Easy German Apple Cake, also known as Apfelkuchen in German, prepared with raw harvest time apples.
This is a traditional recipe is authentic and from my region Tyrol Austria and Bavaria Germany.
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What is the German Apple Cake?
To prepare the German apple cake, a dough is mixed and the apples are cut and placed on top of the cake before being baked. This is the fundamental difference to say a French apple cake.
The German Apple Cake, as the name indicates, comes from the central European region.
To be more precise the apple cake, aka Apfelkuchen is a Bavarian German dessert AND an Austrian cake. Bavaria and the touching Austrian regions have everything in common.
The name German apple cake for this dessert is a bit misleading in that sense (as it goes with many dishes from that region, such as the Red Cabbage side dish) because both countries call these dishes their own.
This is because Austria speaks German but it's not Germany (I had to point this out not to appear as a traitor to my country).
Apple varieties
Apples are the main harvest in September and October, besides other local tree fruits such as pears and plums.
In those two months, you end up eating more apple desserts than ever!
We grow a lot of different apple tree variations, it's difficult to put a number on paper.
Most farmers have an apple tree, most people have a house and a garden with apple trees growing.
Apple trees are to Bavaria and the alpine regions in Austria and Switzerland, what maple trees are to Canadians!
The list of apple varieties in English is minimal compared to the extensive list of apples in German which includes the regional German dialect names as well.
This alone is an indication that we have a gigantic cultivar of apple varieties in Central Europe.
In fact, the garden association promotes grafting of lesser known, almost extinct varieties of apples.
My dad grafted over 5 apple varieties on one young tree, that way we get to taste different apples!
Therefore, you have to understand, the choice of apples for this German apple cake is of minor importance.
People use what's in the garden. People rarely go to buy apples in villages because they can get apples from their local farmer or the neighbors gave them apples.
I personally I love my apple cake with a sour apple variety because I don't like my cake overly sweet.
Which apple you pick is up to you, and you get to control your cakes' outcome that way!
Ingredient Notes
To prepare a traditional apple cake, you will need only a few basic ingredients.
This includes all-purpose flour, sugar, eggs, butter, baking powder, a pinch salt, apples, and cinnamon.
The dough is mixed together, the apples are cut into slices and then placed over the dough in the mold. Simple and easy.
Some people like to add lemon zest to the dough, I skipped that because I like my cake with a cinnamon apple touch.
I would add lemon zest if I don't add cinnamon over the cake.
How to make it?
Step 1
Combine all batter ingredients, butter, sugar, egg, baking powder, salt, flour.
Step 2
Peel and slice apples.
Step 3
Pour batter into the mold and arrange apple slices over that with cinnamon and sugar.
Bake.
📖 Recipe
Easy German Apple Cake Recipe - Apfelkuchen
Ingredients
- 4.2 ounces Butter soft
- 4.2 ounces powdered Sugar
- 3 Eggs
- pinch Salt
- 2 Teaspoon Baking Powder
- 7 ounces All-purpose Flour
- 3 Apples medium to large sized
- 1 Tablespoon Brown Sugar
- ½ Teaspoon Cinnamon Ground
Instructions
- Place the soft butter into a mixing bowl with the sugar. Mix and whisk the butter-sugar into a creamy consistency.
- Add the Eggs to the mix and blend smooth.
- Now add in the Salt and baking powder. Besides that throw in some of the flour. Start to blend the mixture and continue to add in the flour, step by step, until you have used up everything.
- Mix the whole content to a smooth batter.
- Peel your apples, cut into slices.
- Heat up your oven to 180 Celsius/ 350 Fahrenheit.
- Prepare a springform with a layer of baking paper at the bottom.
- Pour the batter into the mold and spread evenly.
- Arrange your apple slices on top.
- Sprinkle the cinnamon and brown sugar over the apple slices.
- Bake the cake for about 38 minutes or until the cake is golden on the outside and baked on the inside. Test if it's done by going into the cake with a knife. If the knife comes back clean, it's baked through.
Notes
- Use sour apples if you want a cake that is less sweet.
