| Warm Bread and Honey Cake | Interlink, 2009 | Serves 10 to 12
Chile is home to a fairly large community of German settlers and their descendants. This simple drunken apple cake recipe, whose Germanic origin is reflected in its name, is out of the ordinary. When it is cut, you see three layers of cake enclosing two bands of creamy apple mixture, which can be gooey or custard-like in places, depending on how the batter and apples have been distributed. It makes a wonderful pudding, served while still warm from the oven, although it is equally delicious when it cools and sets.—Gaitri Pagrach-Chandra
LC Articulating Apples Note: To define a “type” of tart apple that’s perfect for this recipe is sort of like trying to define a particular “type” of artistic genius like Michelangelo or da Vinci. Can’t really be done in so many words. That said, some relatively common types that fall somewhere on the tartish side of appledom include Golden Delicious, McIntosh, Northern Spy, and Tydeman. Better yet, ask your local apple guy at the greenmarket—chances are you’ll end up with the perfect local variety, quite possibly something of the vintage heirloom variety. Just be mindful not to confuse “tart” with “sour.” Save the mouth-puckering Granny Smiths and Greenings for another recipe.
Special Equipment: 9-inch or 9 1/2-inch springform pan, at least 2 3/4 inches high
Active time: 30 minutes | Total time: 2 hours.
Drunken Apple Cake Recipe
Ingredients
- 1 1/2 pounds tart apples (about 5 medium-sized apples)
- Generous 1/3 cup granulated sugar
- 1/2 cup heavy cream
- 2 cups all-purpose flour, plus more for the pan
- 2 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 11 tablespoons unsalted butter, at room temperature, plus more for the pan
- Generous 1 cup granulated sugar
- 3 eggs, lightly beaten
- 5 tablespoons rum (any rum will do quite nicely)
- 5 tablespoons water
Directions
Want it? Click it.
3. Preheat the oven to 325°F (160°C). Butter the pan and dust with flour.
4. Sift the flour with the baking powder and salt and set aside.
5. Beat the butter and sugar in a large bowl, either with an electric mixer or by hand, until smooth and creamy. Add the lightly beaten eggs to the butter mixture in 4 batches, scraping down the sides of the bowl and beating well after each addition. Gently fold in the flour in 4 batches, adding the rum and water with the third batch. Stop mixing as soon as the last batch of flour is incorporated.
6. Divide the batter into 3 portions. (You can eyeball it, but each portion should be about 1 cup or so.) Scrape 1/3 of the batter into the prepared pan and smooth the surface. Spoon half of the apple and cream mixture evenly over the batter, leaving a 1/2-inch plain border around the edge and smoothing the slices so they’re neat and level. Scrape another 1/3 of the batter on top of the apples and cream and smooth the surface, spreading the batter all the way to the edge of the pan. Spoon the remaining apples and cream evenly on top of the batter, and then top with the third and final batch of batter, smoothing it all the way to the edge of the pan, which will be quite full.
7. Bake the cake for 1 1/2 hours, or until a skewer inserted into the center of the cake comes out clean. Let cool in the pan for 15 to 20 minutes, then release the sides of the pan and transfer the cake to a wire rack to cool completely. Your drunken apple cake will keep at room temperature for up to 4 days.
- Tipsy Apples from Dessert First
- Simplest Apple Tart from Smitten Kitchen
- Fresh Apple Cake with Caramel Glaze from Leite’s Culinaria
- Apple Latkes from Leite’s Culinaria
Drunken apple cake recipe © 2009 Gaitri Pagrach-Chandra. Photo © 2009 Vanessa Courtier. All rights reserved.
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[Karen Depp] Easy to make, even easier to love, this kuchen has everything going for it—looks, taste, ease of preparation. The apples bake up into a really flavorful filling and the surrounding cake is moist inside and crispy good on the top. The rum gives it a very subtle boost. Licking the bowl is a plus for this one! This could easily serve 10 to 12 people if you hide the cake after you serve it, otherwise guests will attack whatever is left and eat it before you can say Johnny Appleseed.
[Tammori P.] This cake is a winner! it is such a simple recipe yet produces a dessert that looks like it comes right from the bakery and tastes wonderful. It’s not too sweet and has a nice texture from the cream. This cake is perfect for autumn and will most definitely have a place on my dessert table at Thanksgiving. I only had a 9 1/2 inch springform pan (not the 9″ that the recipe called for) and I was glad I used it because I needed the extra room for the apples.
Yum, sounds like a recipe my husband was trying to tell me about that his mom (who was German) used to make him as a little boy when they were stationed in England when his Dad was in the U.S. military. I can’t ask her for the recipe since she long ago passed away, even before I met my husband. I think I’m going to try this one and surprise my husband.
Thanks.
