How to Bake a Traditional German Apple Cake

German apple cake gets its name from its fruit topping.

Traditional German apple cake, also known as "Apfelkuchen," is a yellow cake that's topped with sliced apples. The recipe used below requires at least three apples to top the cake, but you can use more if you wish. You can also sprinkle the top with raisins or mix them into the batter.

Things You'll Need

• Vegetable peeler
• 3 large apples
• Stick of butter
• 10-inch springform pan
• Steak knife
• ½ cup butter
• ¾ cup sugar
• 2 eggs
• 1 tsp. lemon juice
• 2 medium-sized mixing bowls
• Wooden spoon
• 1 ¾ cups white flour
• 1 ½ tsp. baking powder
• ½ tsp. salt
• ½ cup milk
• Wooden toothpick
• Wire rack
• 3 tbsp. powdered sugar
• Flour sifter

Instructions

Prepare Cake Pan and Apples

1. Set the oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit.

2. Peel the skin from 3 large apples with a vegetable peeler.

3. Unwrap the end of a stick of butter. Rub the butter along the sides and bottom of a 10-inch springform pan until the entire surface is covered with a thin layer of grease.

4. Insert a steak knife near the center of 1 apple and turn it in a complete circle around the stem. Remove the apple's core from the fruit by its stem. Core the other 2 apples.

5. Slice each apple into quarters.

Prepare Cake Batter

1. Put ½ cup of butter, ¾ of a cup of sugar, 2 eggs and 1 tsp. of lemon juice in a medium-sized mixing bowl. Beat the ingredients together with a wooden spoon until they are creamy.

2. Wash and dry the wooden spoon.

3. Add 1 ¾ cups of white flour, 1 ½ tsp. of baking powder and ½ tsp. of salt to another medium-sized bowl. Fold the ingredients together with the wooden spoon

4. Pour ½ cup of milk into a measuring cup.

5. Add a little bit of the flour mixture to the wet ingredients and blend them together with the spoon. Add a small amount of milk to the wet ingredients and mix them together. Continue alternating between adding the flour mixture and the milk to the batter until all the ingredients are combined.

Bake the Cake

1. Spread the batter in the springform pan with the wooden spoon.

2. Cut several slits into the outer rounded side of each apple quarter with the steak knife. The slits should run from the top of the apple to the bottom. Don't cut all the way through the apple. This lets the apples open as they bake.

3. Place 8 apple quarters in a circle around the top of the cake. Put the other 4 quarters in the cake's center.

4. Bake the cake for 50 to 55 minutes.

5. Test that the cake is done by sticking a wooden toothpick in the center. If the toothpick is clean when it's removed, the cake is finished baking.

6. Set the pan on a wire rack and let the cake completely cool.

Prepare the Cake for Serving

1. Remove the cake from the pan.

2. Place 3 tbsp. of powdered sugar in a flour sifter.

3. Hold the sifter over the cake and turn the handle.

4. Move the sifter around the top of the dessert and coat the top with the powdered sugar.

References

• Quick German Recipes: German Apple Cake Recipe
• What's Cooking America: Questions & Answers -- Definition of Springform Pan
• Williams-Sonoma: Traditional Flour Sifter
• Allrecipes: Apfelkuchen