French Apple Cake
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With chunks of sweet apples nestled in a tender and buttery rum cake, this French apple cake is the essence of simplicity.
The summer after my junior year in college, what seems like eons ago, I worked as an au pair in Paris for a family with three little boys. My host mother, Valérie, loved to cook and would frequently enlist my help in the kitchen once the kids were in bed. Her French apple cake, with chunks of tart apples nestled in a tender, buttery rum cake, is a longtime favorite of mine. Similar to many homemade French desserts, like clafoutis, madeleines, or crepes, it is the essence of simplicity.
What you’ll need to make French Apple Cake
When this baking this cake or any any dessert with apples, such as apple crisp, apple pie, or apple cobbler, it’s important to use apples suitable for baking. Baking apples hold their shape when cooked, so the chunks of fruit won’t turn into applesauce in the oven. Tart-sweet varietals such as Granny Smith, Honey Crisp, Pink Lady, Braeburn, and Jonagold are all great options. Feel free to combine different varieties for a more nuanced flavor.
How To Make French Apple Cake
Begin by combining the flour, baking powder and salt in a small bowl. No need to sift; just whisk well.
Set aside. Then, in the bowl of an electric mixer, cream the butter and sugar until light and fluffy.
Add the eggs one at a time.
Beat in the vanilla extract and rum.
It will look a little grainy at this point; that’s okay.
Add the dry ingredients.
Mix until just combined.
Add the chopped apples.
Use a rubber spatula to fold the apples into the batter.
Have a 9-inch springform pan greased or a 9-inch cake pan greased, lined with parchment, and greased again.
Scrape the batter into the prepared pan and even the top.
Sprinkle with 1 tablespoon of granulated sugar.
Bake the cake for about 40 minutes, until golden and crisp on top.
Serve warm or room temperature, plain or with lightly sweetened whipped cream or vanilla ice cream.
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Video Tutorial
French Apple Cake
With chunks of sweet apples nestled in a tender and buttery rum cake, this French apple cake is the essence of simplicity.
Ingredients
- 1 cup all-purpose flour, spooned into measuring cup and leveled-off
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- 1 stick (½ cup) unsalted butter, at room temperature
- ⅔ cup granulated sugar, plus more for sprinkling over cake
- 2 large eggs
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 3 tablespoons dark rum
- 2 baking apples, peeled, cored and cut into ½-inch cubes (I like Honeycrisp, Fuji or Granny Smith) (3½ - 4 cups chopped)
- Confectioners' sugar (optional), for decorating cake
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350°F and set an oven rack in the middle position. Grease a 9-inch springform or regular cake pan with butter or nonstick cooking spray. If using a regular cake pan, line the bottom of the pan with parchment paper and grease again.
- In a small bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder and salt.
- Using a handheld mixer with beaters or a stand mixer with the paddle attachment, cream the butter and granulated sugar until light and fluffy, about 3 minutes. Add the eggs, one at a time, beating well and scraping down the sides of the bowl after each addition. Beat in the vanilla and rum. Don't worry if the batter looks grainy at this point; that's okay. Add the flour mixture and mix on low speed until just combined. Using a rubber spatula, fold in the chopped apples.
- Scrape the batter into the prepared pan and even the top. Sprinkle evenly with 1 tablespoon of granulated sugar. Bake for about 40 minutes, or until the cake is golden and a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean. Allow the cake to cool on a rack in the pan. Once cool, run a blunt knife around the edges of the cake. If using a springform pan, remove the sides. If using a regular cake pan, carefully invert the cake onto the rack, remove the parchment paper, then gently flip the cake over and place right-side-up on a platter. Using a fine sieve, dust with confectioners' sugar (if using). Cake can be served warm or room temperature, plain or with lightly sweetened whipped cream or vanilla ice cream.
- Freezer Friendly Instructions: The cake can be frozen for up to 3 months. After it is completely cooled, wrap it tightly with aluminum foil or freezer wrap. Thaw overnight on the countertop before serving.
Nutrition Information
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- Per serving (8 servings)
- Calories: 279
- Fat: 13g
- Saturated fat: 8g
- Carbohydrates: 35g
- Sugar: 22g
- Fiber: 2g
- Protein: 3g
- Sodium: 66mg
- Cholesterol: 77mg
This website is written and produced for informational purposes only. I am not a certified nutritionist and the nutritional data on this site has not been evaluated or approved by a nutritionist or the Food and Drug Administration. Nutritional information is offered as a courtesy and should not be construed as a guarantee. The data is calculated through an online nutritional calculator, Edamam.com. Although I do my best to provide accurate nutritional information, these figures should be considered estimates only. Varying factors such as product types or brands purchased, natural fluctuations in fresh produce, and the way ingredients are processed change the effective nutritional information in any given recipe. Furthermore, different online calculators provide different results depending on their own nutrition fact sources and algorithms. To obtain the most accurate nutritional information in a given recipe, you should calculate the nutritional information with the actual ingredients used in your recipe, using your preferred nutrition calculator.
