Passover apple cake. A classic recipe from the astoundingly great cookbook author, Arthur Schwartz. Kosher for Passover yet still tastes like any traditional apple cake. Talk about a godsend.

This Passover apple cake from renowned cookbook author Arthur Schwartz has magical properties. You see, whatever leftovers you can’t polish off the first day and carefully stash for tomorrow will have morphed from a sugary topping into an indulgently gooey, caramel-like topping. This may be the first time that we’re actively excited not to eat a whole, freshly-baked cake in one sitting. Cake that not only improves but evolves? That’s the kind of magic we like. So enticing we find ourselves making it all year long and not just at Passover. Talk about a godsend. Originally published March 29, 2010.–Renee Schettler Rossi
Passover Apple Cake Recipe
Ingredients
- For the topping
- 1/2 cup (57 grams) coarsely chopped walnuts or pecans
- 1/2 to 3/4 cup (100 to 150 grams) granulated sugar
- 1 tablespoon (6 grams) ground cinnamon, or a combination of ground cinnamon, nutmeg, mace, and ginger
- For the cake
- 3 large eggs
- 3/4 cup (100 to 150 grams) granulated sugar
- 1/3 cup (80 ml) vegetable oil or mild olive oil
- 3/4 cup (about 100 grams) matzo cake meal (or substitute matzos or matzo meal that you finely grind in a blender and then put through a fine sieve)
- 3 to 5 medium apples, preferably Golden Delicious, Crispin (Mutzu), or other apples that keep their shape when cooked (24 to 34 ounces or 680 to 950 grams), peeled, cored, halved, and cut into 1/4-inch-thick slices (about 5 cups)
- 1/3 cup (60 grams) raisins (optional)
Directions
- 1. Preheat the oven to 350°F (175°C) and position an oven rack in the center of the oven. Lightly oil an 8-inch square glass baking dish.
- 2. Mix together the walnuts, sugar, and cinnamon in a small bowl.
- 3. In a bowl with a hand-held electric mixer, beat the eggs on medium speed until well mixed. Beat in the sugar, about 2 tablespoons at a time, beating until the mixture is thick and foamy. Beat in the oil, adding it in a steady stream. Scrape down the bowl with a rubber spatula. With the spatula, stir in the matzo cake meal, blending well.
- 4. Pour half the batter mixture into the prepared baking dish. Sprinkle about half the topping mixture evenly over the batter. Top with half the apples and all the raisins. Scrape the remaining batter over the apples, spreading it out to cover the apples. Arrange the remaining apples on top of the batter. Sprinkle evenly with the remaining topping mixture.
- 5. Bake for 1 hour and 15 minutes, or until the sides of the cake pull away very slightly from the baking dish and the topping has begun to caramelize. (A cake tester is not reliable. It will not come out clean due to the moist richness of this cake.) Let the cake cool in the baking dish for several hours, until completely cool, before cutting it into serving portions. This cake is yet another Yiddish food that improves with age. Keep the cake in its dish, covered tightly with plastic, and the next day the topping will have become a moist, candy-like coating.
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This recipe is amazing, and I had lots of happy guests, but I would recommend you cut the sugar in half. It really isn’t necessary and assuming this recipe makes 8 servings it is 375 calories *per* serving.
Thanks for the tip, Rae. Those who don’t care for super sweet desserts will find that quite helpful. Appreciate it! And glad to hear you had a houseful of happy desserters.
could you replace the matzo meal by regular flour?
Hi Shanna, from what I understand matzo meal and flour are not necessarily interchangeable. Since matzo is flour and water that has already been baked, the consistency of the meal is different, the recipe proportions are not the same, and it has a gluten structure that varies from flour in baked goods. You can easily make your own meal by grinding matzo in a food processor. Or perhaps someone has more experience in this substitution? If so, we would love to hear.
Praise Yahshua for sweet ideas! Happy Passover everyone! John 24:6
Happy Passover to you, too, Alicia!
I have made this Passover Pareve Apple Cake twice in two days. Brought it to my son’s work place and no one thought it was anything different than a regular cake with cinnamon and apples. They loved it and asked for more. I was “long” on cake meal so I made another one. If you follow the instructions and get the eggs and sugar and oil foamy then the cake rises like a regular cake. The texture, the flavor are all wonderful. Arthur Schwartz was quite the baker!
Lovely to hear, Stu. So glad it’s now part of your Passover tradition. And yes, Arthur Schwartz had the gift!
Interesting recipe which I can use next Passover. For in between the Passover holidays, matzo and matzo cake meal are not easy to come by. Is it possible to substitute almond flour? If yes, would it be 1 for 1 or another ratio? Thank you, in advance, for your advice!
Hi Arthur, we haven’t tested this recipe using almond flour so I’m a little reluctant to offer substitution ratios. Since matzo cake meal is made from a previously baked product it will behave a bit differently in a recipe. Please let us know if you try this with almond flour. I’m curious!
Can I substitute the same amount of flour as cake meal if I want to make this cake Year round?
Debbie, unfortunately not because flour will react differently. We do have a bunch of great apple cakes on the site. The very popular Drunken Apple Cake, delicious Apple Spice Cake with Caramel Sauce, Apple Cake with Caramel Glaze, and my favorite, Super Moist Apple Cake.