Jewish Apple Cake

Jewish Apple Cake checks all the proverbial cake requirements. Is it delicious? Check. Is it easy to make? Check. Does it feed a crowd? Check. It’s a highly moist and dense cake studded with cinnamon apples and bakes up with an addictively thick, crisp crust.

This recipe was passed down to me via my grandma. It was the only cake she really made, but she made it for all occasions and it was always highly sought after by friends and family. I have her handwritten copy of the recipe which will always be a special treasure for me.

Upon doing a little research it seems this is the kind of recipe many people’s grandmas were making back in the day. All the recipes I found were about the same ratio of the same ingredients: flour, sugar, oil, egg and a whole bunch of apples. The secret ingredient if you will is a bit of orange juice, something I also found in most recipes. This simple cake is truly greater than the sum of its parts.

The “Jewish” part of the recipe refers I believe to the fact that it contains no dairy, so it can be served alongside meat for those who are keeping kosher.

This cake keeps well for several days, and some might say it gets even better after the first day or so. It’s also a good candidate to slice and freeze for later.

I used fresh apples in my cake, although my grandma always used canned. Either is fine, but it’s a good cake to make if you have an excess of apples to use up in the fall.

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Jewish Apple Cake

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Serves: 12

Prep Time: 30 minutes – Cooking Time: 90 minutes – Total Time: 2 hours

Jewish Apple Cake is super easy to make and a real crowd pleasing recipe. It's simply apples and cinnamon in a moist bundt cake with addictively crispy edges.

Ingredients

• 5 apples peeled, cored, and sliced (apples that are about 6 oz each or 20 oz of sliced apples)
• 2 teaspoons cinnamon
• 65 g or 5 tablespoons sugar
• 360 grams or 3 cups all purpose flour
• 500 grams or 2 1/2 cups sugar
• 1 teaspoon kosher salt
• 3 teaspoons baking powder
• 200 grams or 1 cup vegetable oil
• 200 grams or 4 large eggs
• 1 tablespoon vanilla extract
• 80 grams or 1/3 cup orange juice (about 1 large orange)

Instructions

1

Preheat oven to 350 F.

2

Generously grease a 12 cup bundt pan or tube pan.

3

In a large bowl, toss the apple slices with the cinnamon and 65 grams of sugar. Set aside.

4

In another larger bowl, whisk together the flour, sugar, salt, and baking powder.

5

In a medium bowl, whisk together the vegetable oil, eggs, vanilla extract, and orange juice.

6

Stir the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients until well combined.

7

Pour about a quarter of the cake batter into your pan. Next, add a layer of apple slices, trying to get the apples evenly dispersed around the pan. Pour in the remaining cake batter. Finally, add the remaining apple slices on top.

8

Bake for about 75- 90 minutes. The cake is done when a toothpick comes out clean or the internal temperature reads 210 F.

9

Let the cake cool in the pan for 5 to 10 minutes, then invert onto a cooling rack and let cool completely.