If you’re looking for an easy recipe for a super delicious sunken apple cake, you don’t have to look further. Whether you have a spontaneous visitor coming in for coffee or you just want to cozy up with a yummy slice of cake on a lousy fall or winter day, this recipe for sunken apple cake is just what you need, and you have to try it! Grandma’s sunken apple cake is
super soft and juicy and it tastes incredibly delicious!
For me, this delicious sponge cake with apples immediately brings back childhood memories. My grandmother used to bake this quick and tasty apple cake almost every weekend. In Germany, we call it: “Versunkener Apfelkuchen”.
Granny’s german apple Cake
Sometimes she sliced the apples as in this recipe or put halved apples in the batter. I like to bake the cake in a Springform Pan, but of course you can also prepare this delicious cake on a Baking Sheet. If you do so, please remember to double the recipe. I believe that whole generations of mothers and grandmothers grew up with this old-fashioned German apple cake, especially since in the past, this sunken apple cake with finely cut apple halves was prepared in German school kitchens following a recipe by Dr. Oetker, a very well-known German brand when it comes to baking.
Grandma´s sunken Apple Cake
It is remembered as a real German classic by many and still enjoyed by young and old today. The so-called “Kaffee und Kuchen”, a Coffee-Date that usually takes place in the afternoon, has a long tradition in Germany and is also a common way for families to celebrate birthdays. My grandmother made a really simple mixed batter for her sunken apple cake using butter, sugar, flour, eggs, vanilla sugar and bitter almond oil.
The recipe is quick & easy for delicious sunken apple cake
It will turn out just as good if you use a few drops of rum flavoring or lemon oil for the batter instead of the bitter almond oil, if you’re not a fan of marzipan flavor. The preparation of this cake recipe is super easy and not time-consuming at all! It is one of those recipes that gives you a great result with little effor In the original apple cake recipe, the halved apples are cut very finely from the top without cutting completely through the apple. This way, the apples take less time to bake through nicely. My grandmother almost always made the cake with apple slices, which I personally like better. I find the cake softer and juicier.
Apple Cake Recipe Tips:
- Apple cake tastes best with tart apples. I therefore prefer the following varieties: Red
Boskoop, Cox’s Orange or Elstar. Don’t worry if these apple varieties aren’t available for
you to buy in your area. The recipe will also succeed with another variety of apples. - The apple cake stays fresh for a good 3 days. Keep it moist by covering it! Some people
even say they like it best the day after baking as it will have more time to infuse. - The apple cake will taste better if you use butter instead of margarine.
- Cinnamon sugar, vanilla, grated lemon peel, rum flavoring or bitter almond oil go very well
with the recipe. - For the perfect cake batter, make sure that the butter and the eggs are at the same
temperature, preferably room temperature. - It’s important to use cake flour for this recipe. If you have to use all-purpose flour, make
- sure to remove 2 tablespoons of flour and replace them with 2 tablespoons of cornstarch per
- 130 g of flour.
I hope you enjoy reading, strolling through and trying out my cooking and baking recipes!
Grandma’s super delicious and juicy sunken apple cake, a simple step by step recipe to
bake your own apple cake classic.
Equipment
- 1 Springform Pan 24 cm
- 1 cutting board
- 1 bowl
- 1 peeler
- 1 Kitchen Scale
- 1 mixer
- 1 apple corer
Ingredients
- 800 g Boskoop or Cox´s Orange Apples or any other tart apple variety) 5 Cup
- 250 g flour 2 Cup
- 200 g butter 1/2 Cup +1/3 Cup
- 4 eggs
- 200 g sugar 2/3 Cup
- 1 pinch of salt
- 1 tsp of bourbon vanilla sugar
- 1 sachet baking powder
- 1 lemon (pour the squeezed juice over the apple slices so they don't turn brown)
- 6 drops bitter almond oil
- 40 ml milk Alternatively whipping cream (Cup 0,16907)
- 1 tsp. cinnamon sugar
- Powdered sugar for dusting decoration (1/8 cup )
- Almond leaves for decoration
Instructions
- It is best to prepare all needed ingredients right at the beginning. You can do yourself a big favor by weighing and measuring your ingredients right from the start, too. First, mix the flour with the baking powder and a pinch of salt. Then mix the sugar with the vanilla sugar.
- Peel the apples and cut out the core.
- Cut the peeled apples first into halves, then into quarters, and then into not too thick slices.
- Mix the sugar, bitter almond oil and soft butter until creamy and fluffy. Stir the eggs one by one into the mixture. Mix the flour with the milk and add it in three portions into the batter. The batter should not be stirred too long afterwards. Mix about 2/3 of the drained apple slices with the batter.
- Line a Springform pan with baking paper and grease it, you can also use a baking spray. Pour the batter into the pan with the apple slices. Place the drained remaining apple slice son top of the cake batter in the shape of a wreath. Depending on how many apple slices you got out of your apples, you should try to place them as close together as possible right from the start. Don't be surprised if the batter seems little, it will rise and form around the apples as it bakes.
- Spread the almond leaves on the apple cake and bake the cake in the heated oven on the middle shelf with 350° F (175 degrees’) convection oven for about 50-60 minutes. After 40 minutes, you should sprinkle the cinnamon sugar over the cake, so the sugar can caramelize a little.
- After 50 minutes, test the cake with a skewer. The best way to do this is to poke a wooden skewer or a toothpick into the center of the cake and see if any batter sticks to it. If so, the cake needs a few more minutes baking time. Every oven bakes differently, so it's always good to test the cake to make sure it's baked through. Let the cake cool down in the Springform pan and dust with powdered sugar right before serving. A nice portion of whipped cream is perfect for serving. Enjoy!