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Do you have to refirigerate it after it is baked? Thank you it sounds delicious.
Hi Kathleen, You don’t need to refrigerate it, but you can as long as you bring it to room temp before serving.
would this cake be freezable?
Hi Linda, Yes you can definitely freeze it.
Great — thanks. Of course, that’s assuming I don’t eat the second cake I made to freeze it. Seriously, I cannot stop nibbling at it. Maybe I should make your scones to keep me occupied 🙂
I decided to try this with pears since I have an abundance and the recipe reminds me of some of the Italian pear cake recipes I have seen. It turned out great.
Made this cake on Friday – gone in less than 24 hours !! I keep finding that all the recipes on this blog are as they should be – perfectly scrumptious !! I could not help myself and added a handful of walnuts. Jennifer – since I am visiting my parents in Puerto Rico, I used Don Q rum – it was out of this world !! Thanks fr all the recipes. Tomorrow I am making another winner – middle eastern chicken.
Love this cake… when I varied the recipe, I added some butterscotch chips that gave it kind of a candy apple taste… yummmmm
I’ve made this twice and my family loves it. I did add a few shakes of cinnamon the second time. The cake seems to be even better on the second day.
I tried the cake..it was yumm :)..i also dusted some cinnamon powder along with the icing sugar…i love apples and cinnamon…thx for the recipe again 🙂
sure that helps… 🙂 one more query..when we say a cup of flour, what does it come to? cos at times some recipes says 150 gms, some 200 and so forth..and at times the measurements go hay wire..so hope u mean its 200gm of flour 🙂
Hi Meera, Unfortunately, in the States we don’t weigh our measurements, at least not in home cook recipes. To keep it consistent, I always use the spoon and level method. Instead of scooping the flour directly into the measuring cup (which would pack it in), I spoon it into the measuring cup until it is overflowing, then level the cup off with the back edge of a knife.
thanks a lot Jenn for the inputs. that surely helps 🙂
A little late, but 1 cup of all purpose flour spooned is 125 grams. I have a masters degree in food. We always weigh all ingredients.
I plan to make this cake for my Rosh Hashanah dinner Thursday night.
Susan Kolpack
Is there a substitute for the alocohol (rum). if i choose to omit the rum, what else do i add?
Hi Meera, You could use a teaspoon of vanilla; it won’t be the same but the cake will still be very good. Hope that helps!
This French Apple Cake looks delicious, I’ll have to give it a try.
I would love to figure out how to make this as a scone. Suggestions?
Hi Karen, This recipe wouldn’t work for scones, but check out my cream scone recipe…you could always add some diced apples to it.
I can’t wait to try this recipe, hopefully tomorrow. It looks simple to make, delicious and not overly gooey sweet, my guys are going to love this one.
This is my 12 year old daughters favorite cake. She even wants to make it for her birthday!
Very nice cake that can be for a brunch as well as an any time dessert.
This is definitly going to be made soon. I LOVE your site!
I used the light rum and it came out just fine. The powdered sugar adds the perfect amount of sweetness.
Oh this was good, this was very good. I have a friend who loves apple cake so I made this for his birthday. I was lucky to get a bite of this. Rich and full of lovely flavors!
I’m thinking about serving this for Easter breakfast!!!!
Cake for breakfast!!!
I’m not a great cook but this recipe turned out really well. I think the cake is good even two days later after being in the refrig. I did not have dark rum so bought a small airline bottle size of Bacardi Gold, a lighter rum and it worked fine. I’m not a rum fan and I did taste a slight rum flavor at first but found it was ok for me. My husband did not even taste the rum. I used a 9 1/2 inch springform because that is what I had but otherwise followed the recipe exactly.
I must try this! I don’t care if I’m on a diet. It’s all in your head anyway… right? … Right?
Ooh la la! This has become one of my husband’s favorite desserts. The rum favor and the texture of the chopped apples is perfect. It is so simple to make. I have started sprinkling a bit of turbinado sugar on the top before baking, which adds a nice crunch. We typically serve with whipped cream. My oldest son usually finishes any leftovers for breakfast. 🙂
Love your idea on the turbinado sugar, Liesel. Thank you for the suggestion.
This cake is very elegant and in appearance and taste. My son-in-law, who lived in France as a child loves it! Thank you for the recipe!
Amazing! Thank you for the recipe. My fiancé loved it!! 🙂
I have made this like … five times. For myself. I eat all of it. I justify this by the fact that it is mostly apple, which is healthy, right??
But seriously, this cake is SO GOOD. I love apple pie, apple crisps, and apple muffins … this apple cake has joined my list of favorites.
I was worried when I baked it for the first time, because it seemed like there wasn’t enough “cake,” but it bakes up so nice and fluffy. I also use whiskey instead of rum and it goes very well (smells and tastes delicious!); also I like to dust some powdered sugar on top. Deeeelicious.
I’m pretty sure as long as it has apples in it it counts as a fruit.
