Layer the apple slices, overlapping them, in the prepared dish, sprinkling each layer with a little of the sugar. Place the parchment round, buttered-side down, over the apples. Place in the oven for 12 hours.
3. Remove the apple dish from the oven, there should be a good amount of bubbling juice. Pressing down on the parchment with an oven mitt, pour off the juice into a sauce pan. Bring the juice to a simmer and boil until brightly colored and thickened. Meanwhile, invert the apple cake onto a serving plate. Drizzle with the juices.

I should note dear Molly had some trouble with the original recipe. I believe because she used less sugar, not only was the cake too tart, but the apples didn't render enough juices. The pectin in the reduced juices holds the cake together and gives the pretty shiny top.