German Apple Cake with Caramel Sauce
This is the new Autumn cake, even though this recipe isn’t new at all – seems like every family has a version of this cake. This one is from several sources including Deb Perelman’s Smitten Kitchen, but if you Google “German Apple Cake” or “Jewish Apple Cake” or even “Apple Dapple Cake”, you can see the same ingredients listed. It is so, so good – a moist cake filled with cinnamon apple flavor – there’s a reason this recipe has been around so long. Better the second day, I promise! So make it in advance. Top the cake with whipped cream, ice cream and/or the caramel sauce I used, adapted slightly from Sally’s Baking Addiction.
Special equipment: 1-piece tube pan or a Bundt pan.
- Prep Time: 25 mins
- Cook Time: 90 mins
- Total Time: 1 hour 55 minutes
- Yield: 12-16 servings 1x
- Category: Cakes
- Method: Baking
Ingredients
For the Cake:
- 6 Apples, peeled and cored, cut into 1″ chunks (I use a mixture of Granny Smith and Golden Delicious, but any variety would be fine)
- 1 T ground Cinnamon
- 5 T Granulated Sugar
- 2 3/4 c AP Flour
- 1 T Baking Powder
- 1 t Salt
- 4 Large eggs
- 1 c Canola oil (or any vegetable oil)
- 2 c Granulated Sugar
- 1/4 c Orange juice
- 2 1/2 t Natural Vanilla Extract
For the Caramel Sauce
- 1 c sugar
- 6 T Salted Butter, room temperature, cut into 6 pieces
- 1/2 c Heavy Cream
- 1/2 t Salt (optional)
Instructions
For the cake
- Preheat oven to 350F. Grease or butter tube pan or bundt pan.
- In a medium bowl, toss the apple chunks with the cinnamon and 5 T sugar. Set aside.
- Sift the flour, baking powder, and salt into a large bowl. In a separate medium bowl, whisk eggs. Add oil, orange juice, sugar, and vanilla. Whisk well. Pour the wet ingredient mixture into the dry ingredients and, using a silicon spatula or large spoon, mix until all ingredients are evenly incorporated.
- Pour half of the cake batter into the greased baking pan. Arrange half of the apple chunks over the layer of batter, making sure to pour half of the apple juice as well. Top the apple chunk layer with the rest of the cake batter. Arrange the remaining apple chunks atop the batter and pour the remaining juice from the apple bowl over the top.
- Bake until a wooden or metal skewer placed into the center of the cake comes out clean, about 1 1/4 – 1 1/2 hours. In a Bundt pan, my cake took the full 90 minutes.
- Cool cake completely before inverting onto a serving dish.
Make the caramel sauce
- In a small saucepan over medium heat, pour the sugar. Stirring constantly, watch as the sugar begins to melt. At first it will look a little crumbly and lumpy, but continue to stir until the sugar is fully melted. This will likely take a few minutes, and the sugar will begin to turn an amber color. Once it reaches this color, gently lower the pieces of butter into the amber liquid. It will likely bubble up a bit. Continue to stir until butter is melted.
- Once butter is melted, slowly carefully pour in the cream. It will bubble up, and perhaps spatter a bit. Let it bubble for an additional minute, remove from the heat and add the salt, if desired.
- Pour caramel sauce into a sterile jar and cool completely. After it cools a bit, drizzle a few spoons over the completely cooled cake. It will keep in the refrigerator for several weeks. It will be quite thick, so just defrost or heat in the microwave a few seconds so you will be able to spoon it nicely.
Nutrition
- Serving Size: 1/14 recipe
Find it online: https://hummingbirdthyme.com/german-apple-cake/
