German Apple Cake

Happy New Year, friends!

I hope you are well.

Please read on for our first post of 2022:

For a friend’s German-themed dinner, I made this gorgeous apple cake. Rising high in a tube pan, it is the essence of a wonderful fall/winter cake — redolent with cinnamon, vanilla, and apples. It evokes visions of groaning tables laden for hearty meals of rich sauerbraten, sautéed red cabbage and onions, mashed potatoes, roasted broccoli, and freshly baked dinner rolls. In fact, this is the exact meal we had recently. Accompanying the meal was a terrific semi-dry Riesling. Serving a white wine with a hearty beef dish might not be what comes to mind at first, but the slight sweetness of the Riesling perfectly offset the vinegar used in the sauerbraten. 

Not planning a German dinner anytime soon? Don’t let that stop you from making this cake. It is delicious with a cup of tea on a chilly winter afternoon, or with your morning coffee. Bake on!

German Apple Cake (adapted from tasteofhome.com)

Ingredients:

3 C AP flour

3 t baking powder

1 t salt

4 large eggs, room temp

2 C sugar

1 C canola oil

1/2 C orange juice

2-1/2 t vanilla extract

4 C thinly sliced peeled apples (about 4-5 apples)

2 t ground cinnamon

3 TB sugar

confectioners’ sugar, optional (for sprinkling before serving)

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350°F. Grease and flour a 10” tube pan. Combine first 3 ingredients and set aside.
2. In a large bowl, beat eggs and sugar. Combine oil and orange juice and add alternately with dry ingredients to egg mixture. Beat until smooth; add vanilla and beat well.
3. Pour half of the batter into prepared pan. Arrange half of the apples over the batter. Combine cinnamon and sugar and sprinkle over the apples. Top with remaining batter, apples, and cinnamon mixture (I messed up slightly here & sprinkled the last measure of cinnamon-sugar BEFORE adding the remaining apples; but I kind of like how it turned out, giving the apples on top a bit of a crunchy texture and looking like potato chips!).
4. Bake until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean, about 1 hour and 10 minutes.* Cool 1 hour before removing from pan. Cool, apple side up, on a wire rack. If desired (I recommend), sprinkle with confectioners’ sugar.




• Note: test doneness at the recommended 1 hour and 10 minutes. My cake took an additional 15 minutes.




Eat well, stay warm, be happy!