I don’t know what it is about the holidays that makes me want to make pastries daily, but I just do! This week for one of our family dinner parties I decided to make apple cake. My mother is German and I grew up eating scrumptious European pastries laden with marzipan, fruits and cream. Yumm! This cake is my twist on the tradition apfelkuchen. I am a sucker for a crumb topping so I felt this was a good recipe to add one to. I love to serve this cake warm with fresh whipped cream on a cold winters day.


- 4 apples, peeled, cored and thinly sliced
- 1 tbsp lemon juice
- 1 1/4 cup sugar divided
- 1 tsp cinnamon
- 1 cup melted butter
- 2 eggs, beaten
- 1 tsp pure vanilla extract
- 1 tsp almond extract
- 1/4 tsp salt
- 1 1/2 tsp baking powder
- 2 cups flour
- 1 cup sour cream
- 1 egg
- 1/2 cup brown sugar
- 1/4 cup four
- 1/4 cup softened butter
- 1 tsp cinnamon
- 1/4 cup finely chopped pecans (optional)
- Preheat oven to 350. Coat a 9 x 13 baking pan or pyrex with cooking spray. In a medium bowl combine apples, lemon juice, cinnamon and 1/4 cup sugar, toss and set aside. In a large bowl mix together 1 cup sugar and melted butter, then add eggs and extracts and mix again. Stir in the flour baking powder and salt. Batter will be thick, spread at the bottom of the baking pan and then top with the apples. Combine sour cream and remaining egg and then pour over the apples. It wont completely cover them put just spread it around as best as you can. Mix all the crumb ingredients until crumbly and scatter over the top. Bake for 30 -35 minutes or until cake is lightly brown and topping is set. Serve warm with fresh whipped cream.
As someone who has lived in Germany and speaks German, I wanted to try this cake. Which I did and made some notable changes. I added the sour cream to the cake mix and omitted the eggy and sour cream top. Which gave it just the right "German" consistency and spread that in a half sheet baking sheet. Then I lined the apples up in four rows and added the crumb topping. PREFECT!!! PREFECT!! Yummy! Where have you been the past 15 years since I have come home from my German homeland!! YUMMY!! YUMMY!
Do you happen to know how to make Brotchens (german hard roll – crusty on the outside, light and airy inside). I miss those. I ask my German landlord, while living there how to make them, but she said you buy them. I have tried to make them in different ways, but they have never turned out right. Love to learn how to make them, if you happen to have a treasure recipe hide away some where – smiles-