- You may leave the apple skin on the apples and just cut them into slices.
- One serving size equals 1 cake slice. The nutritional details are according to one serving.
Nutrition
Serving
These days, apples are common all year round; however, this traditional cake is still considered a fall dessert.
Therefore, you will see this German apple cake being served around our Thanksgiving period in October, also during festivals such as the Oktoberfest food harvest folks fest.
In Bavarian homes, and Austrian homes across the border, you will most probably be invited to a slice of this apple cake.
It's served during coffee time (around 3 pm) with whipped cream.
Some people go all the way and serve up a cold sausage and cheese platter as well.
Occasionally, you bake an apple cake and share some with your neighbors.
You can bake this cake and share it with family and friends by inviting them over for a little casual chat.
That way, you will catch up with “village” gossip. 🙂
Tools
I like to use a hand mixer to blend the ingredients together but a kitchen machine works great too!
A simple silicon spatula is your best friend to mix for various reasons as you can see in the video.
For the cake mold, I use an 8-inch springform because I can take out the cake easily once baked without breaking anything.
Cake Recipes from the region
I think this recipe could be improved by dicing up one of the apples and mixing them into the batter, then use the other two apples on top of the cake. It would make the cake, more moist, and the top of the cake can’t hold three apples anyway. Other than that, it’s delicious.
Hi Jody, but then it wouldn't be my grandmother's German apple cake. :).
In Austria and southern Germany, we serve our cakes with whipped cream or in some cases with vanilla sauce (Buchteln).
On the other hand, what you are looking for is my French grandmother's apple cake. This recipe is moister.
And yes, I had a French and an Austrian grandmother.
Wish it would say what size of springform pan
You most probably jumped over the info. It's mentioned 8 inch spring form. Please read through the recipe properly.
Made this for Christmas Eve desert, it was a very dry cake. I weighed all the ingredients and had such high hopes.
Hi Gertrude, I'm sorry to hear that you feel disappointed. This cake is on the dryer side. We usually serve it with homemade whipping cream or a homemade vanilla sauce. If you are looking for a very moist apple cake, I can recommend the French Apple cake, as it has apple pieces in the cake mass.
Nonetheless, thank you for your feedback, I will make it more clear in this recipe.
If you say it’s on the dryer side then why do you describe it as deliciously moist?
This cake is moist enough, but it's drier compared to apple cakes which include apple pieces in the cake (i.e my other grandmas french apple cake). Here the apple slices are placed over the cake. If you measure out the ingredients properly, you get a moist cake. But of course, in a few rare cases, this can turn out to not be the case because ingredients can vary greatly and also ovens are not all built the same. Not everybody gets cake flour or quality flour, and these things can change the outcome of a cake. I will add some more details to the cake recipe when I update the recipe. The problem is that, the more details I add, the fewer people seem to want to read through. (hence why I don't like the jump to recipe button).
Cake baking is like chemistry, too much of something or an ingredient switched and you will have a different result.
Cake was dry.
Sorry to hear that Linda. Did you follow the recipe as per instruction and did you weigh out all your ingredients? A little difference can change the whole result of your cake. Especially if you tried converting the grams to cups. Nonetheless, if you are looking for a super moist cake, then I recommend the French Apple cake. It's got apple pieces in the batter.
I am charmed by your lovely story as well as finding a very easy and authentic recipe from the Tyrol region. Thank you for sharing and I like cooking not using prepackaged products. Good show!
Glad you like it Jamin. 🙂
My mother hailed from Kassel Germany (middle) She used to make Apfelkuchen all the time but made it in a jelly roll pan. I have yet to find an Apfelkuchen recipe that is like hers. Your version sounds yummy
is there a recipe somewhere where it is in cups?
Hi Savannah, no sorry, I removed cup measurements because people were measuring wrong and they would blame me. To get this cake right, I recommend weighing your ingredients with a kitchen scale.
Amazing. I had some left over apples that were going to waste so I made this, I put some raisins in the cake batter and some crushed walnuts on top of the apple cinnamon mix, it was delicious. Thank you!
