Celebrate apple harvest with sweet, fluffy apple cake that is easier than pie. Reminiscent of the Italian recipe, Torta di Mele, this rustic apple cake is perfect alongside coffee or with a scoop of vanilla ice-cream.

Apple “cake” was supposed to be pie– and still can be with one small change. This recipe came about completely by mistake. I was perfecting an easy apple pie recipe and accidently doubled the flour but decided to roll with it. Turns out, I created an apple cake that I plan to make every fall season for the rest of my life. With that said, by cutting the flour in half, you will end up with an insanely good pie. Two recipes in one blog post– you’re welcome!

Apple cake ingredients.

Traditional apple pie can be a bit intimidating, not to mention, time consuming. Apple cake, on the other hand, is fool proof. No worrying about the temperature of the dough. The cake is 3 layers of simple ingredients.

Layer #1 Buttery crust with almond and cinnamon.

Layer #2 Thick batter of cinnamon sugar apples.

Layer #3 Honey butter apple slices on top.

When baked in the oven, the cake fluffs up beautifully, apples soften and the top crisps and caramelizes.

How to make the crust.

The crust is reminiscent of short bread. Sweet with a hint of nuttiness from the almond butter. It’s the perfect foundation for the apple cake.

To begin, preheat the oven to 350F degrees. While the oven is coming to temperature, gather the ingredients (full list below) and grease a 10-inch pie pan with butter or lard. If you plan to remove the cake from the pan, this step will make or break you. I recommend pork lard for absolute certainty the cake won’t stick. Pork lard has less water content than butter, making for a thicker layer of oil.

All Grass Farms sells lard rendered and ready to go for your recipe needs. In the past, I have purchased pork fat from Terra Vitae farms in Woodstock and rendered it down myself with a slow cooker. The benefit of doing it yourself is that, it is cheaper, and you get the bonus of pork cracklings.

Back to the crust.

In a large bowl, combine the following ingredients:

All purpose flour
Cane sugar
Almond butter
Cinnamon
Softened butter

Cut in the butter to the other ingredients. I use my fingers for this. Basically, squeeze the mixture between my fingers until combined and then shape into a dough.

Stretch the dough so it evenly covers the bottom of the pie pan. Bake for 20 minutes.

In the meantime, prepare the cake.

What to do with lots of apples: Apple Cake.

How to make apple cake.

The apple cake begins with sifting the following ingredients:

All purpose flour
Baking powder
Salt

In a separate bowl, beat 2 eggs. Next, add cane and cocoanut sugar then beat again until it looks like thick caramel. Then, add vanilla extract, almond butter, cinnamon and apples (diced and peeled). I used Honeycrisp and Mcintosh. Use your favorite apples. I do not recommend Granny Smith (too tart!) or Red Delicious (turns to mush!). Combine the wet ingredients to the dry until the flour is no longer visible. The batter will be on the thicker side. Carefully cover the crust with the batter. Be careful not to pull the crust away from the pan. Before the cake goes back into the oven, prepare the topping.

How to make apple cake topping.

The bowl that held the eggs and sugar will have leftovers lining the sides. In that bowl, melt butter and add honey. Mix so the left-over sugar is incorporated. Add 1-2 peeled and sliced apples. Take notice, SLICED apples. The pieces should lay flat on top of the cake.

Lay the honey butter apple slices all over the top of the cake in a single layer. Depending on the size of the apples, this may require 1 or 2. Pour or scrape out all the left-over honey butter and drizzle on top of the cake.

Baking the apple cake.

Bake the apple cake for around 30 minutes at 350F degrees. The cake should fluff up and the top will turn golden.

At the 30-minute mark, sprinkle coconut sugar on top and bake 5 minutes more.

Serving tips & suggestions.

If removing the cake from the pan to serve on a seperate dish follow these steps:

Let cake cool completely.
Take a sheet pan and cover the top of the cake.
Flip pan while holding the pie pan. Place upside down on the counter.
Say a prayer.
Remove the pie pan, leaving the cake on top of the sheet pan.
Take the serving tray and place it on the cake.
While holding the serving platter, flip the sheet pan over so the cake is right side up on the serving dish.

I highly recommend vanilla ice-cream to go along with the cake. However, it makes an excellent snack alone or with coffee.

Storing apple cake.

I made this cake, left it on the counter for 4 days in a plastic container and when I tried it on the 4th day, it was fantastic.

To freeze, let cool completely, then cut into slices and place in freezer bag or container for up to 3 months.