My friend Marie-Hélène Brunet-Lhoste is a woman who knows her way around food. She's a top editor of the Louis Vuitton City Guides (and one of the restaurant critics for the Paris edition), so she eats at scores of restaurants every year, and she's a terrific hostess, so she cooks at home often and with great generosity. There's no question that she's a great home cook, but for me, she's the most frustrating kind of cook: she never follows a recipe (in fact, I don't think there's a cookbook to be found on her packed bookshelves), never takes a note about what she does, and while she's always happy to share her cooking tips, she can never give you a real recipe—she just doesn't know it.
I've watched her in her kitchen, in the hopes of nabbing a recipe by observation, but it's impossible. Like so many really good cooks, Marie-Hélène starts off with a set of ingredients that could be annotated and recipe-ized, but, once she starts mixing, stirring, boiling, baking, or sautéing, she makes so many mid-cooking adjustments that you just have to throw up your hands and content yourself with being the lucky recipient.
And so it was with this apple cake, which is more apple than cake, rather plain but very appealing in its simplicity (the chunks of apple make a bumpy, golden top) and so satisfying that we all went back for seconds. Despite knowing that it was futile, I asked for the recipe, and, of course, Marie-Hélène didn't really know.
"It's got two eggs, sugar, flour, and melted butter—oh, and rum," she said. "I mix the eggs and sugar together and then I add some flour, some butter, some flour, and some butter." When I asked how much flour and butter, I got a genuinely apologetic shrug, and when I asked what kind of apples she used, the answer was, divers, or different kinds.
Since there were only a few major ingredients, I thought I could figure out the recipe—and I did! (Although not on the first—or second—shot.) I've added baking powder to the mix (and I have a feeling Marie-Hélène might have too) and a drizzle of vanilla, which you can skip if you want. What you don't want to skip is the pleasure of having diverse apples. It's really nice to mix up the fruit, so that you have some apples that are crisp, some soft, some sweet, and some tart.
Ingredients
Makes 8 servings
Preparation
Step 1
Center a rack in the oven and preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Generously butter an 8-inch springform pan and put it on a baking sheet lined with a silicone baking mat or parchment paper and put the springform on it.
Step 2
Whisk the flour, baking powder, and salt together in small bowl.
Step 3
Peel the apples, cut them in half and remove the cores. Cut the apples into 1- to 2-inch chunks.
Step 4
In a medium bowl, beat the eggs with a whisk until they're foamy. Pour in the sugar and whisk for a minute or so to blend. Whisk in the rum and vanilla. Whisk in half the flour and when it is incorporated, add half the melted butter, followed by the rest of the flour and the remaining butter, mixing gently after each addition so that you have a smooth, rather thick batter. Switch to a rubber spatula and fold in the apples, turning the fruit so that it's coated with batter. Scrape the mix into the pan and poke it around a little with the spatula so that it's evenish.
Step 5
Slide the pan into the oven and bake for 50 to 60 minutes, or until the top of the cake is golden brown and a knife inserted deep into the center comes out clean; the cake may pull away from the sides of the pan. Transfer to a cooling rack and let rest for 5 minutes.
Step 6
Carefully run a blunt knife around the edges of the cake and remove the sides of the springform pan. (Open the springform slowly, and before it's fully opened, make sure there aren't any apples stuck to it.) Allow the cake to cool until it is just slightly warm or at room temperature. If you want to remove the cake from the bottom of the springform pan, wait until the cake is almost cooled, then run a long spatula between the cake and the pan, cover the top of the cake with a piece of parchment or wax paper, and invert it onto a rack. Carefully remove the bottom of the pan and turn the cake over onto a serving dish.
Serving
Step 7
The cake can be served warm or at room temperature, with or without a little softly whipped, barely sweetened heavy cream or a spoonful of ice cream. Marie-Hélène's served her cake with cinnamon ice cream and it was a terrific combination.
Storing
Step 8
The cake will keep for about 2 days at room temperature and, according to my husband, gets more comforting with each passing day. However long you keep the cake, it's best not to cover it - it's too moist. Leave the cake on its plate and just press a piece of plastic wrap or wax paper against the cut surfaces.
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Reviews (228)
Back to TopIt's very versatile. As others have mentioned, I also had problems with it being too wet. So I increase the flour to 1 cup, the baking powder to 1 tsp, and the eggs to 3. That solves the problem. I made it today and used 2 green apples, 4 plums (no need to peel the plums), and a cup of blueberries. Did not have any rum so used cognac. It came out perfect. I have also made it with pear & raspberry. I don't butter the pan - I line the bottom & sides with parchment and give the parchment a light spray with non stick spray - much easier.
RickW
Palm Springs
12/2/2022
Fantastic!!!
Kim
Los Angeles
9/26/2021
So simple yet so delicious. The apples really do shine without any added spices. I used chopped freshly picked Cortlands, and will definitely try a variety for next time. Didn't have rum so I tripled the vanilla. Also used a regular cake pan lined with parchment and parchment strips to pull the cake out. Adding this to my Thanksgiving menu this year!
