If I had a restaurant, this French apple cake would definitely be a “dessert of the day” throughout the autumn season.
I love apples. Growing up in Canada, they were mostly associated with cinnamon to make delicious muffins, cakes, pies, crumbles and all sorts of other baked goods that I adored. Here in France, whilst you do see them in savory recipes, their claim to fame is to be the key ingredient in the famous “tarte Tatin” and the classic “tarte aux pommes”. However, if you are in the mood for something a little simpler to make from scratch to satisfy your sweet tooth, have a go at this French apple cake. Although I believe its origins are from Normandy, the region in France famed for Calvados (an apple brandy), every French cook has their version of it.
We had it at a friend’s house this past weekend and I was reminded of just how much I used to love making this recipe when we first moved to France years ago. It is dead easy, doesn’t require too many ingredients and is pretty fool-proof. I like to add rhum or Calvados because it really does add a nice flavoring to it, but if you don’t have any on hand or prefer an alcohol-free version, then vanilla extract is a perfect substitute.
Ingredients
- 1/2 cup butter (room temperature)
- 2/3 cup sugar
- 2 eggs
- 2 tsp vanilla extract or rhum or Calvados
- 1 cup flour
- 1 tsp baking powder
- pinch of salt
- 2 apples, peeled, cored and cut into cubes
- 2 tbsp icing sugar (optional)
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 175C
- Line a 9-in pan with parchment paper
- In a large bowl, cream together the butter and sugar until the become smooth, fluffy and a light yellow color. This should take around 5 minutes if you are using a hand whisk and 1-2 minutes if you using a stand up mixer.
- Thoroughly whisk in the eggs, one at a time. Mix in the vanilla extract.
- In a separate bowl, combine flour, baking powder and salt
- Add the flour mixture to the creamy mixture and combine well without over mixing. Over mixing this will cause the cake to be less fluffy.
- Fold in the apples carefully
- Pour the batter into the pan and place in the oven for about 40 minutes or until it is cooked through but not hard.
- Let cool and flip over on a plate. If you like, you can dust with a bit of icing sugar before serving.
