I’m so excited to share this easy healthy apple cake – it’s inspired by the one cake my Omi bakes, an apple rye. It’s a healthier spin on a traditional German apple cake and late-season apples and hazelnuts are in abundance at this time of year in Germany. It seemed like the right time to share.
How to cut the apples for an apple cake
The way the apples are cut in this recipe are how you’ll often see them arranged on this type of cake around here, almost like a hasselback potato. It means the apples cook all the way through without making them too soft. You get big pieces of apple in the slices and I mean, really, it just looks nice. The baking time is long enough that the apples become soft enough to cut through with a fork, perfect for afternoon coffee.
I prefer the flavour this way as opposed to ultra thin slices arranged in fans on the cake even though that’s arguably more attractive. Flavour over appearance, always. If you want to have a fan, check out how Heidi does her apple cake – still chunky slices, very important. P.S. That’s coconut flour, because I can’t resist the look of ‘powdered sugar’ on a cake but don’t want to eat the sugar. It works!
What’s in the cake?
This is a favourite flavour combination of mine, and I recently shared a hazelnut apple crumble too. I tend to use hazelnuts more than other nuts, like almonds, because they’re cheap and local. They also add a good bit of sweetness to this cake, which, by the way, is sweetened with coconut sugar and maple syrup for a nice caramel note.
The texture here is definitely more of a coffee cake than a sponge. It’s not super light and fluffy because there’s all that hazelnut flour mixed in to the batter, but it fits autumn, you know? It’s not sticky or heavy but certainly on the edge of dense. And those chunky apples, so good. There are piles of texture in this cake, with the crunchy nuts in the topping contrasting with the melt-in-your-mouth apples and soft cake crumb.
This vegan apple cake is adapted from the fig cake I posted just after we moved to Germany in 2016. I’ve replaced part of the coconut sugar with maple syrup, switched out olive oil for more neutral sunflower, and used lots of cinnamon in place of cardamom. I think the generous amount of cinnamon is what made the batter so much darker.
We had a rare sunny day when I took these photos, and I gave up on fighting the changing light. I did these at a friend’s studio and her dog is always trying to sneak food off the table – can you see her sniffing at the cake in one of the pictures?
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Apple Hazelnut Cake
Ingredients
- 280 grams light spelt flour
- 100 grams hazelnut meal
- 100 grams coconut sugar
- 2 teaspoons cinnamon
- 2 teaspoons baking powder
- ½ teaspoon baking soda
- ½ teaspoon sea salt
- 300 ml oat or almond milk
- 125 ml avocado oil*
- 60 ml maple syrup
- 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
- 6 apples halved, cored, and sliced**
- Chopped hazelnuts for topping optional
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 180°C (350°F) and grease a 20cm (8 inch) springform pan with coconut oil.
- In a large bowl, sift together the flour, hazelnut meal, coconut sugar, cinnamon, baking powder, baking soda, and salt.
- In a medium bowl, whisk together the milk, oil, maple syrup, and vanilla.
- Add the milk mixture to the larger bowl and mix until just combined. Pour the batter into the prepared pan and top with the halved apples. You can add a handful of hazelnuts as well for extra crunch if you like. Bake on the centre rack for 50-55 minutes or until golden.
- Cool the cake on a rack for 15 minutes before removing the outsides of the pan and cooling completely. Once the cake is almost cooled, you can remove the base of the pan. Serve at room temperature with nondairy yogurt or ice cream and more cinnamon.
Notes
** To slice the apples, halve them and carefully remove the core. Slice them almost all the way through in 1/2 cm slices. If you go all the way through don't worry, just place the pieces close together in the cake. The slicing is important. If you don't cut the apples, they won't cook fully. And if your apples are huge, quarter them instead of halving.
Peter Hormell says
Where are the hazelnuts in the ingredients list? Does the cake only contain hazelnut meal?
Alexandra | Occasionally Eggs says
Hi Peter – you’ve already asked this question and I replied above. You can add a handful of hazelnuts to the cake if you like but it’s not needed. I noted it in the recipe card now to clarify for you.
Peter Hormell says
Your beautiful photos show whole and half hazelnuts on the cake. Are these just for show? I think your recipe as posted fails to mention the hazelnuts… only hazelnut meal is listed in the ingredients.
Alexandra | Occasionally Eggs says
Hi Peter – I wouldn’t say that they’re for show, really, but rather to tell the reader (you!) what’s in the cake just by looking at it. You can choose to add a handful of hazelnuts if you’d like but it’s not necessary.
Danielle says
Do you think this would work with a softer fruit? I have a tree full of apricots and an excess of hazelnut flour. thanks!
Alexandra | Occasionally Eggs says
Absolutely! This is based off my fig and hazelnut cake, it would be excellent with apricots.
Danielle Ormon says
thank you!
Regina says
Looks lovely! Any apple recommendations?
Alexandra | Occasionally Eggs says
Thank you! I used a hardy winter type called Ontario here in Germany, and I’d recommend something with a bit of bite. I also really like Belle de Boskoop, which is quite high in acid, in this cake. Something a bit sharp and flavourful.
Chiara says
This is such a gorgeous cake Alexandra! Love the design whole apples create on the surface. it’s been ages since I last baked an apple cake, and I’ve been craving it so much now that weather has become super cold all at once. Hopefully I’ll manage to bake one tomorrow, and maybe film it too!
x chiara
Alexandra | Occasionally Eggs says
Thank you so much, Chiara! I thought I saw a glimpse of an apple cake the other day in one of your photos <3
Heidi | The Simple Green says
This cake is amazing…but the dog nose is everything lol!
Alexandra | Occasionally Eggs says
Hah! She’s such a lab, always with her nose in anything edible!
Murielle Banackissa says
Hi Alexandra,
This cake looks sooo good!! I was actually thinking of featuring it in my latest blogpost on my website (www.muriellebanackissa.com), where I will be sharing a list of recipes I’d love to try making during the holidays. Would it be ok if I used the first photo?
Thanks a lot!
p.s. I am such a fan of your photography – all your pictures always inspire me to grab my camera more often to practice and improve on my skills.
Alexandra | Occasionally Eggs says
Hi Murielle! Thank you so much! Your pictures are absolutely beautiful. Yes, please feel free to share the photo/link, and I hope you love the recipe if you try it 🙂
Murielle Banackissa says
Ohh thank you so much!! It is now on my blog; I am definitely planning on making it during the holidays 😀
Things2Eat says
This is so beautiful!