We are back in Germany – a cold Germany compared to our weeks in Southern France. After having settled down again in our home I thought about what to cook and to bake – and I decided to do an apple cake. Also because there are beautiful fresh and juicy apples around now – crispy and sour which is fine for an apple cake. (Of course three of these Boskoop beauties were too much for my cake … I made some apple sauce from the leftovers.)
My apple cake is only about 3 cm in height and most of it is apple (i. e. apple slices) – like a typical French apple cake I read about in the Internet. The autumn touch comes with the spices, a ready-to-use mix of ground cinnamon, coriander, caraway, nutmeg, ginger & cloves, also responsible for the brown color.
When leaving the oven the cake is very soft & fluffy. When storing in the fridge for the next day(s) it settles and becomes more dense and juicy – nevertheless delicious.
So I started with preparing the apples: peeling, trimming & cutting into thin slices – as thin as possible when working manually.
Then I assembled all the ingredients for the cake batter …
At the same time I started preheating my oven to 160° C fan.
We need:
- fine white sugar
- vanilla sugar
- spice mix (cinnamon, coriander, caraway, nutmeg, ginger, cloves – all ground)
- a pinch of salt
- butter
- eggs
- whipping cream
- all-purpose flour & baling powder.
I combined everything w/ help of my handheld electric mixer into a creamy cake batter – starting w/ the butter & the sugar mix, then adding the eggs, finally the flour and the whipping cream.
Then I combined the cake batter and the apple slices. (I didn’t add fresh lemon juice to the apple slices – that’s why they are no longer white … You may use lemon juice, but it’ll slightly impact the flavor.)
I used a square baking tin (about 22 x 22 cm) lined w/ baking parchment leaving enough paper at the edges to transport the cake out of the baking tin later.
The final mix marched into the baking tin & I added some brown sugar for a crispy top.
After about 40-45 min in the preheated oven the apple cake is ready. I made the famous test w/ the wooden in … (Altogether I had the oven working for about 40 min & added 5 min resting in the hot oven when out of action.)
Actually the apple cake is fine now, but I decided to add some icing. So I mixed icing sugar, spice mix and whipping cream w/ a spoon sieving the mess for eliminating any sugar lumps … and adding the icing on top as soon as the cake had cooled down. (Of course you may add a complete top layer of icing!)
My icing liked to invade the cake … Either it was too runny or the cake was still too warm. At the end it doesn’t matter …
By help of the baking parchment I succeeded in transferring the cake to a plate to be able to cut it into nine squares: nice treats accompanying a coffee break.
Enjoy!
- 125 g butter
- 100 g sugar (fine & white)
- 1 packet vanilla sugar
- 1 tsp ready-to-use spice mix (cinnamon, coriander, caraway, nutmeg, ginger, cloves – all ground)
- a pinch of salt
- 3 eggs (size M)
- 50 ml whipping cream (32%)
- 125 g all-purpose flour
- 1 packet baking powder
- 400 g Boskoop apples (net weight – peeled, trimmed, thin slices (1-2 mm) – start with about 600 – 650 g whole apples)
- 2-3 tbsp brown sugar (optional)
- 85 g icing sugar
- 30 ml whipping cream (32%)
- ¼ tsp vanilla extract
- ½ tsp ready-to-use spice mix (cinnamon, coriander, caraway, nutmeg, ginger, cloves – all ground)
- baking tin (22 x 22 cm)
- baking parchment
- hand-held electric mixer
- Line the baking tin with baking parchment – crosswise.
- Peel & trim the apples – cut them into thin slices (1-2 mm). Set aside.
- Preheat the oven to 160° C fan.
- Mix white sugar, vanilla sugar, salt & spice mix.
- Mix flour & baking powder.
- Mix butter and sugar mix with the handheld electric mixer until creamy.
- Add the eggs and mix …
- Add the whipping cream … & mix.
- Add the flour mix & mix.
- Fold the apple slices into the cake batter & pour into the baking tin.
- Sprinkle the brown sugar on top (optional).
- Bake in the preheated oven at 160° C fan for 40 min. Let it rest for another 5 min w/o heat & fan.
- Let the cake cool down.
- Mix icing sugar & spice mix. Add whipping cream & vanilla extract. Mix with a spoon. Sieve if necessary to eliminate sugar lumps.
- Add icing on top of the cake – as much as you like.
