French Apple Cake
Light, fluffy and studded with tender chunks of apple, this French Apple Cake will be a fall favorite! It’s made with a few simple ingredients and is one of the easiest cakes you’ll ever make!
My son did a project on his french family heritage for his kindergarten class 13 years ago, which included bringing some french food to share with the class.
Aside from a baguette, I couldn’t think of anything that would appeal to kindergarteners, so I scoured the internet for ideas. I found a French Apple Cake recipe and it became an instant favorite.
Over the years I’ve made the recipe my own, and I make it countless times each fall when apples are at their peak.
This cake is light and fluffy, with tender chunks of apple and the flavors of bourbon and vanilla.
If you’ve gone apple picking and need more apple recipes, be sure and try my homemade applesauce and apple crisp recipe!
Why you’ll love this recipe
- The cake is light and fluffy, with tender chunks of apple and the flavors of bourbon and vanilla.
- There is no special equipment required — not even a mixer! It’s truly one of the easiest cakes you’ll ever make.
- It’s rustic yet elegant, and perfect for any occasion.
- This versatile cake is great for brunch or tea with a light dusting of powdered sugar, or for dessert with whipped cream or ice cream.
Recipe ingredients
This French apple cake recipe takes only a few simple ingredients as shown below:
- Apples. Baking apples such as Granny Smith, Pink Lady, Jonagold, Golden Delicious and Honeycrisp are the best apples to use in this cake recipe as they will hold their shape well. See my collection of best apple recipes for more information on varieties of apples.
- Butter. If you’re following a dairy free diet, the butter may be replaced with your favorite oil.
- Bourbon. Traditional French apple cake is made with dark rum, but I chose to use bourbon because I love the flavor. Brandy is also a great option — simply use what you have on hand!
See the recipe card below for the full list of ingredients and quantities.
How to make this recipe
French apple cake takes minimal prep, no special equipment, and is one of the easiest cakes you’ll ever make!
Pro tip: I highly recommend using a springform pan with removable bottom for this cake, but if you don’t have one on hand, use an 8 or 9″ cake pan sprayed well with cooking spray, line the bottom with parchment paper and spray the parchment with cooking spray as well.
See the recipe card below for full instructions.
- Melt the butter in a small bowl.
- In a small bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder and salt.
- In a large bowl, whisk together the eggs and sugar vigorously until frothy, then whisk in the bourbon and vanilla.
- Whisk half of the flour into the dry ingredients just until incorporated.
- Whisk half of the butter into the mixture until combined.
- Whisk in the remaining half of the flour, followed by the remaining half of the flour.
- Fold in the apple chunks until well coated with batter.
- Pour the batter into a greased springform pan and spread until smooth.
- Bake for 40 minutes or until lightly golden brown and a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean.
- Cool for 10 minutes on a wire rack, then remove from the pan. Run a knife around the perimeter of the cake before removing from the springform pan if necessary.
Recipe FAQs
Can I use a different type of pan?
If you don’t own a springform pan, you can certainly use an 8 or 9″ cake pan. Grease the cake pan well, and line the bottom with parchment paper and grease again for best results.
If using a cake pan, there’s no need to remove the cake from the pan prior to serving.
Baking apples such as Granny Smith, Pink Lady, Braeburn, Golden Delicious, Honeycrisp and Jonagold are best as they hold their shape well.
I enjoy Granny Smith apples in this recipe for their flavor, but your favorite variety or combination will be great as well!
I prefer to peel the apples for this French apple cake as the peel would add a chewy texture that would interfere with the lightness of the cake.
This cake will keep in an air tight container at room temperature for 2-3 days or in the refrigerator for up to 5 days.
Recipe notes
- Pro tip: I highly recommend using a springform pan with removable bottom for this cake, but if you don’t have one on hand, use an 8 or 9″ cake pan sprayed well with cooking spray, line the bottom with parchment paper and spray the parchment with cooking spray as well.
- The bourbon may be substituted with rum, brandy or your favorite alcohol.
- Serve this French apple cake recipe with a light dusting of powdered sugar and vanilla ice cream or freshly whipped cream if desired.
- Store leftover cake at room temperature for 2-3 days or in the refrigerator for up to 5 days.
Did you try this recipe? If so, be sure to leave a review below and tag me @flavorthemoments on Facebook and Instagram
French Apple Cake
Ingredients
- 1 lb. Granny Smith apples about 2 large, peeled and chopped into 1" chunks
- 1/2 cup unsalted butter
- 1 cup all purpose flour
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 2 large eggs
- 3/4 cup granulated sugar
- 2 tablespoons bourbon substitute with dark rum or brandy
- 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease a 9" round springform pan with cooking spray. Melt the butter in a small bowl and set aside to cool.
- In a small bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder and salt.
- In a large bowl, whisk the eggs and sugar vigorously until frothy, about 1 minute, then whisk in the bourbon and vanilla.
- Whisk half of the flour into the wet ingredients just until incorporated, then whisk in half of the butter until just combined. Whisk in the remaining half of the flour, then the remaining half of the butter. Fold in the apples until well coated with the batter.
- Pour the batter into the prepared pan and spread evenly and bake on the middle rack of the oven for 40 minutes or until golden brown and a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean.
- Cool 10 minutes on a wire rack, then remove from pan, using a knife to loosen the cake from the sides of the pan if necessary. Serve and enjoy!