Lauralee, I can’t tell you how I’m hoping this is one in the same as the cake your husband had as a boy. Please do report back and let us know…
Opened my home page to this beautiful site; instantly had me drooling. I will be making this next week after I go apple picking!
The photo had the same effect on us, Lisa. And the recipe does not disappoint. Neither does the book it’s taken from, actually. I encourage you to consider it.
Oh, Queen of CT Baking, I’m curious to know your thoughts!
Thanks a lot for your visit to my blog ! I’m totally flattered by your lovely comment..:) I’ve tried a few recipes from your site and so far, none of them failed to satify all of my tasters and of course myself !!
Thanks again !
My pleasure. And so glad you like the recipes from LC. Our testers are mighty tough—it’s hard to get dishes through!
I made this a few months back, and loved it. I also recommend the book, as I keep going back to it and finding more wonderful things I want to make. In fact, I was leafing through it again this evening.
We couldn’t agree more with you about the book, Mary. It’s truly lovely. Let us know what else you make…
Well, the multi-layered spice cake was rich and fantastic, and I absolutely could not stop eating the feta and parsley buns. I used cilantro and make them often to go with soup or drinks. Next up is the pide and the spice cake with almond paste.
Dear Renee and David,
I really do enjoy baking with apples and easy recipes with booze, YUM!
We certainly wil love, love, LOVE this cake!
Excitedly,
Lisa
xo
Lovely to hear it, Lisa. Do let us know just how much you love it…
What’s drizzled on the cake in the photo? The recipe above doesn’t mention it; does the book?
Chiyo, it’s most likely cream. It didn’t say anything in the book.
Scrumptous! So easy and so satisfying. This is my new apple dessert recipe. I have been using one by David Bouley called my Grandmother’s Apple dish, which had a simalar soft apple filling, but Drinken Apple Cake has surpassed. Drunken Apple Cake has the warm golden toasty crust and layered creamy buttery apple filling that gives it double happiness per bite. I also enjoyed reading the history behind the food. What I find particularly helpful are the advisory notes. When I was at the Farmer’s Market it helped to have different choices of which would be better-suited apples for the recipe.
Many Thanks! Maggie
Maggie, it’s our pleasure. So glad you enjoyed the cake.
Don’t laugh BUT wondering if there is a lower fat sub for the heavy cream . I can’t help but think the custard will still be delicious with a healthier option ??!
Not laughing at all, Judy. I can completely appreciate your desire, although I find that baking with substitutes is always a little tricky, as dessert recipes rely on a sort of science. If you’re intent on tweaking the fat content, you could try half-and-half, which is, as the name implies, half milk and half cream. And yet I can’t vouch for the results. Something to bear in mind is that this recipe calls for just 1/2 cup of cream for 12 servings, which equates t to less than 1 tablespoon of cream per person…at any rate, let us know what you decide to do!
This will be on my Thanksgiving table this Sunday (our Canadian Thanksgiving).
I have my shopping list of ingredients in my purse already.
How lovely, Anne! I think it will be the perfect dessert. Happy Thanksgiving and do report back…
I just made this cake. I had to! I am so glad I did. My husband, my 11 year old and I liked it a lot. I love your site! Thanks.
You’re very welcome, Robin! We feel the same about the cake—just too perfect for this time of year to pass by without sharing. And glad you enjoy the site. Looking forward to hearing about other recipes that you find equally compelling.
Hi. This looks amazing, but I have to say that I strongly dislike any kind of alcohol flavor in my desserts–just a taste thing. Do you think this would work as well without the rum? Can you taste the rum? Any ideas for substitutions? I might be okay with a liqueur like Calvados.
Hi Susan. I’ve made this cake, and to tell the truth, you really don’t have that much of a rum taste, just the “spirit” of it—haha. Really, though, it is just an added level of flavor, nothing overbearing. If you are a real rum fan, you would probably complain that you couldn’t taste it all that much. My apples were still walking straight when they came out of the pan. Now Tipsy Squire might be another story altogether!! Karen D.
Hi Susan, I think this would be wonderful with Calvados substituted for the rum. Please let us know how it turns out.
Beth Price
Director of Recipe Testing
Alas, Beth, the Calvados experiment will have to wait–my husband persuaded to go ahead and use the rum, and it’s true, we barely tasted it. Cake was delicious as presented here!
I wish I’d read that excellent pastry bag trick below before I made it. A warning: This is NOT a cake to make in a hurry before a dinner party! I found myself frantically trying to spread the batter with my fingers. So what I served didn’t look quite as elegant as the picture, but no one knew, and everyone loved it.
First timer here. A droolicious recipe to welcome fall :)
We share your sentiment, Kiran! Welcome. Lovely to have you here.
Hi Kiran, welcome to Leite’s Culinaria! This cake is delicious, please give it a try.
Kiran, we hope this is just the first of many recipes we’ll be able to tempt you with! Welcome to the Leite’s Culinaria family. We’re glad you stopped by and look forward to seeing you in our comment forum again.
