German Apple Cake Recipe

German apple cake topped with powdered sugar on a pink plate, two pink glasses are in the upper left, pink plates and gold forks are on the right, a red and white striped towel is on the bottom left.

Course: Dessert

Cuisine: german

Keyword: German apple cake, sunken apple cake, versunkener apfelkuchen

Prep Time: 15

Cook Time: 55

Total Time: 1 10

Servings:

Calories: 405kcal

This easy traditional German apple cake recipe, also known as versunkener apfelkuchen, or sunken apple cake, is made with yogurt and sweet, juicy apples to keep it moist and delicious, and you don't need a mixer of any kind to make it!

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Equipment

Ingredients

1½ cups all-purpose flour
2 teaspoon baking powder
¼ teaspoon kosher salt
½ cup melted unsalted butter 8 tablespoons
½ cup granulated sugar
3 eggs at room temperature
2 tablespoon lemon juice plus more for the apples
zest of one lemon
¼ cup plain yogurt at room temperature
2 teaspoon vanilla extract
3 medium Gala apples or other sweet baking apple
powdered sugar for serving

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Instructions

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Melt the butter in a small sauce pan over low heat, or in the microwave. Set aside to cool.
Butter a 9-inch springform pan, cut a circle of parchment paper and line the bottom of the pan with it, then butter the parchment and set the pan aside.
Zest the lemon then juice it. Set aside 2 tablespoons of lemon juice for the cake batter. Transfer remaining lemon juice to a small bowl, you'll use it to keep the peeled apples from turning brown. If you don't have much left, juice another lemon to be safe.
Add the flour, baking powder, and salt to a mixing bowl and whisk to combine, then set aside.
Add the sugar to the cooled melted butter and whisk for a minute or two until it's opaque.
Add eggs to the sugar mixture one at a time and whisk until fully incorporated and smooth. Finally, add the yogurt, lemon juice, lemon zest, and vanilla to the egg mixture and whisk to combine. Set wet ingredients aside. See note.
**Before you prep the apples, know that you can peel all of the apples or none of the apples. I like to keep the skin on one of them and peel the other two to make a pretty design on top. You do you.**
First, slice the apple that you aren't going to peel. Cut it into quarters, then cut out the core. Using a small paring knife, cut small slices going lengthwise down the apple without going all the way through to the other side (see photo above.) Coat the apple pieces in the extra lemon juice and set aside.
Peel the next apple, then roll it around in the bowl of lemon juice to coat it and keep it from turning brown. Cut it into quarters and cut out the core. Repeat the process of making narrow slices in the apple going lengthwise without cutting all the way through. Coat it in more lemon juice. Repeat this process with the last apple.
Gently fold the dry ingredients into the wet in 3 batches, making sure all of the dry ingredients are completely incorporated. (This batter is good at hiding flour, so be on the lookout!)
Transfer the batter to the prepared pan and use an offset spatula to smooth it toward the edges and make sure it's level on top. Making the design of your choice on top, gently press the apple quarters core-side down into the batter about ¼-½ centimeter deep, just so a little bit of the batter comes up around the edges. (You may have pieces left over depending on the size of your apples.)
Bake 50-55 minutes until the edges of the cake are deeply golden and starting to come away from the edges. Cool the cake completely in the pan. Dust with powdered sugar just before serving.

Notes

Don't combine wet and dry ingredients until the apples are sliced: We are waiting until the apples are peeled and sliced before mixing the wet and dry ingredients for a good reason! Once you mix them together, that baking powder starts doing its thing making bubbles. If you set the finished batter aside too long, this reaction will be over and done with, and your German apple cake won't rise well.
Have all ingredients and tools ready to go: This German apple cake recipe is simple, but it's also a quick process. Meaning you need to have everything ready to go so you can get your apples sliced and onto the cake before they turn brown. Measure out all of your ingredients and have all of your bowls and tools handy before you start.
Melted butter makes a better cake: This cake has a lot of eggs, and when I was testing the recipe I found that creaming the butter and sugar together then adding eggs created an odd texture. So I tried melting the butter and that solved it! It makes the batter ultra smooth and helps to keep the cake moist.
Don't slice the apples all the way through: Take care not to slice all the way through the apple, we just want to make slits in it so the apple holds its shape and doesn't fall apart. The slices are there to help the apple cook faster and more evenly, and to look pretty! Cutting the apples this way also ensures that the cake batter cooks completely without being overwhelmed by the moisture that would be released from apple slices.
To quickly bring eggs to room temperature: Forgot to take your eggs out of the fridge? Same girl, same. My favorite trick for this is to put them in a bowl of very warm—but not hot—water (still in the shell) for 5-10 minutes.

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Nutrition