I don’t need a reason to bake. Baking has been my happy place since I discovered my love for baking while caring for my newborn second son. Once I got the KitchenAid mixer all bets were off! What hand mixer?! Today I’m sharing the perfect recipe for a cake that I was able to make and taste last week at an event that was SO good I have to recreate it–right away!
It was my first time having this perfect French Apple Cake. The cake was a huge crowd pleaser! I am generally a fan of anything with apples, but what makes this awesome is that the apples are baked directly into the cake which makes it an entire experience! I used Fuji Apples and light rum since we didn’t have any rum in the house and my mom was kind enough to bring me what she had.
This super moist and delicious cake is perfect with a little whipped cream and/or ice cream.
Ingredients
- 1 cup cake flour, spooned into measuring cup and leveled-off
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 1 stick (1/2 cup) unsalted butter, at room temperature
- 2/3 cup granulated sugar, plus more for sprinkling over cake
- 2 large eggs
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 2 tablespoons dark rum
- 2 sweet baking apples, peeled, cored and cut into 1/2-inch cubes (I like Honeycrisp, Fuji or Golden Delicious)
- Confectioners’ sugar (optional), for decorating cake
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350°F. Spray a 9-inch springform or regular cake pan with nonstick cooking spray.
- 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. Add the flour mixture and mix on low speed until just combined. Using a rubber spatula, fold in the chopped apples.
- Pour the batter into the prepared pan and sprinkle evenly with 1 tablespoon of granulated sugar. Bake for about 40 minutes, or until the cake is lightly golden and a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean. Allow the cake to cool until just warm. Run a blunt knife around the edges of the cake and remove the sides of the springform pan if using. Using a fine sieve, dust with Confectioners’ sugar (if using). Cake can be served warm or room temperature, with or without lightly sweetened whipped cream or vanilla ice cream.