Notes
- Pro tip: I highly recommend using a springform pan with removable bottom for this cake, but if you don’t have one on hand, use an 8 or 9″ cake pan sprayed well with cooking spray, line the bottom with parchment paper and spray the parchment with cooking spray as well.Â
- The bourbon may be substituted with rum, brandy or your favorite alcohol.
- Serve this French apple cake recipe with a light dusting of powdered sugar, vanilla ice cream or homemade whipped cream if desired.Â
- Store leftover cake at room temperature for 2-3 days or in the refrigerator for up to 5 days.
- Powdered sugar, whipped cream are not included in the nutritional information as they are optional.
Nutrition
Nutrition is estimated using a food database and is only intended to be used as a guideline for informational purposes.
**This recipe was originally published in October 2013. The text, recipe and photos have been updated.
67 Comments on “French Apple Cake”
It was really great. Everyone enjoyed it. Thank for this recipe.Â
I’m glad you enjoyed it Renee!
I made this cake late last night, so waited until this morning to try it. Delish!!!
Didn’t have any rum, so omitted it completely. No other substitute added. I used 4 apples and cut the pieces smaller than 1″. Didn’t peel them.
I’ll definitely be baking this more than once. Thank you for sharing the recipe.
Aww I’m so glad you loved the cake! Thanks for sharing your modifications and for your review! 🙂
Where do I find the amounts of ingredients,? Great pics, but no amounts!
They are at the bottom of the post in the recipe card.
If your son brought this cake to school, how could you use alchohol in it?
The original recipe that I made (the one that inspired this recipe) did not include alcohol.
Hi,Â
May I ask what size springform pan do you use?
Thank you!Â
It is a 9″ springform pan.
Made this for Bastille Day  celebration… amazing.  I added Orange Flavored Bourbon.  Everyone raved !
What a lovely way to celebrate Bastille Day, and I can imagine the orange bourbon was wonderful! Thanks so much for the review. 🙂
Gorgeous Cake, Super tasty. Â My favourite. Â Have baked it before many times. Â It is one of my go to deserts.Â
Thank you Marcia for all of your excellent recipes. Â I have and still do enjoy all of the ones I have made.Â
Thank you, thank you.!!!!!!!
Thank you so much for taking the time to leave this wonderful comment Gisela! I’m so glad you’re enjoying the recipes!
My cake was not as tall as yours. And the apple chunks were firmer than I expected. They were cut to your measurements. It was very good but denser than I expected. Missed the light and fluffy.
Hi Vera. Something went wrong with your cake if it wasn’t light and fluffy. Did you miss the baking powder or over stir it? Not including leavening or overworking the gluten would cause the cake to become dense.
I made this recipe today! But, instead of make it as a cake, I placed the batter into tulip muffin liners……they baked up incredibly light with wonderful apple flavor. I only had golden rum, but would like to try this with a brandy. When the cakes came out of the oven, I added some cinnamon sugar on top of each one, that really went nice with the apples.
I’m so glad they were a success as cupcakes! Thanks for sharing Lyla!
Hi! It’s a lazy Sat morning, and I have everything assembled to start making this cake….then I thought, would this work as a muffin recipe in some cute tulip paper wrappers! I am going to proceed to make this French Apple Cake in muffin style. I will send pics when they are done, whether they are a success or failure……so everybody can learn!
I love that idea Lyla! I’m sure it will work..just keep an eye on them while they bake as they won’t take long I’m sure (15-20 minutes?). I can’t wait to hear how they turn out!
I posted a picture of one of the cakes on Instagram, as I could not seem to make the picture load here. They are delicious!
I would love it if you would tag me @flavorthemoments on IG so I can see it!
I have made three in two days. My neighbors and friends absolutely love this and it’s so very easy to make. Thank you for sharing
I’m so happy to hear that you and your friends and neighbors are enjoying this recipe! Thanks for the feedback. 🙂
I have a question about a substitution for the sugar. I read another comment that you replied to saying that you haven’t really experimented with this so you may not know, but…
Ive read that an equivalent amount of apple sauce can substitute for sugar. I’ve read that this also makes baked goods more moist but one has to be careful and maybe dial down the other liquid ingredients so as not to end up with too soupy if a result. Using apple sauce seems obvious here.
I’ve also read that one person sometimes takes the amount of sugar required and substitutes an equivalent amount of a mix of half apple sauce and half maple syrup when they want to add just a little more sweetness…but I have apple syrup (boiled cider).
So, my question is, how do you think substituting the 3/4 cup of sugar with a 3/4 cup mixture of 1/2 apple sauce and 1/2 apple syrup?
Both ingredients will affect the overall texture of the cake, and while I think it will probably work, I really can’t say for sure as I’ve never tried it.
I just made this with red delicious apples (all I had on hand) and it’s delicious! Hubby really likes it too! This is a keeper in our house, thank you for sharing the recipe. Love it!
I’m glad you enjoyed the recipe and thank you for the feedback Tammy!
Love, love, love this recipe……thanks for sharing it’s so elegantly yummy……I used Apple Crown Royal in place of rum. I have made this several times and it’s a no fail recipe. Today I’m making it again but I’m I am replacing  1 apple with about 3/4 cup blueberries. Lets  see if trying to make this cake somewhat my own will work 😊
I’m so happy that you love this recipe and I love the sound of the Apple Crown Royal! I’ll bet your blueberry version is delicious!
This is exquisite!! I made it with French Brandy and the aroma of apple, brandy and vanilla is as amazing as the taste. This is a special (& easy) recipe!! Thanks!
Thank you for the lovely review Madeleine — I so appreciate your feedback and am glad you love the cake too! 😘