you're making mealtime meaningful.
Just as the geese start to cry, making their departure against the clear shocking crisp blue skies, the gems of autumn decorate the horizon — apples. Tree branches droop heavily with the bounty of summer’s heat and rain, are deeply connected throughout the world with the fall season. Here an ode to apples comes together in a tasty dessert — eplekake. Hailing from northern Europe, this Norwegian Apple Cake literally takes the cake, showcasing the apples in the best possible way.
It’s fair to say if a country has apples, then they’re gonna have apple cake. We see this throughout the UK and continental Europe. There are apple cakes from Ireland all the way to Italy, but here we venture up north to Norway with this fall treat. Norwegian Apple Cake has a rich pound-cake like base moistened with its share of butter and eggs. Thinly sliced apples get pushed into the batter, and a cinnamon-sugar almond mixture tops it all off, creating an aromatic delight.
This cake is small but mighty in weight with a great bit of height. The ingredient list is simple, with no crazy curve balls.
Since it makes for an impressive cake, you’ll want to be able to remove it from the pan. I have an 8-inch cake pan that has tall sides, but if this doesn’t sound like your cake pan, opt to use a springform pan (like the ones used to make cheesecakes). With either pan, you’ll want to spray the bottom and sides with baking spray and then line the bottom and sides with parchment paper.
The hardest part about this recipe is peeling and slicing the apples. I used one big apple, but if your apples are small, you’ll have to use three, and if your apples are medium, you’ll have to use two. Any apple works for this recipe, but ones with a firm texture — like Granny Smith or Fuji — bake up without breaking apart.
Prepping the batter is super easy. Start by creaming your butter and sugar together, whipping until fluffy, which takes two to three minutes. Next, you add in your eggs.
The dry ingredients slowly make their way in with some milk. After mixing, the batter has a smooth and silky consistency (which will take a lot of willpower to not taste test the batter).
After pouring the batter into the prepared pan, layer the sliced apples onto the top. As you add more apples, you’ll have to press the apples into the batter a bit.
Finally, the cake gets topped with the cinnamon-sugar almond mixture. As the cake bakes in the oven a few almonds might fall off the cake, so bake the cake on a baking tray to prevent a mess in your oven.
Once cooled, you can remove the cake from the pan.
Topped with whipped cream, this Norwegian Apple Cake allows you to have a bite of fall at any hour. The cake base stays impeccably moist but has a pleasing and surprisingly lighter-than-expected texture. The thinly sliced apples blend with the cake with no weird air pockets or mealing mushy pieces of fruit. The thinly sliced apples allow you to have a taste of the apple in every bite. The slight crunch of the almonds and the zippy spice of cinnamon really drive home those quintessential flavors of fall. With this Norwegian Apple Cake, it may be too difficult to wait for fall to bake this recipe.
Norwegian Apple Cake
20m prep time
1h cook time
10m inactive
you're making mealtime meaningful.
Ingredients
- 1/4 cup sliced almonds
- 2 tablespoons light brown sugar
- 1 tablespoon cinnamon
- 1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
- 1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
- 1/4 teaspoon fine salt
- 2/3 cup butter, room temperature
- 1 1/4 cup granulated sugar
- 3 large eggs, room temperature
- 1/2 cup milk
- 1 to 2 medium to large sized apples, peeled cored and thinly sliced
- Whipped cream (for garnish)
Preparation
- Preheat oven to 350°F and grease an 8-inch cake pan or 8-inch springform pan with baking spray, line with parchment paper on the bottom and sides, and spray again. Set aside on a small baking tray.
- Make the topping by combining the almonds, brown sugar and cinnamon, set aside. In a bowl combine flour, baking powder, and salt, set aside.
- In another bowl, cream butter and sugar together until light and fluffy, about 2 to 3 minutes.
- Lower speed and add eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition.
- With the mixer’s speed on low, add the dry ingredients in 3 additions alternately with the milk in 2 additions, beginning and ending with the dry ingredients.
- Use a rubber spatula to scrape the sides and bottom of the bowl.
- Pour batter into the prepared pan. Stack apple slices on top of the batter, pressing the apple slices slightly to fit all of the apples in. Sprinkle the top with the prepared almond-cinnamon topping.
- Bake cake for about 1 hour. The top should be golden brown and a toothpick inserted should come out clean.
- Let the cake cool a little bit before removing from the pan. Serve with whipped cream and enjoy.
Recipe adapted from North Wild Kitchen