KLAU
Midland Park, NJ
9/19/2021
My go to apple cake recipe for the past 5 years. So easy! So tasty! I make it exactly as written. A treasure!
gastylin
Atlanta, GA
11/12/2020
I loved it. Simple easy and delicious!!! Personally I normally hate liquor in cakes but Decided to add it anyway and I am so happy I did. I used Appleton dark rum and it gave the cake a beautiful flavour that wasn’t over powering...It did not have a ‘rum’ taste. Highly recommend adding the rum even if you think you wont like it...A touch of cardamom might be nice or alternatively some slivered almonds. Definitely not cinnamon.
mlssrn
Toronto
11/2/2020
This is my go-to recipe in apple season. Very easy and delicious! The trick is to cut the apples in thin slices rather than chunks, so you get nice layers. I don’t have an 8 inch pan, so to adjust it for a 10 inch springform, I use a full cup of flour, full teaspoon of baking powder, and add an extra egg. And I rarely have dark rum, so I use apple brandy. Comes out great every time.
alexisls17
DC
10/4/2020
This recipe has converted me from apple pie to apple cake forever more. This was beyond delicious! The only changes I made were using Calvados instead of rum, and all of the apples were sliced using a mandolin at 1/4” thick. I probably used about 4 large apples. The apple to batter ratio was very low and I probably should have increased the cake batter if I wanted more cake - but I didn’t. The final result was beautiful and tasted amazing, like a crustless apple pie.
Anonymous
Fort Lauderdale, Fl
9/20/2020
My go-to for a delicious apple cake. Simple to whip together, but so elegant with it's pairing of rum & custard-like apple dessert.
emilya
Pacific NW
9/7/2020
A simple and delicious cake! I didn't have dark rum so I used 3T apple juice in its place. I used a 9" springform pan so mine wasn't as thick/tall, but it came out fantastic nonetheless. It cooked in about 65 minutes. The nice thing about this is that it's lovely by itself, but you can also put it with ice cream, whipped cream or caramel sauce to make it more decadent. Such an easy and versatile treat.
Meg Mae
CA
8/17/2020
I've made this lovely cake twice, once for Christmas Eve 2019 and just yesterday for a colleague's birthday. While I thought it was a little two sweet, I received rave reviews from both my family and work friends. I made as directed and both cakes turned out beautifully. I used a mix of Granny Smith, Pink Lady, and Fuji apples. Thanks for the wonderful recipe! It's a keeper if you're looking for a rustic, simple apple dessert. Finally, it's very authentic and reminds me of the cake my "French mom" made for me in Paris many years ago.
Anonymous
Sonoma County
1/30/2020
I made without the rum and added some nutmeg ...it was absolutely perfect 👌🏼 While eating I decided to drizzle some rum on my slice and it was even better!
shirley5945
OaklanD, CA
9/30/2019
Made this again, again rave reviews!
bdagr
NJ shore
4/27/2019
In response to a reviewer perhaps needing guidance on apple volume, I suggest 4 large apples yields about 6 cups of apple chunks. That means about 3/4 of the batter is apples, and so the choice of apples really matters. I used a Bramley's Seedling, a Spigold, a Honeycrisp and an Early Gold and was very pleased with the result. I find the 8" springform pan just right for the quantities in the recipe. I love to show off with this cake - it is such a humble, rustic cake and its complexity of flavor catches people by surprise.
daphnegreen
New Westminster BC
11/15/2018
This is one of may favorite recipes for the fall, when the farmers market has so many varieties of apples. I have adjusted it for a 9" springform -- I use 3 eggs, a cup of flour, and a teaspoon of baking powder, keeping all the other ingredient amounts the same. I do find that slicing the apples thinly makes nice layers in the cake. I never have rum, so I use apple brandy. I have tried all sorts of variations on this -- with lemon zest, powdered and candied ginger, cinnamon and nutmeg, Fior di Sicilia (each individually, not all at the same time) -- and it's always delicious.
alexisls17
DC
10/28/2018
I want to commend those who suggested using a mix of apples, the flavor is far more interesting with the addition of some tart apples. Using only Golden Delicious would yield a blander cake than adding a tart apple or 2. I handed my husband a ruler and instructed him to keep the apple pieces to 1 inch, so the cake held together beautifully. It's important all the pieces of apple be coated with batter. Based on the many reviews, I adjusted the cake for a 9 inch cake by increasing most of the ingredients by 50%: flour to 1 cup 2 Tbsp flour, 1 1/4 teaspoon baking powder, pinch salt, 5 apples, eggs and 1 cup 2 tablespoon sugar, 2-4 tablespoons Calvados, 3/4 teaspoon vanilla, and 1 1/4 sticks butter. I also prepared 2 9-inch cakes by doubling all these quantities except using only 7 apples and 2 sticks of butter. Some reviewers had indicated the butter quantity in the recipe seemed too much, and I found that 2 sticks of butter for 2 9-inch cakes was just the right amount and had less leaking of the pan while baking. If you plan to remove the baking pan's base, then you really should line it with a parchment round that has been buttered, because the cake is so moist, you end up leaving some on the cake pan base otherwise. Calvados was lovely, would use cognac as an alternative. Dark rum is such a strong flavor, that I wanted to try alternatives. I served it with small scoop of caramel ice cream for our guests, I ate it without ice cream and loved it.
adancer
DaDDallas
1/29/2018