My mother made this cake way back when. I hadn’t thought of it until I read your recipe. There were 6 of us in our family so there were never any leftovers. I always wished she would make two, so there would be an extra piece for the late-night snack. I have to make this. Thanks for the memories.
Love this recipe. Ate it for dessert and breakfast with coffee the next day. Can’t wait to try it with other fruits.
I need to add this to my pinterest recipe board so I can remember to make it once we move into our new home and I get my kitchen stuff out of storage.
This is one of my favorite recipes from your site. Hard to find a dessert that isn’t so heavy. I love apple pie but I might like this apple cake better!
I have made this several times, and it is wonderful. I use spiced rum and add a pinch of nutmeg and cinnamon. Thanks for sharing your great recipes and ideas with us!
Made this for the third time to bring to a friend’s house for Thanksgiving. Each time it came out great … wonderfully simple & tasty. Thanks for this recipe.
Thanks so much for the wonderful recipe. I read your post, realized I had everything on hand and needed to kill time my kids (2 and 4). With my two helpers we had this baby in the oven in about 20 minutes or so. Super easy. It came out so moist and tasty. Mine stuck to the bottom of the pan, but I think I didn’t flip it soon enough. I don’t really taste the rum now, but maybe that is because I was drinking a rum and coke with dinner :).
Thank you for your input regarding substitutions for the rum. I often shy away from recipes that include alcohol because I understand that it is an important factor to the overall results. I can not use any alcohol, whether or not the recipe is cooked. Having options is encouraging me to attempt this recipe. Much appreciation!
Chef,
I’m a recent culinary school graduate and enjoy your e-mails. I tried this cake, my wife loves it and I also introduced it to the chef that I work under and it has been added to our desert menu.
Thank you.
This cake is delicious! And the texture is divine. I actually used almond extract since I didn’t have rum or vanilla on-hand. Thank you for sharing!
I have made this cake eight times and everyone loves it. The rum and apples were hit at school and at our community Rosh HaShana party.
Neelu, Rum is an important flavor in this cake but perhaps you could try apple cider instead for a more intense apple flavor. You might also want to bump up the vanilla a bit, or even add a teaspoon of cinnamon to replace the rum flavor.
I make apple cake pretty often but I’ve never added rum. I’ll try next time.
Can rum be replaced with something else?? We do not drink ….
I made this today and it looks, smells, and tastes delicious. I was wondering if you have ever tried vanilla paste instead of vanilla extract. I love using it especially when my baked goods are light colored because you can see the vanilla specks which I find is an added dimension, visually. I have vanilla paste in the same brand of vanilla extract you have in the picture. I used honeycrisp apples and bought extra to eat. You have done it again! Divine simplicity.
made this this afternoon….very good!! simple too. loved the slightly crunchy top….i did top w/ a little cinnamon along w/ the sugar.. thanks for such great recipes…have enjoyed several.
Hi Louisa,
It’s not really a high cake. It measures just shy of 1-1/2″ tall. If you’re looking at it in a 9-inch cake pan, you should see about an inch of the pan over the cake. Sometimes the photos can be a bit deceiving b/c of the angle. If it’s flatter than mine, the only thing I can think of is that your pan is too large or your baking powder might be expired. Hope that helps, and for what it’s worth, it should still taste wonderful even if it is a little flat. Hope it turns out!
Delicious cake!!! Made this for dessert tonight and there wasn’t a crumb left. Thank you!
I’ve already made this twice! It’s wonderful; thank you for sharing! I used spiced rum and thought it was perfect (I’m not a rum lover and find dark rum too much for me). I also added a pinch of cinnamon.
I just took mine out of the oven, and it does not look as fluffy as yours…mine is very flat…followed the directions exactly…what could I have done wrong?
I also love the fact that you recipes do not require tons of ingredients like other sites most you have on hand already 🙂
I tried it and it was great! I love how your recipes are to the point, like here is what you need and how to do it. I also like that your recipes can be printed pretty much on one page as well. When I used to find recipes on other sites it used to print 3 pages of adds that could not be removed.. I have been making your recipes for a while now and they are all great. Keep up the great work!
I only have spiced rum, which I think might be nice. What do you think?
I’ve made this cake twice now and it’s so delicious…especially warm! Never any leftovers! Love it!
Thank you Jenn for your wonderful recipes!
Hi Monica, I’d encourage you to use real rum. The flavor is essential to the recipe and leaving it out will change the texture of the cake as well. Sorry! Sometimes I buy the mini bottles if I can find them.
I was wondering if I had to use real rum, or if I could use rum extract instead, since its such a small amount. We don’t usually uave hard drinks like that here for very long. Thanks!
That looks lovely and very easy. Living in Norway, the apple cake is a delicacy, and mine is quite perfect… however, it lacks rum. I am trying this one!
I’ve made something similar while camping in a Dutch oven. It was delicious but not as refined as this lol. I’ll definitely have to try this one at home!