German Apple Cake Recipe

Wonderfu, wonderful, wonderful. This is a regular in our rotation. I usually increase the apples to 5 cups as my family likes more apples, but keep all other ingredients the same. Unfortunately, this "cake" is never fully cooked at 45 minutes (probably due to the extra apples). See most helpful hints from "naples34102" for a glaze that makes this cake go from divine to superb!

Thanks to all the other reviewers I reduced the oil to 1/2 cup and reduced the sugar to 1 1/2 cups as well as increasing the cinnamon to 3 tsps. I also thinly sliced my apples and should have used 5 cups instead of 4. I made an additional change - I beat the eggs and oil together until the eggs were a little frothy on top - about 1 to 1 1/2 minutes. I baked this in a glass pan for 40 minutes and the cake turned out quite light and moist. Instead of greasing and flouring the pan I substituted cinnamon sugar for the flour. For those of you who haven't tried this recipe - its WONDERFUL!!!! Not overly sweet, just bites of apple-cinnamon heaven.

OMG this is awesome good! It just doesn't get any better than this! I kept all measurements and ingredients the same, only adding 1 tsp. of vanilla to the batter. It bakes to an almost cookie-like crunchiness on the top with a very moist and apple-y interior. I took it over the top by pouring over a caramel glaze: 1/2 cup butter, 1/2 c. brown sugar, and 1/4 c. cream. Bring to a boil, then boil 3 minutes. Remove from heat and add 1/2 tsp. vanilla. Let cool just slightly before pouring over warm cake. Hubby says the "sauce" was what made this extraordinarily good, but this cake is so good, so delicious, a simple sprinkling of powdered sugar would be just fine too. I don't EVER want to lose this recipe! Thanks so much for sharing it!

What a delicious cake. I used 3/4 cup of applesauce and 1/4 cup oil in place of the cup of oil. I also cut the sugar to 1 cup for my diabetic mother and added 1 extra apple. Wow, it was excellent and devoured for afternoon tea. If this recipe makes 24 serves then I had about 5 serves in one sitting! I couldn't help myself. This has become a family favourite!

German Apple Cake is the most insanely delicious dessert, also a great treat for breakfast, or cut into snack cake squares. My mom made it every fall when I was little and my friends started to beg her for it every September. Here are some important adjustments to this recipe—Use 2.5 cups all purpose flour instead of 2 cups. Also, add 2 tsp baking powder along with the 1 tsp baking soda. This should fix the “oily sloppy mess” issues and will balance the sugar. Use peeled Granny Smith apples even if you don’t like them. They become sweeter as they cook but hold on to just enough tartness to balance the 2 cups of sugar in the recipe. I also add 1 cup walnuts. The batter will be VERY thick & should give you a nice arm workout as you stir it. The secret ingredient that perfects this cake—sprinkle a bag of butterscotch chips over the cake before baking. The little hint of butterscotch & the added texture of the chips are the secret that makes this cake famous! Baking temp/time—I cook on 325 for 55-60 mins, sometimes longer. Cover with tin foil as soon as edges start browning, for me it’s always about 30-40 mins in. The bottom will burn with a cheap or thin pan, so if you have a thin pan that isn’t high quality, place tin foil on oven rack under the pan so it won’t burn. Sometimes it can take longer than 1 hour if your pan is glass or thick material, so be patient. It will seem like it’ll never be done, but stick a knife in the middle & as soon as it comes out without thick “raw batter” on it, it’s done (some moist residue on the knife is ok). Good luck everyone!

My tweaks: I used 1 1/2 sticks soft butter and 1/2 cup of sour cream for the fat. I only used 1.5 cup of sugar but added two tbsp of Molasses. Also 2 and 1/4 cup of flour. Baked 325 for 45 min. It's so moist and perfect!

I make this cake several times a year, but I frost it with a cream cheese frosting. I slice the apples, thinly. Don't use chunks. I use 2 tbsps. cinnamon, not tsps. Hand grease the pan with softened butter. And I add chopped walnuts, too. Always use Granny Smith apples.

I had another apple cake recipe, but this one is better! Moist, and very tasty. Here are my tweaks: increased flour to 2 1/2 cups as others suggested; cut sugar to 1 1/2 cups; increased cinnamon to 1T; used only 1/2 cup oil and added 1/2 cup applesauce; baked this in a bundt pan and sugared it instead of flouring; baked it for about 65 minutes. Fantastic, and I'll make this again!

I don't like pie so I made this for Thanksgiving. I read A LOT of the reviews and made these tweaks. I put apples after cutting in 1/4 cup of white sugar with some lemon juice and put in fridge for a few hours. I drained all excess liquid before putting in batter. I melted 1 stick of unsalted butter which yields about 1/2 c. and added 1/4 cup canola oil. I used 1 1/2 cups white sugar instead of 2 cups. Cake turned out GREAT. Crisp crust, moist cake like consistency.

This was wonder cake!! I used 1\2 c coconut oil, and 1\2 c applesauce, and 2 tsp vanilla, baked at 325° in a glass 9x13 pan. My family loved it!!

This is sooooo good! As recommended by others, I increased the flour by quarter cup, reduced the oil and sugar by quarter cup and made it in a Bundt pan. My husband loved it!

I put in 2 Fuji apples , and doubled the brown sugar and cinnamon. Added 1/2 tsp. Salt. Cooked for 1 hour. Very good recipe.... thank you.

I put a cream cheese frosting over it. Even with 2 cups of sugar, it wasn’t overly sweet. It was perfect and the cream cheese frosting took it over the top.

I love this cake! I do like it with 6 cups of apples and the homemade carmel topping to put on top. Oh my. It is the only cake my whole family asks for.

My son passed away last year And I made this using the 1st harvest from his apple tree. It was the best cake ever...

This recipe made my day.

The flavors were spot-on.

I have made this exactly as is and so good.

Tastes like it took hours, but it didn’t.

I made this cake yesterday and my son and I really like it. One thing I have to say though is, I am German and my mom's apple cake did not look like that, but it was equally good. That aside, I made a couple of little changes to this recipe. I only used 1.5 cups of sugar, and it is plenty sweet, I plan on using only 1 cup of sugar next time. I also added a few drops of bitter-almond flavoring essence. I also added just a few plums. I had bought a large bag of plums that just didn't want to ripen and get soft enough to eat. They worked very well and I am thinking about possibly making the recipe with plums next time. My kitchen machine is old and does not have a paddle attachment, so I started by using the beaters and switching to the dough hooks when adding the flour.