Apple Cake Recipe (A French Classic)
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This French apple cake recipe is wonderfully moist, just sweet enough, and packed with apples in every bite.
In my twenties, I worked as an au pair in Paris for a family with three little boys. My host mother, Valérie, loved to cook, and her apple cake—with tart apples baked into a tender, buttery rum cake—quickly became one of my favorite desserts. This recipe is based on hers, and it’s every bit as easy to make as it is delicious.
Pair it with a cup of coffee in the afternoon or serve it for dessert topped with whipped cream or a scoop of vanilla ice cream. It’s a great cake to make in the fall, when apples are at their peak, and throughout the holiday season.
“Last year I won first place in a state fair with this recipe…This year I won division champion in our county fair. It’s a total winner of a recipe!”
What You’ll Need to Make French Apple Cake
- All-purpose flour, baking powder, and salt: Measure the flour by spooning it into the measuring cup and leveling it off rather than scooping directly from the bag.
- Unsalted butter: Make sure it’s at room temperature so it creams properly with the sugar.
- Granulated sugar: Sweetens the cake, with a little extra sprinkled over the top before baking to create a delicate, crackly crust.
- Eggs: Bring them to room temperature so they blend smoothly into the butter mixture.
- Vanilla extract and dark rum: The rum gives the cake its distinctive flavor and pairs beautifully with the apples without overpowering them.
- Baking apples: Choose firm apples that hold their shape in the oven, such as Honeycrisp, Granny Smith, Fuji, Braeburn, or Pink Lady. I like slightly tart varieties best to balance the sweetness of the cake.
- Confectioners’ sugar: Optional, for dusting over the cake before serving.
- Jump to the printable recipe for precise measurements
How To Make Apple Cake
Combine the dry ingredients: Whisk together the flour, baking powder, and salt.
Make the batter: Beat the butter and sugar until light and fluffy, then add the eggs one at a time. Mix in the vanilla and rum, then add the dry ingredients and mix just until combined.
Add the apples: Peel, core, and cut the apples into chunks, then fold them into the batter. The batter will be quite thick and there will be a lot of apples—that’s exactly how it should look.
Bake the cake: Scrape the batter into the prepared springform pan and smooth the top. Sprinkle with sugar, then bake until golden and a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean. Let the cake cool in the pan, then remove and dust with confectioners’ sugar before serving.
Video Tutorial
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French Apple Cake
Ingredients
- 1 cup all-purpose flour, spooned into measuring cup and leveled off
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- ½ cup (1 stick) 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 medium baking apples, peeled, cored and cut into ½-inch cubes (about 2½ cups; see note)
- Confectioners' sugar (optional), for decorating cake
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350°F (175°C) and set an oven rack in the middle position. Grease a 9-inch (23-cm) 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 curdled 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.
Notes
- When baking this cake, 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.
- Make-Ahead/Freezing Instructions: The cake is best enjoyed fresh but keeps well for up to 2 days. Store at room temperature in a cake dome or covered with foil. It can also 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
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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Hi, Jenn. I have two questions:
1) Will superfine sugar work? I have done so much baking lately that I ran out of regular sugar. Can you also tell me if substituting superfine for regular sugar generally works for most recipes? I don’t recall for what purpose I purchased superfine, but I have a lot of it.
2) For sprinkling sugar over the batter, would superfine work for that as well, or, in the alternative, Demerara (unrefined cane sugar)? If not, I will just sprinkle the cake with Confectioners’ sugar.
Thanks.
Hi Laura, Yes, you should be able to get away with superfine sugar both in the batter and on top of the cake. Hope you enjoy!
Thank you, Jenn! I am on my way into the kitchen now to bake this cake while the Chocolate Chip Pecan Blondies are baking.
By the way, I will be first in line to buy your new cookbook. I can’t wait, and the layouts of the pages look wonderful. I plan to buy several for gifts as well. Keep up the good work for all of us. Laura
? Thank you!
omg this cake is gorgeous. So light and tasty. The recipe was really easy to follow. The only thing is that I used granny smith apples – next time I’d go for a sweeter apple.
Jenn: 2 apples in this recipe equate to roughly how many grams ? For baking cakes, I find measuring ingredients by weight yield better results. Thanks … Kay
Hi Kay, I’m approximating here, but I think it would be around 170 grams.
Jenn, thanks. I made the cake for the first time today. My 2 delicious apples were big. The chopped apples weighed 400+ grams but I only used 350 grams. The cake was a bit too moist. Other than that, it smells & tastes so good with the rum. I’ll do it again later this week & reduce the amount of chopped apples. Thanks for posting your recipe for our reference…..Kay (Toronto)
Really sad this didn’t turn out for me. I followed the recipe to the T. Turned into a crumbly mess. Really really annoyed, I was suppose to bring this to a party tonight and now I have to settle for store bought. Very disappointed.
Hi Krista, I’m so sorry you had trouble with the cake. I know how frustrating that is. This cake is one of my most tried and true. Did you by chance make any substitutions? Or could you have measured something incorrectly?
I have made this cake at least a dozen times and no problems! I am really a novice at baking but I am pretty good at following directions. I actually check each step and ingredient off as I do them. Don’t quit on this cake. The finished product is wonderful!
Can I use granny smith apples
Sure Pam, they should work just fine. Enjoy!
how long do you put it in the oven for?
Hi Jayda, Bake the cake for about 40 minutes, or until it’s lightly golden and a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean.
I loved this cake! Had to buy a large bottle of dark rum, but well worth it. Made it for a group of friends and they loved it too. I am not a ‘sweets’ person, so this was a nice compromise of sweetness from the apples, less sugar and nice flavor from the rum. Have a brunch for my daughter’s bridal shower and I am going to make this for the dessert-serving lightly sweetened whipped cream with it.
Simple easy and delicious. I used brandy as I didn’t have rum, but still was great. I think it’s a great recipe to use with any fruit in season.
Thanks Jenn
Made several of these for a large banquet and they stored great overnight! It was amazing! European sweet not American sweet. Really great with a hot drink!
Can I bake cake in a bundt pan or tube pan by doubling recipe
Hi Maureen, I think that would work. Just keep in mind that it will definitely take longer to bake. Enjoy!