Whilst it’s not a good year for blueberries, it’s definitely a good year for apples which makes me super happy since apples are amongst my favorite things to bake with. And most of all, I needed a good reason to use some of my thrift store finds in a shoot, like that bundt pan, the pretty cake stand I bought at a flea market on our way to the Norway workshop, the broderie Anglaise apron (I’m absolutely obsessed with broderie Anglaise!), that vintage bicycle basket and the new hand carved beautiful utensils from Grain and Knot.
If you follow me on Instagram, you probably recognize some of these finds from my stories and know that I’m sort of obsessed with thrift shopping. More on this soon, hehe. Anyway, this apple bundt cake reminds me a of a soft gingerbread cake. Perhaps that’s why I love it so much? I was very tempted to add some cardamom too, but I already add cardamom to basically everything I make so cinnamon had to suffice. I mean, cinnamon and cardamom are basically two of the best flavour out there. Especially together. I’m thinking of cinnamon and cardamom buns which is preeeetty much the best thing ever, right?!
APPLE CINNAMON BUNDT CAKE
Serves 8
This cake is basically a Swedish ‘sockerkaka’ which, roughly translated, means sugar cake. It’s very fluffy and quite light in texture. Feel free to add other spices, like cardamom or cloves. Or replace the lemon with orange, so good! Note that I baked this cake in a vintage cake pan which usually takes a little longer – make sure to start checking doneness around 30-35 minutes.
INGREDIENTS
- 100 g (1 scant stick) salted butter
- 100 ml (1/3 cup + 1 1/2 tbsp) milk
- finely grated zest from 1 lemon
- 180 g (1 1/4 cup) all purpose flour
- 1 1/2 tsp. baking powder
- 2-3 tsp. ground cinnamon
- 1/4 tsp. salt
- 2 apples (about 280 g)
- 1 tbsp. fresh lemon juice
- 1 tbsp. all purpose flour
- 3 large eggs, at room temp
- 180 g (3/4 cup + 1 1/2 tbsp) granulated sugar
- Powdered sugar, for dusting
INSTRUCTIONS
- Preheat oven to 175°C (350F). Grease and flour a 4 1/2 – 5 cup (about 1 – 1.2 litre) bundt or loaf pan.
- In a saucepan, melt the butter and stir in the milk and lemon zest. Set aside.
- In a medium bowl, mix together flour, baking powder, cinnamon and salt. Set aside.
- Core, peel and dice the apples (to about 1 x 1 cm dices). Toss them in a bowl with lemon juice and 1 tbsp flour.
- In a large bowl, beat eggs and sugar until light and fluffy, about 2 minutes. Sift in the flour mixture and stir gently until combined. Add the butter mixture and stir until completely smooth. Should there be lumps of flour left in the batter, beat until just combined. Stir in the diced apples.
- Pour the batter into the prepared pan. Bake on the lowest rack in the oven for 40-45 minutes (start checking doneness around 30 minutes) or until a cake tester comes out clean. Let cool for 10 minutes in the pan, then invert onto a wire rack to cool completely. Dust with powdered sugar. Serve with whipped cream if desired.
Lovely photographs!
Thanks so much Adrienne!
I am in LOVE with that cake stand!! And that apron; it looks like you took it right from the Downtown Abbey set. It seems I need to start looking around at more thrift stores. 🙂 One of my favorite things about writing a blog is that it’s a reason to FINALLY use all of the antique and unique dishes and serving pieces I’ve collected over the years. My weaknesses are Depression glass and antique teacups.
I knoww, isn’t that cake stand amazing? It was such a lucky find. And the apron too! It was sort of hidden but I got all excited when I found it amongst the other ugl things. Haha. You’re so right, a blog is such a great way to use all those finds. Would love to see your collection!
this makes me crave fall even more than i already have been…such a delicious looking cake
Thank you, Fatimah! I absolutely adore fall, so inspiring!
This looks scrumptious and everything is so serene–makes me want to do nothing but lounge and eat. And then go on a hike in the woods. 😉
Sounds like my ideal day, haha! 🙂
There’s nothing at the world stunning as your photos are!!
I’m totally in love.
That’s so sweet of you, Debora! Thank you so much!
Beeeeaaaauuuutiful pictures! And the cake looks so delicious, I will definitely bake it!
Greetings, Sarah
Thank you so much for your kind words, Sarah!! Hope you like it 🙂
I have a brand new bundt cake stamp and i was looking for a good recipe to use it for the first time!
This cake looks like sooo good that i hope i:ll find time to bake it asap.
Pics are stunning, as usual 🙂
Thank you so much Chiara! Hope you like the cake 🙂
Yet again a great cake! I swapped the wheat flour for buckwheat, making it gluten free and serve it with caramel and hazelnuts. So good!
That makes me super happy to hear, Jan! Thank you so much 🙂
Hey Linda, for quite a time I’ve been reading your blog, enyoing it and I now long to test one of the recipes finally. Is it truly salted butter here? I’m quite afraid of putting something else than unsalted butter into a sweet cake…
Thanks for the stunning website!
Hi Liz, thank you so much for your kind words!
I’ve always baked with salted butter, it’s just been the standard here in Sweden. I find everything tastes better with extra salt though, it enhances the flavours together with the sugar. And also unsalted butter is sooo expensive here in Sweden 🙂 So definitely give it a go! You can always omit the extra salt added in the recipe of you think it would be too much for you!
Serves 8? I think it must be at least 12. According to your pictures maybe even 16.
.. and it’s really sockerkaka. Unbelievably extremely sweet.
Not all sockerkaka recipes are alike, but yes, of course it is sweet.
The cake is quite small, I’d rather see that people have a few pieces left over than being disappointed that there wasn’t enough for everyone.