Marie-Helene’s Apple Cake
Updated March 26, 2019
I have been to France twice and each visit was amazing. I loved every second-touring Paris, visiting the beautiful countryside, indulging in fine foods, and learning about history and art. When I heard my favorite author, Dorie Greenspan, was coming out with a French cookbook, I was beyond excited. Well, the cookbook is out and it has exceeded my expectations by far. Around My French Table, is a collection of recipes from Dorie’s time in France. The book is filled with outstanding savory and sweet dishes. Today I am sharing an apple cake recipe from the book-of course I started with a sweet recipe:)
When Dorie’s book arrived in the mail, I gave it a big hug. I was thrilled to have her latest book in my possession. Since that moment, I can’t put the book down. I keep it by my bed and read from it each night. Dorie shares a special story with each recipe. I love reading about her time in France and why certain recipes are dear to her. This apple cake recipe comes from Dorie’s friend, Marie-Helene, who is the type of cook who doesn’t like to measure ingredients. Dorie fell in love with her apple cake and asked for the recipe, but her friend couldn’t give her the exact measurements. Dorie played around in the kitchen and figured out the recipe on her own.
I am grateful for Marie-Helene and Dorie for sharing this apple cake recipe. It is delicious and extremely simple to make. The cake is loaded with chunks of apples. There are almost more apples than cake, which I love. Dorie highly recommends using four different apple varieties so you get a little bit of everything-sweet, tart, crisp, and soft. I used Honeycrisp, Gala, Fuji, and Granny Smith apples. The cake is moist and can be served with vanilla ice cream or whipped cream. It is also good plain for breakfast-not that I would know:)
I am excited to cook and bake my way though Around My French Table. If French cooking intimidates you, don’t worry, Dorie will be with you every step of the way. Her recipes are very easy to understand and she shares numerous helpful hints along the way. Get ready to impress your family and friends with the finest French cuisine-right in your own home.
I hope to go back to France someday, but until then, I will cherish my memories and bring France home through Around My French Table.
Marie Helene's Apple Cake
Ingredients
- 3/4 cup all-purpose flour
- 3/4 teaspoon baking powder
- Pinch of salt
- 4 large apples use 4 different kinds-I used Honeycrisp, Gala, Fuji, and Granny Smith
- 2 large eggs
- 3/4 cup sugar
- 3 tablespoons dark rum
- 1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
- 8 tablespoons unsalted butter melted and cooled
Instructions
- 1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F and center a rack in the oven. Butter an 8 inch springform pan. Line a baking sheet with a silicone baking mat or parchment paper and put the springform pan on it. Set aside.
- 2. Whisk the flour, baking powder, and salt together in a small bowl.
- 3. Peel the apples, cut them in half, and remove the cores. Cut the apples into 1 to 2 inch chunks.
- 4. In a medium bowl, beat the eggs with a whisk until foamy. Pour in the sugar and whisk until smooth. Whisk in the rum and vanilla. Whisk in half of the flour mixture, when it's incorporated, add half of the melted butter, followed by the remaining flour mixture and butter. Mix in between additions so you have a smooth, thick batter.
- 5. Fold in the apples with a rubber spatula. Pour batter into prepared pan. Spread with spatula so the batter is somewhat even.
- 6. Slide the pan in the oven and bake 50-60 minutes, or until the top of the cake is golden brown and a knife inserted in the center comes out clean. Transfer to a cooling rack and cool for five minutes.
- 7. Run a knife around the edges of the cake and remove from the pan. Cool cake until slightly warm or at room temperature. If you want to remove the cake from the pan, wait until the cake is completely cooled. Slide a long spatula between the cake and 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 platter.
- *Note-you can serve the cake with vanilla ice cream or whipped cream. Dorie suggests not covering the cake because it is so moist. Just press a piece of plastic wrap against the cut surfaces of the cake.
Have you tried this recipe?
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If you like this apple cake, you might also like:
Apple Buttermilk Cake from Two Peas and Their Pod
Spiced Apple Cake from Joy the Baker
Maple Apple Ginger Cake from Baking Bites
Almond Apple Cake from Dragon’s Kitchen
This looks amazing! I had something similar to this when I visited France as well. Your recipe is so simple! I love it.
look like a perfect way to eat fall 🙂
Simple recipes are the best. And baked apples are incredible. What a beautiful treat. This seems easy enough to throw together for weekend guests
What a gorgeous cake! The story behind it is so interesting too. I really like that there are 4 different kinds of apples to vary the textures in the cake.
