This is an incredibly easy French apple cake that is great served any time of day. My mum used to make it all the time – she still does. I especially love it served warm with vanilla ice cream or cream. Let’s go!
Nagi's Notes
For years I’ve been loyal to this Spiced Apple Cake. Then JB made his mum’s Apple Cake, and it completely won me over with its simplicity and the way it lets the apples truly shine. It’s unfussy, and just so damn lovely, I completely understand why it’s been a favourite in JB’s family for so long. I feel very honoured that his mother has allowed us to share it with the world. Thank you Madame Alexandre!
French Apple Cake
I have very good memories from my childhood of this Apple Cake (gâteau aux pommes). The area where I grew up was known for its apple trees, we would often come home from the local market with fresh apples just so we could bake one! You’ll find this cake all over France and everyone has their own version. This one is very close to my mum’s recipe, with a few little tweaks from me along the way (sorry, Mum!).
French Apple Cakes are all about letting the main character shine – the apples! They are less sugary and not loaded with cinnamon and other spices that dominate the flavour. Typically, the cake is not very tall, and the crumb is soft and buttery. It’s a rustic cake, simple to make and perfect to serve at an afternoon tea with family or friends.
Ingredients
We only use a few ingredients here with the apples being the stars. You can really use any apples, so this is a great recipe to make when you have a few sitting in the fruit bowl needing to be used up ☺️.
Apples – For best flavour I prefer sweet-tart apples like Pink Lady, Fuji or Jazz; Honey Crisp or Braeburn (US/UK) are also great. Personally, I don’t use Granny Smith here as I find they can be a little too tart, but they will still work if that’s what you have.
Pears will also work great here, as long as they are not overly ripe.
Butter – You need unsalted butter here, softened to room temperature.
Sugar – I use caster sugar / superfine sugar for the cake. You could use regular white sugar / granulated sugar, but I prefer the fine grains of caster sugar for baking, as they dissolve more easily.
Eggs – This cake uses “large eggs” – 50–55 g / 2 oz is the industry standard of sizes sold as “large eggs”. The eggs need to be room temperature else they will not incorporate smoothly into the batter. If your eggs are cold, you can easily bring them to room temp by placing them in a large bowl, covering them with warm (not hot) tap water and leaving for 5 minutes.
Vanilla extract – For best flavour, I like to use natural vanilla extract / pure vanilla extract.
Flour – Just plain flour / all-purpose flour.
Baking powder – Makes the batter rise and the crumb light. If your baking powder has been sitting in the pantry for a while, it’s best to check that it’s still active (it might be dead, even if it’s within use-by date!). Find out how to check it here.
Salt – Just a small amount, 1/4 teaspoon. This brings out the flavours in the cake.
How To Make French Apple Cake
This traditional French cake is easy-to-make and ideal for even beginner cooks. One thing that may surprise you is the thickness of the batter. It’s quite thick once everything is mixed together, especially after adding all the apples, but this is completely normal. As the cake bakes, the apples release moisture into the batter which creates that beautifully soft and tender texture.
Whisk dry ingredients – Whisk the flour, baking powder and salt together in a medium mixing bowl.
Cream butter and sugar – In a larger mixing bowl, using a handheld electric beaters (or in a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment), beat the butter for about 1 minute on medium speed until creamy. Add the sugar and beat the mixture for another minute until fluffy and pale yellow.
Add eggs and vanilla – Add the eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition. Add the vanilla and beat to combine.
Add dry ingredients to wet ingredients – Add the flour mixture to the bowl and beat on low speed for about 30 seconds or until you can no longer see any bits of dry flour, then stop beating – don’t overmix.
Add apple – Add the diced apple and stir it evenly into the mixture using a spatula. The batter will be quite thick and not pourable.
Add batter to pan – Scoop the batter into a 23cm/9” lined cake pan, then level the surface.
Bake – Bake on the middle shelf of the oven at 180°C / 350°F (160°C fan-forced) for 35 minutes, or until a skewer inserted in the centre comes out clean.
Cool and serve – The top of the cake should be a nice golden brown colour. Let the cake cool for 5 minutes in the pan before turning it out onto a wire rack. Cool for 10 minutes if serving warm or let it cool completely. Dust with icing / powdered sugar (optional) and enjoy!
How to Serve French Apple Cake
My favourite way to serve French Apple Cake is warm with a scoop of vanilla ice cream on the side – très bon! But you can also serve it at room temperature. It’s just as good for afternoon tea as it is as the final sweet course to follow a simple French meal like Poulet rôti or Chicken Chasseur.
