Apfelkuchen. Or Apple Cake. Or Bavarian Apple Cake. OR “Happy Apple Cake” as I’m calling it….
This was a common treat when I visited my grand parents as a kid, so was homemade apple strudel, spaetzle and all kinds of yummy German/Austrian/Bavarian things to eat. My grandmother was an excellent baker and made everything from scratch. My mom was telling me how she even made her own phyllo dough for the strudel. That is a LOT of work, something I hope to try one day.
I saw Barbara from Creative Culinary, post this pear quick bread the other day with the hashtag, #TwelveLoaves, and I asked her what it was all about. She told me it was a monthly recipe group all about breads and that there was a different flavor theme each month, but we could make our own twist on it, not have to follow the exact same recipe as everyone else. November’s theme is apples and pears, and well what do you know? I still have a HUGE bag of apples that we picked from our trip to the apple orchard not too long ago. So apple bread it was. Barbara also told me that it didn’t have to be limited to just bread that its merely a suggestion and that anything from waffles, to quick bread, to cake would count. So I went on a little search for inspiration. I have some apple cider in my freezer still so I was thinking maybe an apple cider bread; but then when I was looking online I came across some recipes for Apfelkuchen and knew I had to make it, I mean after all I am Austrian and my mom did grow up in Germany and they have like some of the best pastries in the world. Especially apple pastries
To keep with the bread theme, I made these into two smaller loaves than a traditional round cake. Since its a bread theme with #Twelveloaves I thought making them more like a quick bread than a cake would be appropriate. These were a bit of a challenge to make, but so worth it. This is a lightly sweetened yeast raised cake, and the apples bake just enough to turn mushy at all. I hate that. Mushy apples. Ew.
I had to scrape the topping off the tops of the apples so you could see them, since that is part of the decor of the cake, and I think it looks really neat. I cut into the cake for a cute “slice” pic and couldn’t stop laughing at what I found. My husband was cracking up too.
Dude. The cake is SMILING at us. I so didn’t plan this. When I put down the first layer of apples in the cake, I didn’t realize how much the cake was going to rise, this was my first time with a yeast cake, and I didn’t layer in enough apples. I was working quickly since we were making dinner at the same time and I had a cramped work space, hungry kids, hungry mom ( that would be me) etc so I was kind of rushing. So when we cut into the cake and realized the first apple layer was closer to the top than expected I was dying laughing that it made it look like the cake had a face.
A closer look. Maybe Apfelkuchen really means ” happy apple cake”. Maybe its my grandmother smiling at me through the cake for making one of her recipes. I lost her when I was 16, so I hope I made her proud.
Lots of other tasty apple and pear breads and cakes are posted on Creative Culinary and Cake Duchess, the two hosts of #Twelveloaves, and posts also mentioned on #TwelveLoaves on Twitter. Come join in the fun, the group is open to anyone. I think!
We cut another piece to show what the apples in the top looked like, and also because I told my husband there was no way I could eat the piece that was smiling at us. He said he had no problem eating it. Figures. Typical guy.
- Ingredients
- 2 ¼ c all purpose flour (281 g)
- ½ c sugar (100 g)
- 1 packet of rapid rise yeast, or active dry yeast
- ½ tsp salt
- ¾ c milk (178ml)
- ⅓ cup butter, softened (76g)
- 1 large egg, room temp
- 1 tsp vanilla extract (5 ml)
- 2 cups apples, peeled, cored and sliced thin
- 1 tsp lemon juice (5 ml)
- 1 tbsp sugar(14g)
- 4-8 small apples, peeled, halved, and tops sliced thin but not all the way through (8 if using a larger pan)
- Topping
- ½ c sugar (100g)
- 1 tsp cinnamon (.68 g)
- 2 tbsp cold butter(30g), cut into small pieces
- Grease either 2 8X4 loaf pans or a 9X13 pan with butter.
