What is Jewish Apple Cake?
I had to look this up because all I knew was that it is a cake with apples in it. Jewish Apple Cake is a “dense cake made with apples”. It’s originally a Polish food and is mostly found in Pennsylvania.
This cake is simple to make and a great way to use up apples. It takes an hour and fifteen minutes to bake but it only took me fifteen minutes to make up the batter.
This cake is dairy-free, with the liquid coming from orange juice. The dairy-free aspect is of note because of the name Jewish Apple Cake. Being dairy-free allows people following the Jewish dietary laws to eat this at the same meal as having meat. If you don’t have orange juice or you don’t like it, you can always substitute the orange juice for milk or a non-dairy alternative like almond milk. I made this with orange juice that has pulp in it and didn’t notice a problem with the texture. You can use pulp-free if that’s your preference or what you have on hand!
What apples are best for Jewish Apple Cake?
I used Cortland apples because that’s what I had. However, any firm apple that you would use in baking would be great. The next time I make this I will probably make it with Granny Smith apples. Other options include Fuji, Honey Gold, or Gala apples.
What else is there to know about making this kind of cake?
Traditional Jewish Apple Cake is made in a bundt pan. You can make it in a 9×13 pan or even muffins. I don’t have bake times for those, but if you choose one of those options, I would check the oven for doneness with muffins around 14 minutes and the 9×13 pan around 20 minutes. Doneness is when you can put a knife or toothpick into the center and you pull it out with crumbs, not batter.
You could top this cake with powdered sugar, a cinnamon-sugar mixture, or a powdered sugar glaze. I don’t have as much sugar in this cake as is traditionally called for, so a sweet topping might fix a sweet tooth craving. If you don’t want to top it with anything but are finding the cake to not be sweet enough, the sugar in the recipe can be increased by an additional half cup, totaling the sugar at 2 cups.
Jewish Apple Cake could be considered a fall dessert because of the apples and cinnamon. I’m enjoying it right now in February and I will be making it year-round regardless of the weather or temperature.
Check out our Beginner Home Cook Essentials Guide for a list of ingredients that we recommend always keeping on hand plus a conversion guide and suggested kitchen tools!
How to make Jewish Apple Cake:
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees and grease a bundt pan with spray, shortening, or butter.
Peel and core three medium-sized apples and dice them to a small-medium size (about ¼-½ inch). You can also slice the apples thinly instead of dicing them. I like dicing because if I end up using a less firm apple, I will still end up with chunks of apples that didn’t dissolve in the cooking process.
Toss the diced apples with the cinnamon and put them aside.
Mix the oil, orange juice, vanilla extract, and 4 eggs. You can use a hand-mixer, stand-mixer, or mix by hand. I have both but chose to do it by hand.
Mix the sugar into the wet ingredients until incorporated.
Sift the flour, salt, and baking powder into the wet ingredients until combined. If you don’t have a sifter, that’s fine, I like using one because it makes the batter smoother.
Next, fold the diced apples into the batter. Another common way to make this cake is to pour half the batter into the pan, distribute the diced apples evenly all the way around, and then top with the remaining batter.
Pour the batter into the bunt pan and tap down on the counter a few times. This makes sure that the batter is evenly distributed in the pan.
Place in the preheated oven for 1 hour and 15 minutes. Begin checking your cake at about 1 hour and 5 minutes for doneness to account for differences in everyone’s oven temperatures.
Pull the cake out of the oven and let it cool for 10-15 minutes. Then turn it out onto a cooling rack.
Once cool, top with glaze or sugar if desired, and store in an airtight container at room temperature.
Jewish Apple Cake
Equipment
- Bundt Pan
- Hand Mixer
Ingredients
- 4 cups Peeled and Diced Apples (This was 3 medium-sized apples for me)
- 2 tbsp cinnamon
- 1 cup vegetable oil
- 1/2 cup orange juice
- 4 eggs
- 1 tbsp vanilla extract
- 1 1/2 cups white sugar *See Note Below
- 1 tbsp baking powder
- 1 tsp salt
- 3 cups all-purpose flour
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350 degrees and grease a bundt pan with spray, shortening, or butter.
- Peel and core three medium-sized apples and dice them to a small-medium size (about ¼-½ inch). You can also slice them thinly instead of dicing, but I like dicing because if I end up using a less firm apple, I will still end up with chunks of apples that didn’t dissolve in the cooking process.
- Toss the diced apples with the cinnamon and put them aside.
- Mix together the oil, orange juice, vanilla extract, and 4 eggs until the eggs have been thoroughly broken down. You can use a hand-mixer, stand-mixer, or mix by hand. I have both but chose to do it by hand.
- Mix the sugar into the wet ingredients until incorporated.
- Sift or mix flour, salt, and baking powder into the wet ingredients until combined.
- Fold in the diced apples. I like apples throughout the whole cake, but another common way to make this cake is to pour half the batter into the pan, distribute the diced apples evenly all the way around and then top with the remaining batter.
- Pour the batter into the bunt pan and tap down on the counter a few times just to make sure that the batter is evenly distributed in the pan.
- Bake in the preheated oven for 1 hour and 15 minutes. Begin checking your cake at about 1 hour and 5 minutes for doneness to account for differences in everyone’s oven temperatures.
- When the cake is done, pull it out of the oven and let it cool for 10-15 minutes before turning it out onto a cooling rack.
- Once cool, top with glaze or powdered sugar if desired, and store in an airtight container at room temperature.
Notes
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