Thanks, Jo, for sharing your version.
Hey tomorrow my brother will turn 79 years old. He has diabetes. Do you or any of your readers , have any ideas that I could substitute the sugar in this recipe. It looks amazing and I’m definitely going to make it. Thank you for sharing your recipe.
Hi Sarah, I'm not an expert in sugar substitution and I don't want to recommend the wrong thing. I found this post about how to substitute sugar in baking for diabetics, maybe it can help you further. I wish your brother a happy birthday!
My mom made the cake part thinner . So you get more Apple in each bite . She also used a large sheet pan , we had a big family . She also made it with small plumbs . The best ! Her onion sort of pizza , and cakes are my favorite memories.
easy breezy and tastes so good. Wow, my husband loved this German cake.
thanks for sharing . Good wholesome food makes the world go round.
Lovely! Thanks for sharing Jacqueline. 🙂
This was a perfect afternoon cake. I didn't have a springform pan so I just used an 8x8 pan, it wasn't as pretty but tasted fine. I think I used too many apples because the batter didn't cook well around all of them - I just popped it back it in the oven for a few more minutes (ended up taking 45 minutes instead of 38). FYI I used 3 apples from the Crispin/Mutsu tree in my back yard - each of them are the size of a softball.
Thanks for sharing all the details, that should be helpful to some. So, yes, depending on the oven, the mold, and the size of the apples, one will have to add or remove 5-10 minutes to the base recipe. The best thing to check if your cake is done is to poke into the center with a butter knife. If it comes back clean, it's done. If it's full of gooey pastry, keep it a little longer and repeat the test.
So glad to have seen your article. I have been making this very cake since my grandmother taught me how -- back in the 1950s. All thru the late summer and early fall fruit season she'd whip these up at a moment's notice, particularly when friends dropped by unexpectedly in the evening at their summer cottage by a lake. Neighbor-supplied apples, peaches or plums were always at hand and equally good. (Grandma did say, tho, that the small Italian plums, halved, were best for "Plumkuchen".) I was tickled to learn that this cake originated in Bavaria, cause Grandma's mother was a Bavarian immigrant. Now I know where the cake originated in our family.
We grew up eating my mom’s apfelkuchen. This recipe is the closest I’ve found to hers. The main difference is that hers used a yeast dough for a base. It was a dough that was sweeter and richer than typical bread dough. It has eggs and sugar and was called a “refrigerator yeast dough” because you can keep it for a while and use as needed. It is also the dough we use for dinner rolls, cinnamon rolls, and zopf, which was braided and had raisins and a sweet glaze. We stick the sliced apples into the proofed dough which is sprinkled with cinnamon-sugar breadcrumbs, then you pour a mixture of beaten eggs and sugar over the apples and top with more of the crumbs. It’s also excellent made with plums.
One recipe I never got from her was something she’d make to use up extra fruit sometimes, like plums or cherries. It had a lot of ground hazelnuts and I think it was fairly thin and dense, and poured over the fruit, similar to a clafoutis. Any help on that?
I'm not sure, it sounds like a classic oven tray cake. They just make them in the trays instead of cake shapes. But I can be wrong. I will ask around a bit. It might be a very regional cake. Also, the first one that you described seems to be a regional apple cake too. Where did your mum come from? Maybe I can ask the right people if I know the region in Germany. You have awakened my curiosity too. 🙂
My weirdo kid dislikes apples. I divide the recipe and put the apples on only my own dish. The cake itself is a winner and can stand alone as a trusted recipe.
Kids are kids 😄. Glad that you liked the cake 🙂
Beautiful! Had a great time making it and it tasted really good with dulce de leche 👌
wonderful, thanks for sharing 🙂
I tossed my apples in cinnamon, brown sugar, ginger, and cloves then I also added more cinnamon sugar on top. I baked it a little too long also. But not a huge fan. It is a lot prettier than it tastes, a pretty bland butter cake and needs a lot more flavor on top with the apples.
Thanks for sharing Becky. I think you might prefer the french apple cake, it's got apple pieces and apple brandy in it.
