Description
It is always fun to discover a recipe from a European relative when I dig through my archives. I wish I knew who gave this to me! It is typed on a 4×6 index card. When I say typed, I mean it, typed on an actual typewriter, remember those?
I had to do some adapting to convert the recipe, and then used a larger springform pan than I should have, so there wasn’t enough dough to place over the apples. I decided it would look pretty and taste just as good with the apples serving as the decoration. I was right! This is yummy, and not too sweet, just right. German desserts typically use less sugar than American desserts do. You can certainly sprinkle extra sugar if you prefer a sweeter dessert.
Ingredients
- 1 cup flour
- 1/2 cup butter (1 stick), melted
- 1/3 cup sugar
- 1 tsp baking powder
- 1 large or two smaller tart apples, such as Honeycrisp or Granny Smith
- Slivered almonds (optional)
- Granulated sugar
- Cinnamon
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.
- Mix the dry ingredients together. Add the melted butter and knead into a soft pliable dough.
- Place the dough, covered with saran wrap, in the refrigerator for 30 minutes.
- Grease a 9″ springform pan with butter. Place the dough in the pan. Spread the bottom and about 1/2″ of the sides evenly with dough.
- Sprinkle the dough with cinnamon, sugar and almonds if using them.
- Cut the apples into quarters, then slice each quarter into quarters.
- Spread the apples over the dough in an attractive pattern.
- Sprinkle the apples with additional cinnamon and sugar.
- Place in the oven and bake for 30 minutes.
- Remove from oven and cool for 30 minutes before removing springform. Enjoy warm or cold.
Notes
- You can use a smaller springform pan, using 2/3 of the dough as the base, and the remaining 1/3 to roll out and place over the top of the apples. You can then mix about 1/2 cup of powdered sugar with some lemon juice and spread this over the top of the cake after its cooled.
- Don’t leave the dough in the refrigerator for more than an hour. The second time I made this, I made the dough the night before. It was a rock the next day. I had to defrost it for 30 second in the microwave in order to make it pliable again.
- Prep Time: 45 mins
- Cook Time: 30 mins
- Category: Dessert
- Method: bake
- Cuisine: European dessert
Keywords: apple cake, German apple cake, apfelkuchen, apfel kuchen, dessert, cake, apple, apple dessert