Sweet, tart apples caramelized into a lemony, buttery vanilla batter and finished with a cinnamon-sugar glaze - a wildly impressive cake that's easier to make than it looks.
The apples are the star of this cake show! They caramelize in the oven, turning wonderfully jammy as the batter rises around them. And they elevate this simple low-maintenance cake from easy every day to absolutely dinner party worthy!
A VERY low maintenance cake that looks HIGHLY impressive?! YES PLEASE!
Why this Apple Cake Recipe Works
- Quick batter! The light lemony-buttery-vanilla batter easily comes together in the bowl of a stand mixer (or food processor) in just 10 minutes!
- Enjoy any time of the day! This cake is equally at home with your morning coffee as it is with your afternoon tea or post dinner treat.
- Seasonal year round! This quintessential fall fruit is readily available year round!
- Magic intersection of low maintenance and looks highly impressive! Easy enough to make on a weeknight and impressive enough for entertaining!
It’s a whole wide apple world out there!
And all varieties are welcome in this apple cake! It’s a more-variations-of-apples-the-merrier kinda cake situation! And an equal apple opportunity cake!
Keep in mind that apples vary wildly on the sweet-tart spectrum; tinker with the amount of sugar in the glaze to accordingly.
There's time I cut the apples hasselback style and used hot pink Hidden Rose ones!
And obviously there’s the time I went for rainbow-licious apple bounty!
How to Make this Apple Cake
- Peel, core, quarter and thinly slice apples, either with a sharp knife or mandolin.
- Cream butter and sugar in the bowl of a stand mixer or food processor. Add rest of batter ingredients; mix until just combined.
- Pour batter into prepared skillet or cake pan.
- Arrange apple slices on top – unleash your inner apple artist is optional!
- Transfer to the oven and bake
- Voila – enjoy cause you’re all done!
Please enjoy these step-by-step images:
Cooks Tips
- For optimal texture, i.e., the lightest and fluffiest results, use room temperature butter for creaming.
- When possible, buy organic apples from your local farmer’s market.
- If you have a mandolin, now is the time to use it! If you don’t, consider this an opportunity to improve your knife skills and sharp one works best!
- Adjust the amount of sugar in the glaze to accommodate any and every apple on the sweet-tart spectrum!
- The galette tastes best straight from the oven, served warm with vanilla ice cream.
- Leftovers will keep, covered, at room temperature up to 4 days.
German Apple Cake
Ingredients
Apple Cake
- 4-5 apples peeled cored, and thinly sliced, either with a mandolin or a very sharp knife
- 1/2 cup butter at room temperature + a bit more to grease the skillet/cake pan (about 1/2 tablespoon)
- 1/2 cup of sugar
- 3 eggs room temperature
- 1 tablespoon vanilla extract
- Zest & juice of 1 lemon
- 1 1/2 cup of flour
- 2 teaspoons baking powder
- 1/2 teaspoon of salt
- 2 tablespoons of milk
Cinnamon-Sugar Glaze
- 2 tablespoons of butter melted
- 1 tablespoon of granulated or brown sugar
- 1 teaspoon of cinnamon
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350°F and butter the bottom of a skillet, 9- or 10-inch springform pan, or baking dish.
- In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment (or bowl of a food processor), beat the butter and sugar until light and fluffy; about 2-3 minutes. Add in eggs, one at a time and mix on high speed, for 30 seconds, after each addition. Add vanilla extract, lemon zest and juice; mix until just combined. With the mixer on low, add the flour, baking powder, salt, and milk. Beat until just combined (and don't overmix!).
- Pour and spread batter evenly into the prepared pan or skillet, smoothing the top with a spatula.
- Arrange apples on top, skin side up (so the colors can be seen) and nesting them close together into the batter (optional to group by color).
- For the cinnamon-sugar glaze, mix in the sugar and cinnamon with melted butter and stir until well combined. Brush glaze on top of apples and batter.
- Bake cake for 40-50 minutes, until it’s golden-brown the apples have softened, and a toothpick comes out clean.
- Let cake cool in pan or skillet for 5-10 minutes and serve warm.
Notes
- For optimal texture, i.e., the lightest and fluffiest results, use room temperature butter for creaming.
- When possible, buy organic apples from your local farmer’s market.
- If you have a mandolin, now is the time to use it! If you don’t, consider this an opportunity to improve your knife skills and sharp one works best!
- Adjust the amount of sugar in the glaze to accommodate any and every apple on the sweet-tart spectrum!
- The cake tastes best straight from the oven, served warm with vanilla ice cream.
- Leftovers will keep, covered, at room temperature up to 4 days.
Want More Cakes with Fresh Fruit Toppings?
There's a whole world of cakes with fresh seasonal fruit on top — here are my favorites: Fig Skillet Cake, Strawberry Snack Cake, Almond-Rhubarb Cake, Rhubarb Upside-Down Cake, Plum, Walnut & Lavender Cake and Plum Upside-Down Cake. There's a special place in my heart for cakes with whole, fresh, seasonal fruit toppings.
And if you want more apple inspiration, check out my Apple Galette — or go deep on the fruit itself with my Rainbow Apples and Pink Apples guides.
If you tried this recipe, I'd love to hear about it — leave a comment below and let me know, and tag me on IG, @danielagerson, so I can see too!
If you enjoyed this dish, explore more seasonal recipes and colorful produce guides on the site.
Let's make waves in the kitchen.
STUNNING photography! Beautiful apple tart, too. 🙂
Really appreciate it Valentina!!! Thank ya so much for the super sweet feedback!!!
Please, what are those apples?
They’re called Hidden Rose. Such hot pink beauties don’t ya think :)? 💗