This cake is very close to my heart. I can’t wait for you to try it and hear what you think. Bon appétit! – JB
FAQ – French Apple Cake
I haven’t tried a gluten free version of this cake, so I can’t say for sure how it will turn out. Because this cake has very little batter and lots of apples, I think it should work quite well with a good quality 1:1 gluten free flour blend, but the texture may be slightly different. If you try it, I’d love to hear how it goes!
You can really use any apples for this cake as they won’t get overly soft. I like to use sweet-tart apples that hold their shape when baked so you still get lovely soft chunks inside the cake. In Australia, Pink Lady, Fuji and Jazz are great. In the US, Honeycrisp and Braeburn work very well too. I personally avoid Granny Smith because they are too tart but feel free to use them.
Absolutely. Pears work beautifully in this cake. Use ripe but still a little firm pears so they don’t fall apart while baking.
Watch How To Make It
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French Apple Cake
Ingredients
- 3 red apples – I like Pink Lady , peeled and diced into 1.5cm/0.6" cubes (~ 3 1/2 cups) (Note 1 for other varieties)
- 100g(7 tbsp) unsalted butter, softened
- 3/4 cup caster sugar / superfine sugar (Note 2)
- 3 large eggs , at room temperature (55g/2oz each in shell)
- 1 tsp vanilla extract , natural / pure
- 1 1/3 cups plain flour / all-purpose flour
- 1 1/4 tsp baking powder
- 1/4 tsp cooking salt / kosher salt
For serving:
- Icing sugar / powdered sugar , for dusting
- Vanilla ice cream or whipped cream, optional for serving
Instructions
ABBREVIATED RECIPE
- Cream butter then sugar. Beat in eggs one at a time, then vanilla. Beat in dry ingredients, stir through apple. Bake in 23cm/9″ pan at 180°C/350°F (160°C fan) for 30 minutes.
FULL RECIPE
- Preheat the oven to 180°C/350°F (160°C fan-forced).
- Cake pan – Butter a 23cm/9" round cake pan and line the base with baking paper / parchment paper. No need to line the sides.
- Dry ingredients – In a separate bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder and salt.
- Cream butter and sugar – Using a handheld beater or stand mixer with the paddle attachment, beat the butter for 1 minute on medium until creamed. Add the sugar and beat on medium for 1 minute until fluffy and becomes a paler yellow.
- Eggs and vanilla – Add the eggs one at a time, mixing well after each addition. Beat in the vanilla extract.
- Add the flour mixture into the bowl and beat on low until you can no longer see dry flour, then stop beating. You don't want to overmix.
- Apples – Stir through the diced apples using a spatula. The batter will be quite thick, it's not pourable.
- Bake – Spread the batter evenly into the prepared cake pan. Bake for 35 minutes, or until a skewer inserted in the centre comes out clean (because the batter is quite thick and if your oven runs a bit cool, it could take up to 45 minutes). (Note 3)
- Rest and serve – Let the cake rest for 5 minutes in the pan before removing. Cool for a further 10 minutes then serve warm or let it cool completely on a wire rack. Dust with icing sugar, if desired. If serving warm, it's especially lovely with a scoop of ice cream.
Recipe Notes:
Nutrition Information:
In Memory Of Dozer
And finally, Dozer ☺️ These photos were taken at the RecipeTin Meals kitchen before a TV shoot while we were both getting ready. As you can see, Dozer is enjoying the full hair and make-up treatment by Kristy Orr who did an amazing job that day! Two good boys getting pampered… though I think one of us was having a really good hair day 🐾🐾🐾
Hi – great website, lots of fantastic recipes and information. One question though (!) – why don’t you give weights measure for all (most) ingredients rather than switching between weights and ‘cups’ (which are more open to variance). Just wondering? Thanks for all your generosity and kindness too. Lisa
Hi Lisa, thank you for the feedback! You can click on the metric button located underneath the ingredients title to access all the weight measurements 🙂
Had some apple in the fridge that needed to be used up, so I made this.
Was a hit with the kids. The edges where there it didn’t have the apple chunks, was a little bit dry, but overall was a very delicious cake. The cake reminded me of the apple tea cakes they used to sell at the Cheesecake Shop. My son also said that the cake tasted a little like Castella cake, but with apples.
Perfect timing! Thank you Nell for the feedback 🙂
What a fabulous cake! Very easy to make and delicious. Was a bit sceptical about having no spices but they are definitely not needed. Family and myself are very impressed!