This cake looks so delicious! Perfect for all the apples that will be coming out this season 🙂
I love that you give your book a giant hug. I hope to share the experience of this apple cake & a trip to France someday. The rum in this cake sounds really nice. I am like you, I always like to mix up my apple varieties. xo
I just ordered her book the other day. I hug my most treasured cookbooks too 🙂 Can’t wait to get my copy!
Just the thought of you hugging the book put a big grin on my face!
The cake looks perfect — Marie-Helene would be so happy.
Dorie-thank you for stopping by. The cake is fabulous! Thanks for sharing the recipe. We are really enjoying your latest book. Congratulations!
I should get this one! I love this cake. Nothing is quite as homey in the fall as apple cake. I can only hope to find something that looks this good when I go to Paris next week!
Nothing wrong with having it for breakfast either!
That is one fine looking cake! See ya in a week. 🙂
I totally need to make this. Looks so good. I have everything but the rum. Do you think it would be ok with out it?
Amy-yes, you can leave the rum out. Maybe add in a little extra vanilla:) Enjoy!
I love apple cake! That looks phenomenal.
That’s so interesting to use four different apples – I never would have thought of that! I need to add to my collection, I think I’ll check this book out!
Liz-you will love the book. It is a must own if you ask me:)
Awesome that Dorie commented herself. She picked our recipes for FFwD for the month of October and that cake is on the list (for Oct. 29). Can’t wait to make it–probably sooner than waiting a whole month!
Wow! What a great looking cake, I can’t wait to get back to France. We’ve been just once, and I loved it too.
Mmmm. I wish I had a slice with my coffee right now. It looks wonderful!
Looks wonderful and delicious!
I pre-ordered my book and it hasn’t arrived yet. Boo Hoo! With that said, your apple cook looks divine! I have so many apples right now, so this recipe is going to the top of my “to do” list!
is it wrong to want to eat the whole thing in one sitting?
This looks like the perfect fall cake! Sounds amazing! I haven’t ordered my cookbook yet, but I think it’s time to!
Can’t wait to meet you next week!
What a gorgeous cake Maria! Love all of the beautiful ingredients!
i love this post. i am so tempted to get this book but recently i have gotten way too many cookbooks…….
What a perfect fall dish for all our great MN apples
I have got to get my act together and order that book! Another reason why we are friends? You love France/Paris. 🙂
I love apple cake! This looks delicious! I love your story too! Now I want to order that cookbook!
You are so right about Dorie’s new book…it is fantastic!
This looks so good! We don’t drink so is there anything I could substitute for the rum or just leave it out?
Camille-yes, you can leave out the rum. Add a little extra vanilla extract. Enjoy!
I ordered this book just last week and it’s supposedly on its way but I just can’t wait, especially not after seeing this beautiful cake!
Looks delicious! I have to get my hands on Dorie’s new book!
My husband would love this simple yet elegant cake. This would be perfect with a bit of Bauchant apple cream on the side.
CUTE blog!! I found you by googling pear and cheese sandwiches (which I am going ot make for my lunch right now) and fell in love! Great recipes and photogrpahy!
Thanks for finding us! We look forward to seeing you around.
I am going to have to add another fabulous cookbook of Dorie’s to my collection! This cake looks and sounds perfect!
It is such a beautiful book. Have been reading page by page and everything looks delicious.
Your apple cake is lovely. Cannot wait to get to that one.
And of course you started with a sweet. What else!!
Hmm, I hadn’t realized her book was out. I’ll have to check it out when I go to the bookstore this weekend especially as that apple cake looks delightful!
~ingrid
Your recipes never disappoint! 🙂
Ohhhh, I was just thinking about applecake while putting my baby to sleep…yum!
I’ve been eyeing this cookbook, and the cake looks amazing!
Wow the cake looks amazing! I have to look out for this book!
Another great apple cake! I just make your buttermilk one and posted it on my blog this morning.
I’ve always wanted to make an apple cake but have just never stumbled across the right recipe… I think I’ve now found the perfect one, though! Your apple cake is just gorgeous, and I can’t wait to try it. Thanks so much for sharing!
I made this cake last night as soon as I saw this post because I have been craving a great apple cake. I followed the recipe EXACTLY, and it did not turn out as pictured. The problem was that there was waaay too much apple, so it didn’t puff up like a regular cake, it was more of an apple cobbler. I also only used medium sized apples. Next time I would cut it back to using 2 apples. I went against my better judgment when adding all the apples because the batter to apple ratio was off, so use your judgment when making it. It still tasted great though!