Kiran, welcome. I think you’ll find LC is a great place to stop by, coffee in hand, and surf for a recipe or piece of writing to sink you can sink teeth into. If you have any questions, don’t hesitate to ask.
And I certainly hope our other LC readers will welcome our newest reader (a-hem!).
Yes indeed -welcome to the party! We are so glad that you decided to stop by and hope that you give some of these recipes a try. I can attest to the fact that this cake is a real winner – easy and fun to make and eat!
We hope you let us know how you liked it!
Karen
This was a delightful cake, we all just loved it. It was so nice to eat an apple dessert without the crutch of a cinnamon or nutmeg flavor. Not that I dislike either one, but it was so nice to actually taste the bright natural flavor of the Jonagolds that I used and the simple sweet little cake. Tossing the apples with cream and sugar was brilliant. It gave a nice creamy custard mouthfeel to the apples in the cake yet the apples still maintained their integrity. The batter was a little difficult to spread on the first layer because there is so little of it. I put the balance in a pastry bag and wound it around in a spiraling circle to make it easier to spread over the apples in the other two layers. It worked well. Thanks for this! The family wants it again!
Lovely to hear, Susan. Just lovely. And a clever little trick on the pastry bag. Thanks for letting us know.
Maybe my apples were too big but after slicing them as directed and layering them, there was no creamy custardy texture to the apples when eating the cake.
All instructions were followed to the letter except the substitute of apple juice for rum.
After 90 minutes of baking and the dry skewer test, all seemed well.Everyone ate their dessert (except me, I was the pumpkin pie hold out) Not a comment was uttered during the apple cake eating.
My SO broke the news after everyone had left that the cake was good but the apples were not cooked enough.
I may try it again with my mandoline some day for paper thin slices.
Thanks, LC, for introducing me to this recipe. I made it last weekend, and it was truly scrumptious. I had never heard of this cookbook before, now I will definitely seek out a copy.
Next time, I will add more apples so the cake more closely resembles the photo, and I’ll use my mandoline to slice them very thinly.
You’re very welcome, Babette. We are over the moon for this cookbook. The images, the recipes, the context for the recipes…
I actually haven’t decided yet what to make next, indecision has gotten the better of me with so many lovely choices, so let me know which others tempt you and perhaps we can compare notes.
I loved this cake, however the crumb was more like a quick bread. Even though I dispute it’s cakiness, I think I will add this recipe to my favorites. Thank You for sharing it!
There are many more of Gaitri’s recipes that deserve notice. For example, her sachertorte. Apparently, she dragged her husband to every bakery in Vienna, to find the most perfect sachertorte. I made Gaitri ‘s version today for a friend’s birthday, and everyone loved it. But it was also a pleasure making it, because Gita’s instructions were easier to follow than my old recipe. Next on my list is her Tipsy Corn Cake.
I love, love, love this cake! I made it last week and am making again tonight. It’s one of the best apple desserts I’ve had and one of the prettiest I’ve made. You can bake this cake and be proud when bringing it to a party because it looks so much more complicated than it is. Thank you so much for continually posting wonderful recipes.
You’re quite welcome! So glad to hear that you had the same experience with this cake as we have. Consider investing in the book, it’s truly a keeper. And, of course, also let us know which other recipes you try from the site…
This is absolutely gorgeous. Perhaps the best apple cake I have ever eaten. Very moist, flavorful, soft, buttery, and yummylicious. Oh, and when it comes out of the oven, it looks as beautiful, too. Seriously, this cake is to be made into a kepper recipe, for absolute comfort food. LC’s portuguese olive oil and orange cake and this one, absolute gems from this website.
Well, alina, a double hearty thanks.
Lovely to hear you like it so, Alina!
I baked this terrific cake but was wondering if I was supposed to include all of the cream with the fruit layer? It wasn’t entirely explicit in the recipe and I wasn’t quite sure how it was going to all hang together with so much liquid! In any case, it was really delicious. Thank you.
So glad you enjoyed, pastrystudio! Yes, you did the exact right thing by incorporating all of the cream into the layers. I tweaked the wording of the recipe, per your suggestion, so the instructions are more explicit. That said, we’ve heard nothing except effusive comments about the results of this recipe. I encourage you to also try the Nutmeg Cake, also from the same book.
My Granddaughter wanted to take something to her boyfriend’s home for Thanksgiving that she helped make. We made the Drunken Apple for her. I used a layer of the apples on top and sprinkled some sugar on it before baking, it just sparkled, also did the Cream Anglaise for the sauce. It looked so good! Well, last night the Dad called to rave about how they just loved it. I didn’t make one for us, but I’ll make as one of our desserts for Christmas so we can enjoy it, too. Thanks for this recipe–we both made some happy friends with this dessert.