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 🐾🐾🐾
can plain flour be swapped with self raising flour?
Hi Candice, you can use self-raising flour instead. Just replace the plain flour and baking powder with the same weight of self-raising flour, and leave out the baking powder. The cake may rise just a touch more, but it will still work well.
can i substitute plain flour with self raising flour for this recipe?
I love this recipe and have made it several times.
My question is: could I use self raising flour instead of plain flour/baking powder?
I would prefer all the ingredients to be listed in grams rather than cups, as I am always wondering where the recipe comes from.
Thank you for your wonderful recipes.
Hi Angelika, I’m so happy to hear you’ve made it several times. Yes, you can use self-raising flour instead. Just replace the plain flour and baking powder with the same weight of self-raising flour, and leave out the baking powder. The cake may rise just a touch more, but it will still work well.
Also, if you click the “Metric” button on the recipe card (next to the ingredients), everything will automatically convert from cups to grams and millilitres. Hopefully that makes it much easier to follow!
I have cooked this a numberof times, everyone loves it. Now I make a double batch and cook it in muffin size patty pans, then freeze it. Each cake can go straight from the freezer into the microwave for about 25 secs. They come out perfectly. So I always have morning tea on hand- it makes me look so clever.
So good to read your comment Julie! Thank you!
Complete convert to this! But, i had to do my little wholemeal variation on this the 2nd time around. For those who feel the urge to replace plain flour with wholemeal, a few tips.
1-Replace 50% plain flour with whole meal – more than that messes with the taste imo.
2-tiny recipe changes: 1.5 tsp baking powder, instead of 1.25; added 2 tbsp milk while incorporating flour
3-I used 110g of sugar (don’t like stuff too sweet, and this was sufficient for my 5-year old)
4-took 45-50 mins, with the cake covered to cook fully (to prevent the top getting burned)
The taste still makes me sigh.
Great job Anita on making your own version and still succeeding!
Made this today and it was so easy, and the family loved it. It was a great way to use up some apples I had that needed to be eaten. RTE recipes always work perfectly.
Thank you Juliette!
I think this is our new favourite cake/apple dish
So easy and soooo incredibly delish! Loved it both warm and cold
I’m baking it for a second day in a row hehe
Hi Sheridan, I’m so glad it went well for you and cooking it again is the best feedback I could ask for! Thank you!
Hi. I’m very anxious to make your French Apple cake for my grand daugher. However, she’s very allergic to eggs. Do you have a substitute I could use?
thank you.
Hi Pamela, I usually recommend to replace eggs with apple sauce (same quatity) but i haven’t tried it for this recipe. I’d like to read your feedback if you do. Hope that helps.
Great recipe! I substituted flax meal and olive oil-based butter to make it vegan and it worked perfectly. This will become a regular for our family. I like the gluten free comments too, great to know that this recipe is so versatile.
Hi Anne, I’m so happy it worked out with all the tweaking. Thank you 🙂
I’ve made this twice now and I’m addicted. It’s easy and perfect when baked. It’s dangerously good. I’ve recommended it everyone ❤️
Thanks David, really appreciate your feedback!
The cake looks delicious and my house smells amazing and a bonus is how easy it was to make! Thanks JB
You are welcome Jen! Thank you for making it 🙂
Hi JB, great simple recipe. I made it gluten free as my husband is coeliac. I added 1 cup of almond flour and the balance GF plain flour. It turned out perfect. It all disappeared in one sitting and did look delicious 😋
So glad your GF version worked! Thank you Denise!
Made this today as a desert to go with the lamb Navarin. I’m not much of a dessert maker or a cake maker but this was easy and delicious and I will make it again!
Thanks for the lovely feedback Ruth!
First of all, JB, the flavor was délicieux. I made it with my 7 year old grandson. He loved it too. Here are the issues I had. First, I didn’t have a 9″ pan so I used my 8″. Then I bought 3 large Pink Lady apples. I am now wondering if that was too much because my cake pan was full to the top. So in your opinion, do I need to get a 9″ cake pan and buy smaller apples? As I said, the flavor was to-die-for and I loved every bit of it. PS. I love and read through all of your french-inspired recipes and will try more. Thank you for your contributions. Nagi’s blog is my favorite place to look for a recipe and inspiration. I have followed her for years and love every one of the recipies that I have tried. Ya’ll make me look like a better cook than I am.
Hi Lisa, Thank you so much for your lovely message. I think you’ve worked out exactly what happened. An 8-inch pan is quite a bit smaller than the 9-inch pan I used, so with three large Pink Lady apples it would have been very full. Next time, I’d either use a 9-inch pan or keep the 8-inch pan and reduce the apples slightly . The cake is very apple-heavy by design, with just enough batter to hold everything together, so a little variation in apple size can make quite a difference.
I’m so happy you enjoyed the flavour, and thank you for your incredibly kind words about my French recipes and RecipeTin Eats. It means a lot!
Can I use gluten free flour for this recipe? 🙂
Hi Jo, 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!
I made the apple cake today.
It’s yummy.
I will definitely be making again 😋
Thanks Therese!
Could I swap plain flour for ground almond meal or add almond essence
Hi Bev, I wouldn’t recommend using almond meal in place of the plain flour. This cake only contains a small amount of flour, but it’s important for giving the batter enough structure to hole the apples. Almond meal doesn’t behave the same way, so the cake is likely to be much softer and may not hold together as well.
If you’d like an almond flavour, you can certainly add a little almond extract.
Thanks JB.
Delicious recipe. Have made this many times now, using apples only and also a mixture of apples and pears. Just lovely every time.
Thank you Liz!! ♥️
Hi Nagi, how long do I beat the butter, and ten how long to beat butter and sugar? After I beater butter and sugar then eggs, my mixture broke🥹. Why?
Hi Josie, you need to beat the butter for one minute but the butter has to be soft already when you start. Then add the sugar and beat for another minute. Hope that helps!
Great recipe: easy to follow, with super results. The cake has a beautiful texture and flavour (and fills the house with sun-drenched fruit aromas too; bonus!). Baked after returning from hols in France so this cake revived happy memories, thank you!
Amazing feedback Rachel! Thank you so much!