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 🐾🐾🐾
Cooked this over the weekend using gluten free self raising flour…amazing…will definitely make again
Thank you Lou 🙂
Gluten free works brilliantly! I swapped flour for Edmonds gf plain flour and added 1 tsp guar gum in case the inside liquified and all the apple pieces dropped. They did not! Served with cream just takes it up the final notch. Great instructions, as always. Many thanks.
Perfect! It’s a very forgiving recipe, thank you for the feedback Jane!
So so easy and so so delicious!
I found mine still a little undercooked in the centre, but that was user error when checking the cook on the cake, not the recipe.
As someone who ALWAYS has cinnamon with apple in sweets, I was skeptical this would have enough oomph and flavour, but it absolutely does!
Thanks JB!
Sounds like a winner! Thank you Rachel!!
One of the comments reminded me of a cake/pie I developed when I was a teenager. We grew cranberries so I had to find ways to use them. I c flour, 1 c sugar, 1 cube melted butter, 2 eggs over 2 c berries and 1/2 c sugar in a pan. bake until golden brown
Made it today. It is a good as I remember. I had cut the apples into smaller pieces but your larger one are OK. Thanks for the cake
Thank you Eleanor!
This was delicious. I made it in a loose based flan case. It looked so
Professional and tasted delicious. It was lovely and moist too. Fabulous!
Thank you Lesley!!
I made this on the weekend. My partner and I finished half of it in 20 minutes. Just kept going back for more. The other half was finished by noon the next day. SOOOOOOO EASY TO MAKE,
Haha, now you have to make it again! Thank you Leonie!
This cake is a banger! So easy and delicious and didn’t last long!
Thank you Gemma!
Simple to make and lovely to eat with yoghurt or ice cream or just by itself. Definitely will make again when it’s apple season in NZ (and it’s a long season)
Thank you Diane! Sounds like it was a winner!
Absolutely delicious – I baked it twice in one day!
So good! Thank you Winnie!
Can I reduce the sugar? Or will it affect the texture?
Hi Yasmine, yes you could reduce it slightly. 🙂
Definitely be making an appearance at a lunch sometime soon in my house.
Looks amazing.
Sounds great! Thank you Andrew!
Unbelievably easy to make and absolutely delicious. I’m already planning to make it again! Thanks JB
Thanks for the feedback Paula!
Thank you for this recipe which I will try.
Could I add lemon juice to this recipe?
You are welcome Dana 🙂
So fluffy and so delicious, best apple cake recipe I’ve found.
Thank you Nadine!!
So simple and delicious. Approved by my 4 year old. Will definitely make again!
Perfect! Thank you Kristie!
Yummy! Is all I can say. Didn’t last longer than a day the both times I’ve baked it. I didn’t have plain flour, so I omitted the salt and baking powder and used self raising flour instead, also didnt have apples and swapped with 2-3 big pears and added a pinch of cinnamon also reduced the sugar content. Came out perfect and the whole family devoured it.
Thank you for your lovely feedback Paula!!
So easy and forgiving! Mixed everything by hand and turned out great. I baked it for 45 minutes!
Thank you Alana 🙂
10/10 loved this. Reheated well in the oven for breakfast the next day too. This will easily be on repeat come fall season in Canada 🇨🇦 🍎 Thanks JB!
I have only 8″ cake pans so I used a pie plate and it was okay, but for a special occasion, it’s not quite the thing!!! Could I use a springform pan, or try the 8″ cake pan? I’m a very timid baker, so not very good at making decisions!!!
Anyway, the cake was deemed very good, and very satisfying, high praise from a discerning connoisseur!!! Thanks so much!
Hi Joyce, if you do, make sure to monitor it closely. It will have to cook for longer. Cover it loosely with foil when the top is golden.
Thank you Stephanie!!!!
Hello, I would love to know if there is a dairy free substitute I could use in place of the butter and the quantities? Thank you!!
Hi Louise, I made it with equal quantities of Nuttelex and it was great. But I imagine it would work well with any dairy free spread.
Hi Louise, I haven’t tried it but as Natalie suggested it, the exact quantity of Nuttelex or margarine seems to do the job. Thanks!