Recipes · Cakes & pastries
Sunken Apple Cake
AI-written · not yet kitchen-tested
The batter encloses the apple pieces as it bakes and stays moist. The apples don't need slicing: quartered and scored, they are pressed into the batter and sink in by themselves.
This recipe was written with AI assistance and has not yet been kitchen-tested. Check quantities and times as you cook, and follow safe core temperatures for meat, poultry, fish and eggs.
Ingredients
- 200 g (1 cup) softened butter
- 200 g (1 cup) sugar
- 1 packet vanilla sugar
- 1 pinch salt
- 4 eggs medium
- 250 g (2 cup) all-purpose flour German type 405
- 2 tsp baking powder
- 4 tbsp milk
- 4 tart apples about 1 1/2 lb / 700 g in total
- 1 tbsp lemon juice
- butter and breadcrumbs for the pan
- 2 tbsp confectioners' sugar for dusting
Method
- Preheat the oven to 350 °F (180 °C), conventional (top and bottom heat), or 325 °F (160 °C) with convection. Grease a 10-inch (26 cm) springform pan and dust it with breadcrumbs.
- Peel, quarter and core the apples. Score the rounded side of each quarter lengthwise several times without cutting all the way through. Drizzle with the lemon juice.
- Beat the butter, sugar, vanilla sugar and salt until fluffy. Stir in the eggs one at a time.
- Mix the flour and baking powder and briefly stir them into the egg mixture, alternating with the milk, until the batter is smooth.
- Spoon the batter into the pan and smooth the top. Press the apple quarters in a circle into the batter, scored side up, about halfway down.
- Bake for about 55 minutes, until the cake is golden brown and a wooden skewer comes out clean. If it browns too fast, cover it with aluminum foil after 35 minutes.
- Let the cake cool briefly in the pan, then release it and dust it with confectioners' sugar before serving.
Tip: Tart apples (Granny Smith, Braeburn, Boskoop) keep their shape and flavor. Sweet apples turn bland in the oven.
Tip: The cake is still moist on the second day because the apples release moisture. Store it in an airtight container.