Time to share an old family recipe of mine!

This classic Apfelkuchen recipe is a popular German cake and a fixed part of our coffee and cake time (aka teatime).

The cake is super easy to make, doesn't require many ingredients and just looks delicious.

If you like, you can also swap the apples with pears or apricots.

By the way, it also pairs quite nicely with a scoop of vanilla ice cream on the side, just saying …

Happy Baking!

Ingredients

For the cake

100g butter (softened)

100g caster sugar

3 eggs

200g flour

2 tsp baking powder

2 tbsp milk

lemon zest (from 1 lemon)

vanilla extract

For the topping

750g cooking apples, i.e. Bramley

45g flaked almonds

Method

1. Preheat the oven to 160°C (fan) and grease a 26cm round baking tin.

2. In a bowl, cream the sugar and butter until light and pale. Add the vanilla extract and lemon zest.

3. Mix in the eggs, one at a time.

4. In another bowl, combine the flour and baking powder.

5. Fold in half of the flour mixture to the dough, followed by the milk and the other half of the dry ingredients. Mix until well combined.

6. Spoon the batter into the baking tin.

7. Peel and quarter the apples. Slice them on top (don’t cut them all the way through!) and place them on the cake.

8. Sprinkle with the flaked almonds.

9. Bake for about 40-45 minutes until a skewer inserted comes out clean.

10. Transfer to a wire rack and leave to cool.