Honestly guys, I used cake mix and replaced the oil with butter. The apples on top were such a nice touch and smelled amazing. Very yummy🍎
Hm but the recipe calls for butter and not oil anyway. 🤔
Butter was substituted instead of oil in a boxed cake mix to make it more like your recipe.
Hi, can you add a small amount of crumble to the top ?
Yes you can add crumble as a topping. 🙂
Have tried it and came out really pretty
Awesome! 🙂
Perfect recipe, easy to make and delicious
Wonderful 🙂 Thanks for sharing
Make in half batch. Easy and yummy. Thank you for the recipe. It makes perfect my coffee time in lockdown period 🥰
Lovely! Thank you so much for sharing 🙂
I can’t believe how beautiful this was it was just as glorious as the picture.
Glad you loved the apple cake as much as we did. 🙂
Very nice recipe ,came out beautifully ♡
Lovely! Thanks for sharing Leslie 🙂
This cake was so easy to make and delicious ! I’ll definitely be making this again.
Happy to ready that you loved the cake 🙂
It was terrific - exactly as expected! The browning in the photo is cinnamon - it was perfect. I converted to grams for measuring and made it precisely according to recipe
Amazing, glad to read that you loved the cake 🙂
This is an absolutely wonderful recipe - it comes together easily and tastes great. I used apples from a friend's garden and a bit more cinnamon than the recipe called for. I've made it two times so far this fall!
Thanks for the feedback. Your lucky to have such a nice friend who shares apples with you 🙂
Hi, Helen. This German apple cake looks awesome. I’m about to make it. Can I add vanilla to the batter?
Hi Teri, yes you can add vanilla 🙂
Would it be horrible if I tried making this into a cupcake? I know it won't look nearly as beautiful, but for serving purposes at a get together, cupcakes save loads of unnecessary mess!
Hi Lea, yes you can and I have done that too! Just pour the pastry into your cupcake shapes and decorate them with the apple slices, as you would do it anyway on a whole cake.
This was a big hit! My son and I just made it this afternoon and already half the cake is gone! SUPURB!
That's awesome. I'm glad to read that you guys had such a great time making and eating the cake. 🙂
I just made the apple cake and it tastes so yummy!Thank you so much for the recipe!
That's great, thank you for sharing Ursula 🙂
The smell is soooo goooodd. The taste is amazing. Thanks for sharing.
Thank you for your feedback Ken. We appreciate it 🙂
I made it twice already. Easy and yummy. Thanks
It tastes like coffee cake with apples on top, so good
My first attempt, used homegrown bramley apples, cake is beautiful
Awesome! Thanks for sharing Hannah 🙂
This recipe is just like my oma’s from Germany. So good
Awesome! Thanks for sharing Ashley 🙂
Fresh out of the oven. The smell and taste is absolutely divine!
Thank you for sharing! 🙂
The Apfelkuchen Dessert is so amazingly delicious and tasty 😋 Thanks Masala herb for sharing this recipe 😁😷👍
Thanks for your feedback, so glad to hear that you enjoy the apple cake 🙂
Amazing! Made with apples from my tree and it really is delicious. Followed the recipe to a T
Thank you Kelly for sharing your recipe experience with us. I bet it was all the better with the apples from your tree. 🙂
Give Your Family Only The Best…
This cake was amazing! Used granny Smith apples and it was the perfect balance of tart and sweet! So making this again!
thank you for your feedback, Marissa. Much appreciated! 🙏
Perfect. I tried this for my son's birthday and followed the instructions as mentioned. It tastes yummmmm. Thank you very much.
Thank you for your feedback Swapna
Thanks for your recipe. It turned out perfectly and tasted great!
Thanks so much for your feedback 🙏
Added my own twist. Salted caramel on top.
Great idea! love that
There is a missing ingredient or the measurements are wrong. The batter was not pourable!!!! Wish I read comments b4 making. Grrrr
Laurie, there is no ingredient missing and the measurements are right. The batter is thick but pourable, please watch the video as a reference (video pops up on mobile).
