For me, fall baking always means this easy apple cake with almonds. It’s a cake recipe that requires nothing more than a couple of bowls, a hand mixer, a few apples and some ingredients on my baking shelf. I also love that it makes a smallish cake, since we are a small household. This recipe makes an 8 inch square cake and that’s more than enough for us to indulge for a couple of days. Hello cake for breakfast! If serving more people, you can easily double the recipe, using a 9 inch by 13 inch pan.
Jump to RecipeWhat makes this easy apple cake great?
Let me count the ways:
- almond extract makes it tastes a little like marzipan!
- moist interior with a crisp, sweet exterior
- apples and cinnamon!
- crunchy almonds on top
- perfect with softly whipped cream or a scoop of vanilla ice cream
- very easy to make and comes together quickly
- a substantially sized smaller cake but doubles easily to feed more
What do you need to have on hand to make this easy apple cake anytime?
Most of the time, I have everything I need to make this apple cake. You’ll need all purpose flour, butter, sugar, cinnamon, apples (most variety will work), almond extract and almonds. For convenience, I buy huge bags of nuts from Costco and keep them stored in the freezer. This way, they last for a really long time and I use them cold, directly from the freezer. If you don’t have nuts or are allergic, it’s totally fine to leave them off. If you’re not into having almond extract in the pantry, substitute it with vanilla.
How to soften butter quickly.
The only thing that might be a bit of a nuisance is having soft butter on hand. There are lots of ways to soften butter quickly but I like this method from Sally’s Baking Addiction:
- cut up cold butter into small chunks
- heat 2 cups of water in a microwave until very hot
- remove water and place butter in microwave immediately after, closing door. Butter will be soft in 10 minutes!
A few other ways to soften butter can be found here.
How to make it seasonal.
Instead of apples, any stone fruit would work great here. Plums, peaches or apricots would be great in the summer. Berries would also work too, like sliced strawberries or fresh blackberries. How about pitted cherries? Instead of almond extract, vanilla, bourbon or rum would be delicious flavorings. To change it up even more, use different spices like cardamon or nutmeg or, dare I say it, pumpkin pie spice?
Give this quick little cake a try the next time you feel like baking up a little treat! It’s a no fuss, easy cake that everyone will think took more work than it actually does! I love a slice in the afternoon with some tea or coffee. I’ll usually top it with a spoonful of softly whipped, barely sweetened cream (maybe flavored with bourbon!) or some ice cream. Either way, you can’t go wrong.
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Easy Apple Cake with Almonds
Ingredients
- 1 cup (125 g) all purpose flour
- 1½ teaspoons baking powder
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 8 tablespoons (110 g) butter (softened)
- 1 cup (190 g) sugar
- 2 large eggs
- ½ teaspoon almond extract (or 1 tsp vanilla, if you prefer)
For the Apple Topping
- 2 large apples, peeled and cut into thin slices
- juice of half a lemon
- ¼ cup (45 g) sugar
- 1 teaspoon cinnamon
- 2 tablespoons almond slices (optional)
Method
- Preheat oven to 375° F (190° C). Butter or spray an 8 inch square baking pan or a pan of a similar size.
- In a small bowl, combine the flour, baking powder and salt. Whisk to combine. Set aside.
- In a medium bowl, cream the butter and sugar together until pale and fluffy. Add the eggs and almond extract. Add the flour mixture, beating until combined. Pour batter into prepared pan, spreading it into an even layer. Set aside.
- In a medium bowl, toss the apple slices with the lemon juice, sugar and cinnamon. Arrange apple slices in a concentric circle or overlapping rows or however you want to arrange them on top of the batter. Sprinkle almond slices on top of the apples, if using.
- Bake for 30-35 minutes or until light golden brown. Check cake often, as it can get fairly dark very quickly at the end of baking. (A cake tester may come out a little moist, as the apple layer will be very soft.) Cool cake in the pan on a wire rack for 15 minutes. Serve warm with whipped cream (see notes) or ice cream, if desired!
Notes
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