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 🐾🐾🐾
I’ve got mine in the oven at the moment and it looks delicious but I’m up to 45 mins and still going. Not sure why. It will be delicious I’m sure but taking a lot longer in the oven.
Hi Emily, a few things can cause this, very juicy apples releasing extra liquid, a smaller cake tin making the cake thicker, an ovens running cooler than the set temperature. Do you think one of these could have been the issue? Thank you for giving it a go and sharing your feedback.
Hi JB,
Thanks so much for getting back to me!
You are spot on. I used a smaller tin than you suggested!
Yay, I thought I was going nuts!
It is a delicious cake!
Thanks
Emily
This was delicious! Family ate it all up that i didn’t get a picture. So super easy. I cut down on the sugar as the apple was so sweet already.
Thank you for the feedback Rin!
I struggled with this cake. The batter looked exactly as shown when I put it in the cake tin, but after 30 mins the middle was still very undercooked. I covered the top loosely with foil as it was already golden, but after another 15 minutes, and still uncooked in the middle, I gave up. The cooked part of the cake was tasty, but I won’t make this one again.
Sadly a failure with me also. Followed recipe exactly and tested oven temp to be sure it was not the cause. I used pre-heated fan-forced 160, centre oven and dark metal spring form pan. I cooked for an additional 10mins with foil cover and still middle uncooked. The cooked outer parts were scrumptious though. Any thoughts on what might be the issue?
Hi Danielle, thank you for the detailed feedback. My guess is the dark metal springform pan may have caused the outside to cook faster while the centre undercooked. Dark pans absorb heat more aggressively, so the outside and top can cook much faster while the centre is still catching up.
I would like to make this cake, however I am a vegetarian so no eggs. Kindly advise me what to replace the eggs with for this recipe. Thank you so much.
Hi Gayle, you can replace the eggs with 150ml of apple sauce.
The cake definitely took longer than 30 mins to cook & unfortunately, the longer it took to cook, the browner the top was
Hi Kim, I am sorry to hear that you’ve had an issue with the cake. Thank you for sharing your feedback. 🙂
Hi Julie, Hi, I’m sorry this one gave you trouble. The batter is meant to be quite thick, but the centre should still bake through. A few things can cause this,
very juicy apples releasing extra liquid, a smaller cake tin making the cake thicker, an ovens running cooler than the set temperature. Do you think one of these could have been the issue? You did the right thing covering it with foil once golden. Thank you for giving it a go and sharing your feedback.
Thank you for your reply JB. I know don’t have an oven temp issue, and I used the recommended cake tin size. I have since realised that my apples were fridge-cold, which could be the reason for the undercooked middle. 🤔. Everyone who had a piece liked it (great with cream!).
I have made this recipe twice in two days and added some cinnamon to the apple pieces. Our family absolutely loved it and finished it while it was still warm!
Thank you Shanal!! 🙂
Would I be able to use tinned apples?
Hi Corinna! You can use tinned apples but make sure to drain them very well first, otherwise the cake can become too wet. I would also pat them dry a little with paper towel.
I made this using Granny Smith apples and it turned out great. The cake is sweet enough for me so the Granny Smiths worked well. Beautiful and moist and easy to make. Thanks JB.
Thank you Christine for you feedback 🙂
Hello JB, Great recipe – thanks!!
Just checking, could I use SR flour & omit the baking powder. Thanks 👋🏼
I’m just trying that now as needed a quick cake and all I had was SR or high protein flour. We shall see soon hehe.
Thanks Narelle. Look forward to hearing how it went.
Hi Margaret it was good! if anything I thought it might not have risen enough but it was incredibly yummy and was eaten very quickly haha.needed a bit more time in the oven though. I’m going to make it again today because I have apples and I can’t help myself haha.
Well done Narelle!! Sounds great. Thanks for letting me know. Happy baking.
Hi Margaret, you can, the cake may rise a little more and have a slightly lighter texture
Thanks JB. Much appreciated.
Great job, JB, your mother would be proud of you 😀
Thanks Steve, I think she is!
Hi JB & Nagi,
I’ve just baked this beautiful cake but I used pears as I didn’t have any apples and it turned out perfectly. Thank you for sharing your mums recipe. It’s a keeper and I can’t wait to make it with apple.
Thank you Nino! I’m glad that with pears is also a great option 🙂
Hi JB, I do love your recipes (love Nagi’s too of course) and am all set to cook your wonderful Poulet Rôti for the second time tonight.