Thank you Donna, so happy the family loved it 🙂
Oh JB this recipe is a real winner 👍…so easy and delicious…another one for my 💖file ….
Thank you Berverley ♥️
Sorry, forgot to give it. 5 stars. 5 to Dozer too for enjoying his blow dry – sorry JB, 1 for yours!
Blimey JB, this cake is just beautiful – thank-you to you and your mother. Between Nagi moist apple cake and this, I am ready for any entertaining – and just enjoying a treat for the family. I already know the recipe by heart!
Thank you Clare for the great report 🙂
The cake is delicious. Simple to make. I like the buttery texture with the slightly crunchy apples. I reduced the sugar by 20% which is just nice.
Thank you for the lovely feedback Lee!
Excellent easy recipe that turned out beautifully. Made for friends visiting & served with thick cream. Definitely a great ‘go to’ recipe that will get a good work out. Many thanks for sharing.
Thank you!!! 🙂
I made this the other day. I was worried it was too thick as I put it in the pan but then realised it was supposed to. I put it in a 20cm tin so cooked for a little more time & left it in the oven after turning the oven off —BUT I didn’t turn the oven off. Basically left it for 1.5 hours. I thought it would be a disaster & need to throw it out. I decided to try it & apart from being “crispy” bottom & top it still tasted magnificent. I added cream to make it a not so dry top but my husband didn’t worry. Next piece I didn’t worry either
Thank you Margaret, sounds like it was extra crispy yes! But most importantly, you still enjoyed it!
I’ve made this twice in two days for different events and both times got great feedback. Delicious slightly warmed and served with whipped cream. Thanks JB, your mum for sharing and Nagi.
Thank you Carrie!
I just made this and it’s amazing. Thank you JB’s mum for sharing ❤️
You are welcome! Thank you Pam!
Made this one on the day it came into my mail box. It was perfect timing as this year my apple trees were loaded. In this household, we enjoy the retro hearty home recipes more than anything else. Keep it coming!
I’m so happy it worked out well for you! Thank you Zoe 🙂
Delicious! It was good with gluten free flour which is a necessity at our house. Great with ice cream and even good warm with just a little butter on top. My husband said it was better than the Apple Bundt cake we usually make which is a glowing recommendation.
Hi Janet,
I’m so glad it worked as it sounds delicious.
Which brand gf flour did you use? Was it plain flour?
thank you
I used Molino gluten free cake flour. It has become my favorite GF flour.
Thank you Janet 🙂
Beautiful and delicious apple cake! The apple brought in the crunch, combined with velvety buttery cake. This will be on repeat in my household. Thanks, JB!
Delicious! It was good with gluten free flour which is a necessity at our house. Great with ice cream and even good warm with just a little butter on top. My husband said it was better than the Apple Bundt cake we usually make which is a glowing recommendation.
Thank you for the feedback Janet!
Thank you Grace!
Would tinned pears be a possible substitute? I have all the other ingredients and avoiding going out would be lovely! 😆
Hi Lisa, tin pears would be a bit to soft for this cake. They wouldn’t hold their shape and the extra moisture would change the cake texture. But fresh pears can be a great substitute to apples.
I made this today and have already had two slices. It’s easy to make and is fantastic with freshly whipped cream. I’ll have to freeze the rest in portions to keep myself in check. Thanks for sharing this recipe 😉
You are very welcome! Thank you Shannon!
Just made JB’s French Apple cake and it was delicious! Many thanks for the recipe. Will be making it a lot now!
Thank you Mhairi!
Thanks for sharing your Mom’s recipe JB. This is exactly the type of cake I like to make after serving guests a dinner. I love the simplicity of it and the dusting of icing sugar. I can’t wait to try it. Many thanks.
Thank you Elizabeth 🙂
Because I cannot faithfully follow a recipe, I made this with stewed quince and added the rum.
The mixing bowl was scraped clean. The smell of the cake as it was baking filled the house with the most glorious aroma. We watched the timer eagerly waiting for the 10 minute cooling period to end to eat the cake warm. Yum.
This was so easy to make and was totally delicious.
Highly recommend.
Thank you Kyra for your lovely comment, it’s very heartwarming ♥️
I haven’t made this cake yet, but have to tell you how thrilled I was to see it just now. For ten years my husband and I owned a small apartment in Provence and I loved seeing the photo of your mother’s recipe in French, looking like a time-worn beloved recipe written by any mother might have done. Can’t wait to try it.
Thank you for your lovely comment Judith ♥️