- Combine the thin apple slices with the lemon juice and sugar,stirring to coat well and set aside.
- Combine the topping ingredients in a small bowl and mix with a fork until crumbly.
- In a bowl of a stand mixer combine half of the flour, sugar, yeast and salt and mix to combine.
- Heat the butter and milk together until the butter is melted and the temperature is 120 deg f. Slowly add this to the flour mixture. Beat on medium until combined, about 2 minutes.
- Add in the egg, vanilla and mix well again and then add the rest of the flour and mix on low until a stiff batter forms.
- Spread a little less than half the mixture on the bottom of the prepared pans, it is pretty stiff and stretchy so work slowly to not over work the dough. Place the apple slices over the dough and cover with the remaining dough. Gently press the apple halves into the top of the dough, arranging in any pattern desired. Sprinkle the topping over the batter avoiding the tops of the sliced apples. Cover pan with a towel and let rest in a warm, draft free area until batter has doubled in size, at least an hour
- Preheat oven to 350 deg f
- Uncover the pan or pans and bake for 20-30 minutes or until done. Let cool in pans on a wire rack. If made in loaf pans carefully remove from pans and set on a plate to cool. Can be served room temperature or warmed with a scoop of vanilla ice cream.
Vanilla ice cream always goes good with anything apple. So says my husband.
I love the “Happy Apple Cake”! I’ll take a look at #Twelveloaves, too. I’ve seen your conversations with Barbara, just haven’t had time to get over there.
You totally should! I am glad I saw it when I did but a little bummed I didn’t earlier because all of the previous month’s themes were awesome too!
The smile made me crack up!
This take me back so many years to my Grandma as you know…she was a fabulous baker too and everything you mentioned came from her kitchen. She lived in a part of St. Louis that was filled with German immigrants; I have never been to a bakery anywhere else that comes close to the delights we could pick up each Sunday morning. Ah, memories.
Great job and thanks so much for joining us!
Thank you so much! I had fun making the cake and it brought back fond memories of my Grandma as well. In fact, my mom and I were talking about a lot of the recipes she would make when my mom was a kid and my mom has her recipes in a book. I am going to get it next week and start trying more authentic German and Austrian recipes. I know some will be challenging, like making phyllo dough from scratch, but I think it will be a fun challenge. Looking forward to next months challenge!
Your apfelkuchen is gorgeous! I’m thrilled you joined us this month and that you were inspired by your heritage. LOVE the smile and yes, I’m sure your grandmother is smiling at you for baking such a beautiful cake:) Thanks for joining #TwelveLoaves, Shanna:)
Thank you so much Lora! I wish I had found out earlier since all the previous months recipes look like they would have been fun to make as well. I want to try many from each month. I think I need more time in my day to bake all that I want to bake!
Confession – I still have apples in my fridge, a month old by now. Eek! Hope my cake turns out just as happy as yours
We still have a bag of apples. I didn’t realize how many we picked. I am thinking I will make crock pot applesauce with the rest before they go bad. Don’t want all that hard workd of picking them going to waste!
Very happy accident indeed! Your pictures look stunning! Seriously, you are really talented! I need you to come by and give me some lessons!
Thank you Ashley! I try really hard to make my pictures look good. I am a total beginner photog but my husband has been a hobbyist photographer for a while and has taught me how to use his Nikon, plus I am always looking at other blogs that I love to try to figure out how they shoot so I improve. I would love to take a class one day on food photography, I need to learn composition and styling better plus winning the lottery for a huge stockpile of photo props would be nice too!!
This sounds so good and the smile was just the cutest, love this!
Thanks! Happy apple cake! ha ha
Your quick bread sounds fantastic and so glad to have you in the group. I am new too, this was my first month. I can’t wait to see what you will share in December.
Thanks! It was fun. I am trying to think of what to make – I have a few ideas I am tossing around so we will see! I am all for baking with booze! ha ha