It is so lovely to see your Mum’s hand written recipe and I am wondering if you know why she called it Thursday cake?
Hi Carol, so glad to are cooking the poulet rôti again!! Thursday cake because children traditionally only go to school 4 days a week, and Thursday used to be the day off (nowadays it is usually Wednesday instead). So many families would bake a simple homemade cake for the children on that day, which is why it’s called “Gâteau du Jeudi”.
Thanks JB, that’s an interesting little piece of background knowledge to go with the cake 😊
Just made JB’s French Apple Cake and as always , made it GF – worked beautifully! (! = emphasis, not shock) 😉 What a ‘yum crumb’!
Thanks RecipeTin Eats Kitchen!
Hi Belinda, I’m glad it worked! What kind of blend did you use? I’m curious to know 🙂
Currently I’m using the Coles ‘I’m Free From’ brand of GF plain flour. When I had my GF baking business, I used Well & Good GF flours (20kg bags!) as I think that is superior however, Coles must have changed their mix & it works just as well.
Nagi’s Perfect Vanilla Cake is a huge winner – lasting for up to 3 days easily GF, although it doesn’t work as well dairy free – so butter definitely makes a difference.
Can you please tell me why unsalted butter is used in recipes and then salt is an added ingredient wouldn’t it be easier just to use salted butter?????
Salted butters do not all have the same amount of salt. So if you use unsalted butter and add just what the recipe says, you will always have the right amount of salt in your finished cake. Otherwise you might end up with a quite salty cake !
In France the butter that everyone buys and is the more widely available is unsalted. We have salted too, but this tends to be very salty as it generally uses salt crystals (it’s a speciality, and has its place, but not in most baking recipes) which is why French recipes always call for unsalted butter.
Obviously a contrast as to what is the more widely available salted butter in Oz and NZ.
Sometimes I come hier to look for recipe in your tin (never failed) and sometimes just to see Dozer’s fotos…
Hi Anja, did you do both this time? I hope you did 🙂
Hi Chef JB! I made Nagi’s apple cake some time back and I’m looking forward to trying yours. Do you think it might work as cupcakes! Also, loves the hair pictures. Dozer looked far more relaxed in his! 🤣
Hi Maura, yes, I think they would work nicely as cupcakes. They’ll be softer and more moist than regular cupcakes because of all the fruit. Just fill the tins quite full and reduce the bake time a bit.
Maura, sorry for butting in, I have turned Nagi’s Recipe into cupcakes a number of times and have turned out beautifully and moist…
This recipe is sooooo good! Made exactly as the recipe says (I used Honeycrisp apples), and it’s perfect. I’m not even a good baker, lol. Highly recommend. Thank you from Canada 🙂
Thank you Emily, so happy you loved it!
Can I use rhubarb instead of apples please?
Tried rhubarb instead of apple. Worked well. I cut the rhubarb and sprinkled it with a couple tablespoons of sugar, and let it macerate in the fridge for a minimum of an hour… before adding it to the batter..nice tartness of the rhubarb with sweetness of the cake.
Thank Wendy for your feedback on the rhubarb version. ♥️
Thank you Wendy O! Is rhubarb season in the UK and it’s great to use it fresh!
The apple cake looks delicious! Dozer apparently really liked being pampered! I doubt my dog would let anyone with a blow dryer get near him!
Hi Barb, Dozer was so patient! Thank you 🙂
Merci for sharing your moms recipe. The paper shows that it was used alot.
Braeburn, pink lady, honeycrisp 🍎..my fave.
Looks easy but yummy.
Merci Chef JB
Les photos di vous et Dozer sont isi mignon
Hi Lesley, thank you for you kind words. Yes she definitely baked it a lot. Even for our birthdays 🙂
Absolutely delicious & so simple.
I used a variety of apples I hadn’t tried before Apple Crisp.
Worked beautifully.
Love the trick about bringing eggs to room temp -I always forget to my eggs out of the fridge !
Thanks JB It’s now in my Tin too
This recipe looks amazing! However, I was wondering – since I live in a tropical country – can I switch the apples for pineapples?
Gracias!
Hi Emma, you definitely can but pineapple is juicier than apples, so use a little less and pat it dry first or the cake may become too wet. Fresh pineapple is best. A little lime zest or dark rum would also be lovely with it!
You solved my dessert dilemma for tonight. We are having roast chicken and this is perfect. Merci JB!
P.S. Dozer does seem to be enjoying himself more🐾
Amazing! Sounds like a delicious dinner! Thank you Nancy 🙂