Hmm, sorry you had trouble with the cake. I used four large apples and it worked great. There were a lot of apples, but that is a good thing in my opinion:)
Looks perfect for fall! I am loving the apple to cake ratio.
The cake looks exquisite. How beautiful.
such a simple recipe but a delicious cake! apples are so Fall right now.
Oh my good golly – I am a total sucker for apple cakes!
I came over from Bridgett’s La Bella Cook site because I saw that you were cooking from Dorie’s amazing new book! The cake looks absolutely wonderful and I am right there with you. I love Dorie’s new book. I’m going to be posting her gougeres today. Have you heard about French Fridays with Dorie?
I love Dorie and her new book. I have heard about the group. I will try to join in sometime! Thanks!
This cake looks awesome! I am in love with Dorie’s book too, I can’t wait to make my inaugural recipe!
I am so in the mood for this cake right now, crisp, comforting, and full of warmth!
i just bought a bunch of apples, and now i know exactly what i will be doing with them! 🙂
bah–it’s so tender and full of apples! this looks like a winning recipe for apple cake, and buddy, i’ve tried more than a few. thanks!
That cake looks lovely! I still need to get a copy of Dorie’s new book. It looks like it will become a new favorite in my kitchen.
I’ve been on an apple kick lately and this looks delish!
I would love to have a huge slice of this right now. It just screams fall!
Hi! It does look great. I have a question: do you put the oven at 350 F with ventilator or just heat up and down? Thanks!
Hi-if you are using a convection oven, turn the heat down by 25 degrees. I hope that helps.
Ooooh – so glad you posted this! I wanted to bring an apple cake to a friend who just broke her ankle, and I’d been eyeing this one. It looked so easy though that I wasn’t sure it would be as good as some other recipes out there. I should have known that Dorie would come through – sounds like a perfect apple cake, and yours is gorgeous!!
Hi Cathy-you can always count on Dorie:) We loved this apple cake!
recently made this one myself. what a great cake, and so easy!
Just made it! I wanted to use my new Red Kitchen aid Mixer and also use up the few apples I had left. Soo yummy. Thank you for the recipe =D
I am jealous you have a Red Kitchenaid, I have a stainless steel one, but I have always loved the red:) Glad you enjoyed the cake!
I am so excited to make this cake for my family for Rosh Hashanah (the Jewish New Year) since it’s customary to eat apples (and honey) to “have a sweet new year.” It looks delicious!!!!
I am going to omit the rum when I bake the cake, & read some previous comments saying that I could just add some additional vanilla extract instead. Do you know the exact amount of additional vanilla to add?
If you aren’t going to use the rum, I would use two teaspoons of vanilla-total. Enjoy!
if this recipe calls for 4 large apples, then that is too much for the amount of butter, etc. 4 large apples make a huge amount of cut up fruits, especially the kind of apples we get. 4 apples make up about 800gms. i added 4, but realized that its too less too late 🙁 ill make this again, but with 2-3 apples instead of 4.
In France, this is called Grimolle – it is a very old recipe, one my grandmother and her grandmother used to make.
Love apple cake and this sounds really okay. Thank you.
This was my first time baking something and it turned out beautifully.the recipe was really easy and everyone love it.thank you so much for sharing this.i will rate it a 4 out of 5.
Could I use round cake pans or 8 by 8 pan instead?
Hi there! If I make this a day ahead of time, any suggestions on storing it? Do I refrigerate it and bring it to room temperature before serving? Thank you!
I made this cake tonight and it is perfect! I had a slice with a scoop of local vanilla and honey ice cream. Perfect ending to a busy day. Thank you for sharing 🙂
Hello! Stopping in to say how much I adore your website and your recipes! This one in particular has made the biggest impression on me (and therefore, my family!). I am so very thankful that I stumbled across it because it is absolute perfection. I made a few changes, but it nonetheless is just as fluffy and light as it looks in the photographs that first stopped me in my tracks. Thank you so so so much for sharing, it has become a family favorite for years now. We love it so much that my sister and I even featured it on our blog. Kudos to you and your prowess in all things kitchen!
Can this be made in advance and frozen, then thawed and briefly heated?
Can yyouu freeze this cake
Absolutely one of my most favorite desserts. It’s dense with fruit but not too heavy after a meal. My guests always love it.
Love this cake soooo much! Easy to make & it’s the first thing I think of when Fall apples start coming in. My husband brought home a bag of Pink Ladies & I only used them today.
Glad you loved the recipe!