Description
This easy apple cake recipe is super moist and delicious, with a crispy crackly top and the best apple flavor. Make it in one bowl with only 20 minutes of hands-on time before baking.
Ingredients
- 1/2 cup butter, softened to room temperature
- 1/4 cup olive oil
- 1 cup sugar
- 3 large eggs
- 1 tablespoon vanilla
- 1 3/4 cups of all-purpose flour, spooned and leveled
- 2 teaspoons baking powder
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1 1/2 teaspoons ground cardamom (or sub cinnamon)
- 3 honey crisp apples, cored and thinly sliced (1/4-inch thick), no need to peel, but feel free to. Use baking apples: Honeycrisp apples (my favorite), gala, honey-gold apples, golden delicious, pink lady, and red delicious. I used apples that were 4 inches in diameter.
- 2 tablespoons demerara sugar, or regular sugar for the crackly top.
- Optional: sprinkle the top with fresh grated nutmeg before baking.
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350F
- Prepare an 8-9-inch spring form pan. Line the bottom with parchment paper. Butter the bottom and all sides of the pan.
- Cut the apples thinly (1/4-inch thick) and set aside.
- In a large bowl (or the bowl of a stand mixer using the paddle attachment) whip butter, olive oil and sugar until it’s a light and creamy mixture.
- Whisk in the eggs one at a time, and the vanilla. Sprinkle in the baking powder, salt, and cardamom and whisk well, then mix in the flour until well combined. Fold in ⅔ of the sliced apples (saving the last third for the top). Tip: save the reddest apple slices for the top. You will have a thick, “apple-y” cake batter – don’t worry the apples will reduce while baking.
- With a rubber spatula, spoon batter into the prepared pan, smoothing the top. Arrange the remaining apple slices overtop, leaving generous spaces of bare batter. Sprinkle batter and apples with 2 tablespoons of sugar, to get a delicious crust.
- Bake on the middle rack for 50-60 minutes, until puffed, deeply golden, and a toothpick comes out clean. Check at 45 minutes and lightly tent with foil if getting too dark. When done, it should not jiggle in the center, and the internal temp should be at least 208F
- Let it cool completely on a wire rack. Run a knife around the edges before removing the sides of the pan.
Notes
Store the cake on the counter (covered) for up to 3 days (in milder climates), or keep it for up to a week in the refrigerator in a sealed container, or wrap it tightly and freeze it in the freezer for up to 3 months.
Serve with a drizzle of warm maple syrup, scoop of vanilla ice cream, cardamom ice cream, or whipped cream.
Halve the recipe and baked in a parchment-lined loaf pan, or bake it in a 9-inch cake pan lined with parchment.
Sugar: I have reduced the sugar in the cake recipe, so the sugar on top is pretty crucial. 🙂
Nutrition
- Serving Size: 1/10th of the cake
- Calories: 354
- Sugar: 28.7 g
- Sodium: 142.1 mg
- Fat: 16.6 g
- Saturated Fat: 7.1 g
- Carbohydrates: 48.4 g
- Fiber: 2 g
- Protein: 4.4 g
- Cholesterol: 80.2 mg