This recipe for sunken apple cake is adapted from Luisa Weiss’ book Classic German Baking. I’ve added more citrus, a little cardamom, and a little spelt flour. I love this recipe because it’s very low in sugar and the addition of spelt flour makes it a bit more wholesome. The cake bakes quickly enough that the apples retain a nice firm texture, just ever so slightly softened. It could certainly pass for a breakfast treat rather than dessert.
Citrus and cardamom together is one of my favorite flavor combinations, and I’ve been adding it to everything lately. I think it’s a refreshing break from the traditional apple and cinnamon combo. If you’re not a fan of cardamom, you could certainly omit it or use cinnamon instead. But I really encourage you to give it a try, I find it to be such a fun flavor in baked goods!
In keeping with the less sweet aspect of this cake, I prefer to serve it with unsweetened whipped cream. However, I do like to stabilize my whipped cream with a spoonful of greek yogurt. The yogurt helps the whipped cream to hold up for longer and creates a nice tangy counterpart to the cake.
Citrus Cardamom Sunken Apple Cake
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Loading...Ingredients
- 3 Apples
- 125 g granulated sugar
- 130 g unsalted butter
- zest of one large orange
- zest of one lemon
- 2 teaspoons baking powder
- 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
- 1/2 teaspoon ground cardamom
- 150 g egg (about 3 eggs), lightly whisked together
- 124 g AP Flour
- 64 g spelt flour
- juice of half a lemon
- demerara sugar, for topping the cake
- heavy whipping cream (optional)
- plain greek yogurt (optional)
Instructions
Preheat the oven to 350 F. Line the bottom of a 9 inch springform pan with parchment paper.
Peel and quarter the apples. Remove the core from each quarter by slicing vertically from the top to bottom of each quarter. This will create a flat side and make it easier to cut the hasselback style slices.
Thinly slice the quarters lengthwise without slicing all the way through and set aside.
In the bowl of a mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, place the sugar, butter, zests, baking powder, salt and cardamom. On medium speed, cream until light and fluffy, making sure you scrape down the sides and bottom of the bowl.
Slowly drizzle the whisked eggs into the mixture, beating until well combined. Scrape down the sides and bottom of the bowl again.
In a separate bowl, whisk together the flours. With the mixer running on low speed, gradually add the flour mixture and then the lemon juice. Beat until just combined. Scrape down the bowl once more and use your spatula to make sure the batter is fully combined.
Pour the batter into your prepared pan. Press the apple quarters into the batter core side down then sprinkle the top with a thin, even dusting of demerara sugar.
Bake for about 35-40 minutes. The cake is done when a tester inserted into the batter comes out clean.
Let the cake cool for about 5 minutes, then run a knife around the outside of the pan and remove the outer ring. Let the cake cool completely before serving.
If you would like to serve the cake with whipped cream, whip together about a half cup of cream and a tablespoon of greek yogurt until the cream holds a peak. This stabilized whipped cream will hold up for a day in the fridge.
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