Easy French apple cake
This delicious and easy to make French apple cake recipe is made with only four simple ingredients: apples, sugar, flour and eggs. No baking powder is needed.
I’ve mentioned before that I prefer desserts that are easy and simple to make. Whenever I have friends over for dinner, I usually get caught up in making several different courses and tend to run out of time for dessert. I’ve learned to delegate dessert to Nicolas, who likes to keep it simple. He loves making this apple cake and considers it an example of a delicious dessert can be simple to make.
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Last summer we were lucky enough to spend some time in the south of France. We stayed with Nico’s aunt Lilou, who happens to be an amazing cook and spoiled us with some of the best meals ever. One of her desserts was this apple cake, it was so good, I had to ask her to share the recipe. Nico was in charge of taking notes for Lilou’s recipes and he also prepares this cake most of the time when we make it at home.
This delicious apple cake is one of the easiest cakes you will ever make. I was actually somewhat scared the first time I saw Nico make it. I was sure he had missed some ingredients, how can you make a cake without baking powder or butter or milk? But, it worked and the cake turned out just like Lilou’s.
This apple cake can be served warm or cold; it can be served as is or accompanied by ice-cream. You can also serve it for dessert or have a slice with cup of afternoon coffee. This cake can also be made with a variety of other fruits: strawberries, blueberries, pears, pineapple, peach, etc – the only adjustment is that based on the amount of moisture in the fruit, you might need to bake it for slightly longer (or less).
Easy French apple cake
Ingredients
- 6 ounces of sugar (regular) 6 oz of sugar = 170 grams of sugar = ~3/4 cup
- 6 ounces of flour (all purpose) 6 oz of flour = 170 grams of flour = ~1 1/3 cups
- 3 large eggs
- 3 large apples peeled and cut in small chunks
Instructions
- Pre-heat the oven to 400F degrees.
- Mix the eggs with the sugar using an electric mixer for about 2 minutes.
- Use a flat wooden spoon to slowly stir in the flour until the batter is smooth.
- Mix in the apple chunks, pour the cake batter into a buttered and floured cake mold – we used a round 9 inch cake pan.
- Bake for 5 minutes at 400F, then lower to 360F (or 350F is your oven doesn’t have a 360F option) degrees and bake for the approximately 30 minutes or until it turns golden. To test if the cake is done insert a toothpick into the middle, if it comes out clean, then the cake is done.
Video Recipe for French Apple Cake
Step by step preparation photos for this simple french apple cake
Like so many others I’m amazed how good this cake turned out with so few ingredients involved. I did tweak it a bit….I microwaved the diced apples for a couple of minutes & added a sprinkling of cinnamon to the flour.
The result was delicious. We wolfed it down in two days & there’s only two of us. Thanks for this gorgeous recipe
My 9 and 11 year old made this with Pears and it is delicious, and amazing to have baking powder-free recipe at the moment! Merci ( I actually am from the South of France living in the UK but not a Baker :)
I added cinnamon and nutmeg! Absolutely delicious.
What a delicious recipe! I tried it your way with pink lady apples but also made a second cake with pears and just a drop of lavender essential oil. Wonderful recipe- simple and delicious!
I just made this and OMG
Your cheese empanada recipe was so good…I will try this one next…I have friends coming for dinner this week and I think that you just solved my dessert issue :-)