Perfect! I didn’t have any baking powder so I replaced it with apple cider vinegar (1tsp of BP = 1/4 tsp of ACV), and came out so well lifted. Thanks for sharing!
Thanks for your feedback Mashia 🙂
I followed the recipe, but mine did not raise. Curious as to what i could have done wrong?
Hi Sandy,
I'm sorry to learn that the cake didn't turn out as expected. This is what comes to my mind first.
Did you use baking soda instead of baking powder? Those two are not the same and it can be a reason why a cake doesn't rise as expected. Baking soda requires an acid too besides liquids to get activated. Baking powder only requires a liquid. Baking powder is made of baking soda and cream of tartar (an acid). In German cakes, we only use baking powder.
Also, keep in mind that this is not the fluffiest cake out there. To make it fluffier, you can switch half of the all-purpose flour with cornflour. Cornflour makes it all light and fluffy.
I added a caramel sauce, some cream and vanilla extract to the batter too. It looks good!!
As I was making this I realized this cake was going to be dry (not enough liquid in the ingredients) and it was super dry - not like the apfelkuchen I grew up with (my mom is German) and my husband (also German) was saying it was not like any he grew up with either. I followed the recipe exactly and it was dry and crumbly - it looked great but was disappointing in taste.
Hi Glynis,
Thank you for your feedback, I'm sorry to read that your cake turned out too dry. Mine, as you can see in the pictures, wasn't too dry. We also tend to serve this cake with a lot of whipped cream.
This Apfelkuchen recipe is more on the dry side and it's not a moist cake like the French apple cake (which is also more flavorful). If you feel your cake batter is looking too dry, you can add about 1/2 a cup of milk (100 milliliters) to your batter. Also, keep an eye on your cake in the oven during the baking process so that you don't over bake your cake or else it gets drier. Every oven tends to be a bit different.
The recipe is the way we make it in Bavaria (Germany) and Austria. Keep in mind that every region has it's own specialty and Germany is rather large.
I'm confused on the nutritional information. This cake cannot be 2719 calories per piece. In fact, the other items listed seem all incorrect too. Especially since this is a basic cake without all the sugar and heavy sweet syrups Americans put on their desserts. Could you please check your nutritional values again and let me know at thank you so much. I think it sounds very good and I'd like to try it but not at those high calories.
Lorraine, thank you for letting me know. It was a glitch, I fixed it. The nutrition info is showing per cake slice now.
Hi, I'm curious about the sodium content. If it's a pinch of salt, why is it just above a thousand mg ? I'm definitely going to try it,
I calculated around to see why the sodium content is up. Basically, the butter is the cause of this. If you use light butter, it reduces the sodium by 800 mg.
Made this today and it looked just like your picture! I followed the recipe to the tee! It's really more like an over baked biscuit not cake like at all! So disappointed but I might be able to salvage it by making it into a trifle with lots of pudding!
Hi Gail, thanks for your comment.
I'm not sure what you mean with over baked biscuit. That's how an Apfelkuchen is prepared, baked and enjoyed. Nothing more to it. 🙂
We usually serve this cake with whipped cream but another great use is to prepare homemade vanilla sauce and pour it hot over the cake (that's my favorite way to enjoy our cake)
Hi Alejandra, thank you for your comment.
The measurements are fine.
I measure in cups, ounces, and grams, when I cook and all my recipes have been tested countless times before. You can see it in the video how this cake was made and how it turned out.
The only thing that comes to my mind why your cake turned out hard, is the baking time. Not all ovens are the same and voltage at times can play a difference as well. That's why it's good to bake until you see your cake golden brown and test if the cake is finished baked by poking it with a knife. If it comes out clean, the cake is done.
Also, these kinds of regional German/Austrian cakes tend to be rather on the dry side (like a Gugelhupf cake). If you prefer super moist cake, check out the french apple cake. The major difference to the German apple cake, is that in the french apple cake the apples pieces are mixed into the batter, resulting is a wet cake.
I'm so excited for apple season and to make this beautiful German Apple Cake!
I grew up eating German apple cake because my mom is German. Brings back memories!