French Style Apple Cake

This cake is moist, fluffy, and not too sweet! This is one bowl baking at its finest! The ingredients are simple and the cake is very easy to make! Bake it for your next get-together.

In France, baking is a big deal. The quality of baked items at bakeries high and the prices were reasonable, because the bakeries are all in fierce competition with each other. I was fortunate enough to go to Paris for my honeymoon and I got to experience baked goods from different bakeries or patisseries all over the city. I tried all kinds of desserts like pastries and cakes. One of the cakes that really stuck out to me was apple cake. It was light, buttery, and the apples had the right amount of sweetness.

One of the keys to the apple cake being so delectable was definitely the butter. The butter in France is incredible. I bought tubs of it at the fresh air farmer’s markets. It has so much flavor by itself and when it is put into cakes and pastries it can really increase the flavor profile!

Apples are one of my favorite fruits. When I was little I would always be grabbing a Red Delicious apple for a snack. As I grew older I discovered all kinds different kinds of apples thanks to farmer’s markets. The east coast grows many varieties of apples and I got to experience many kinds like Honeycrisp, Pink Lady, and Fuji.

After going apple picking with my family we had picked over 40 pounds of apples! With this plethora of apples we brainstormed what kind of apple recipes we could create using these beautiful fruits. Apple sauce, apple butter, and apple jam were all suggested. My idea was to make an apple cake, like the one I had experienced in Paris. I experimented with the recipe and created a cake that was moist and full of apple and butter flavors. My family really liked this recipe, and I hope your family likes it too. Please enjoy!

French Style Apple Cake Recipe

Yields 8 servings

Specialty Tools: 10 inch Spring Form Pan and Hand-mixer

Prep Time: 20 minutes

Bake Time: 40 minutes

Inactive Time: 10 minutes

Drink Pairing Suggestion: Milk

*Warning: Cake contains some alcohol

Ingredients

8 tablespoons unsalted butter, room temperature

1/2 cup granulated sugar

3 large eggs

2 teaspoons vanilla extract

2 tablespoons rum

1 1/4 cup all purpose flour

1 1/2 teaspoon baking powder

1/2 teaspoon kosher salt

2 baking apples peeled, cored, and chopped

Powdered sugar for sprinkling (optional)

To Serve: Whipped Cream or Vanilla Ice Cream

Directions

Preheat oven to 350 F.

Place the butter and sugar in a medium bowl.

Cream together the butter and sugar using a hand-held mixer, until smooth.

Mix in the eggs into the batter one at a time.

Stir in the vanilla extract and rum into the batter until smooth.

Add the flour, baking powder, and salt to the batter.

Beat all the batter ingredients with the hand-held mixer until just combined.

Gently fold in the apples.

Prepare the springform pan by evenly spraying oil all over the bottom and sides of the pan.

Pour the batter into the prepared springform pan and place the pan into the oven.

Bake the cake in the oven for 40 minutes until golden.

Cake is done when toothpick inserted comes out clean.

Let the cake rest for 10 minutes before removing the outer ring of the springform pan.

Serve warm or at room temperature with whipped cream or vanilla ice cream.

You can use a regular 10 inch round cake pan for this cake as well. Just line the bottom with parchment paper and wait for it to cool completely before removing from the pan.

Honeycrisp, Evercrisp, Granny Smith, Pink Lady, and Jonagold apples all work well in this cake. Use what is fresh, local, and available to you!

DID YOU MAKE THIS DISH?

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