German applesauce cake recipe (gedeckter Apfelkuchen)
This German covered applesauce cake recipe with a great hint of vanilla, lemon and cinnamon and the right amount of sweetness is delicious and so easy to make. Made with shortcrust pastry, then filled with homemade apple sauce and fresh apples and finished off with a lemon glaze.
Servings: 8 Servings
Equipment
- 26 cm(10 inch) spring-form (or cake tin with removable base)
Ingredients
For the cake base and cover
- 250 250 g (2 cups + 1 tablespoon/ 8.8 oz) plain flour/ all purpose flour
- 125 g (about ½ cup/ 4.4 oz) butter soft
- 65 g (about 1/3 cup / 2.3 oz) sugar
- 1 medium egg, room temperature
- 2 teaspoons baking powder
- 1 tablespoon vanilla sugar / ¼ teaspoon vanilla extract (just use a tablespoon more sugar if you’re using vanilla extract
For the apple filing with applesauce
- 500 g/ 1.1 lbs applesauce
- 600 g/ 1 1/3 lbs apples
- ½ teaspoon ground cinnamon
- 2 tablespoons sugar
- 2 tablespoons vanilla sugar
- about 3 tablespoons cornstarch / corn flour (25 g/ 0.88 oz)
For the lemon glaze
- 3 tablepsoons Powdered sugar (icing sugar)
- 3 teaspoons freshly squeezed lemon juice
Instructions
- Start off by lining the cake tin with a cling film at the bottom and grease the sides with butter and dust with flour. Next add all the short crust pastry ingredients to a bowl and mix them together with your hands to form a firm dough.
- Divide the dough into two doughs: 1/3 (one third) and 2/3 (two thirds). Crumble the one third dough into the prepared 26 cm (10 inch) spring-form (or cake tin with removable base). Using your hands, press the cake base until the bottom of the cake tin is covered. Then remove the base of the cake tin with the cake base. transfer cling film with shortcrust pastry to a cutting board or something similar and keep it aside for later.
- Next line the cake tin with a parchment paper at the bottom and grease the sides with butter and dust them with flour. Then crumble the 2/3 dough into the prepared 26 cm (10 inch) spring-form (or cake tin with removable base). Using your hands, press the cake base until the bottom of the cake tin is covered. Make the dough high on the sides as well and keep aside while making the apple filling.
- Preheat the oven to 180 ° C (360 °F), with both top and bottom heat. Then add cinnamon, sugar, and cornstarch to the bowl with apple sauce and mix well. Peel the apples, cut them into halves and remove the core. Using a hand grater, grate the apples. You could also use a knife to cut the apples into small cubes. Combine grated apples with applesauce mixture and fill the cake base.
- Spread the filling nicely all over the cake base with either a spoon or a spatula. With the help of the cling film, put the cake cover on top of the filling, while pressing gently. Then remove the cling film and bake for about 50 minutes. Let cool for a few minutes and brush the apple cake with lemon glaze and enjoy!