Serves a Crowd

Rosh Hashanah Apple Cake

Name: Rosh Hashanah Apple Cake
Prep time: 45 min
Cook time: 1 h
Yield: Serves 8-10
Cuisine: Jewish
Ingredients: 4 apples - I used a variety (1 each of Gala, Fuji, Granny Smith, and Crispin); lemon juice to prevent apples from browning as you cut (~1T); 2 tablespoons margarine (or butter if making dairy); 1-2 tablespoons sugar; 1 cup flour; 3/4 cup sugar; 2 eggs; 1/2 cup canola oil; 1 teaspoon baking powder; 1 teaspoon vanilla; 2-3 tablespoons demerara sugar (optional)

by: zahavah

September 27, 2009

17 Ratings

Photo by zahavah

Prep time 45 minutes
Cook time 1 hour
Serves 8-10

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Author Notes

2018 update: TL;DR - YOU CAN'T MESS THIS UP!

1) Based on questions and comments, you can skip the step of sautéing apples and instead macerate just 3 very thinly sliced apples (16-20 slices per apple) for a half-hour in 1-2 T sugar and a splash of lemon juice to soften them - the apples will bake up just fine, but the top doesn't look as nice in my opinion. I've added a new photo baked this way (on the copper background.) A non-baker friend wrote:
"No precooking of the apples, only own olive oil, don’t even own a baking pan of the right size and it STILL came out great. Also already 1/2 gone gotta go make another one."

2) In addition, I made it with Cup4Cup GF flour and it worked like a dream.

3) This cake freezes well. First wrap tightly in plastic, then in heavy duty aluminum foil. If you want to reheat - make sure to remove the plastic from underneath the foil. Yes, you could just wrap in foil, but it doesn't stay as fresh.

4) See comments for lots of flavor variations.

***
While preparing four holiday meals for friends and family over the span of the two days of Rosh Hashana (Jewish New Year) last week, I was reminded that there is a beauty in keeping things simple, both in the kitchen and out. So I was overjoyed to discover a cake that nearly bakes itself. I adapted a recipe touted as "The Easiest Cake Ever" -- meant for ripe pears or stone fruits dripping with juice -- to a slightly more traditional apple cake. Given that apples are not particularly juicy, I decided to first saute them in some margarine and sugar, giving them a slight caramelization as I would for a tarte tatin. I had leftover apples and the cake smelled so good in the oven that I whipped up a second batch of batter in about 5 minutes and popped the second cake in the oven while the first was cooling. [NOTE: the batter is adapted from www.notderbypie.com, which is related to the Marion Burros cult plum cake.] —zahavah

Test Kitchen-Approved

What You'll Need

Ingredients

For the apples
4 apples - I used a variety (1 each of Gala, Fuji, Granny Smith, and Crispin)
lemon juice to prevent apples from browning as you cut (~1T)
2 tablespoons margarine (or butter if making dairy)
1-2 tablespoons sugar

For cake batter
1 cup flour
³/₄ cup sugar
2 eggs
¹/₂ cup canola oil
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon vanilla
2-3 tablespoons demerara sugar (optional)

Directions

Preheat oven to 350º F. Grease and flour a 9-inch round cake pan or springform, or an 8X8-inch square pan. (If you want to plate this, use a springform; otherwise, just serve it out of the pan.)
Peel and core the apples, then cut each apple into ~12 slices. Sprinkle with lemon juice (you don't need much - maybe a tablespoon or so for 4 apples) while the others are being sliced to prevent browning.
Heat margarine in pan over low heat and add apples and 1-2 T white sugar. Stir for ~10-15 minutes until apples soften. Some of the liquid will soak into the apples, but if too much of it starts to evaporate, then turn the heat down.
While the apples are on the stove top, mix together the remaining ingredients (except for the demerara sugar) -- flour, sugar (the 3/4 C), eggs, oil, baking powder, and vanilla. No mixer is required - you can just mix everything by hand even though the batter is quite thick.
Add half the warm apples (juices and all) to the batter and mix. Then pour into the prepared pan and spread the batter evenly with a spatula . Arrange the remaining apple slices on the top of the batter as decoratively as possible (though even a mishmash will look nice).
Sprinkle the cake with demerara sugar if you'd like and bake for 1 hour. As it bakes, the high egg content causes the cake to rise up as the heavier fruit sinks slightly and the demerara sugar helps creates a crackly crunchy crust that caramelizes slightly at the edges and where the fruit juices pool.
Cool in pan and serve. I doubt you'll have leftovers.

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Food writer, recipe developer, photographer. Some people call me Zahavah, most call me Gayle.

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92 Reviews

Natalie September 16, 2023

Very tasty and easy to make. Definitely benefits from tart baking apples to balance it out, and would benefit from salt and citrus (lemon or orange zest) in the batter. Would make this one again

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barb October 25, 2021

Made my cake in a 10 inch springform and cooked the apples first. They came out glossy and slightly caramelized. I also stuck on a few raw cranberries before baking and sprinkled with granulated sugar since I didn't have the fancy stuff. Very pretty out of the oven and tasted divine. A new favorite recipe!

sue_ann_canvasser August 11, 2022

Did you use 3 or 4 apples? You followed the original recipe?

barb October 29, 2022

Hi Sue, I probably used at least 4 apples since i used a 10 inch springform. And yes i used the original recipe where you saute the apples in butter (didn't have margarine). First I tried the beloved Marian Burros plum torte recipe subbing apples and it came out very dry. This was way better. Good luck!

Fay W. September 7, 2021

Excellent I made this yesterday and it was delicious. Will make it again I am sure. PS very easy to make too.

DaniM September 7, 2021

Excellent cake and super easy for someone that doesn’t really cook .

Stan August 28, 2021

Very easy to make and a huge payback for effort put in. It's fun to see how the designed fruit arrangement on top will look when it's finally cooked.

addaloria December 13, 2020

I make this cake incessantly. I cover the top with apples lined in a circle. It’s just so great to have around.

Amanda H. December 13, 2020

Thanks for your comment!

Ellenedit September 20, 2020

I made this for Rosh Hashanah and it was big hit! I made it exactly as you had it (without sautéing the apples first) and it came out great. Not a piece leftover. I did apples and plums.

Debora A. April 18, 2020

This was a quick, easy cake with great results! The cake was moist and not too sweet. I wonder if the recipe will translate well with other fruits. I was thinking pears, plums or peaches.

zahavah September 15, 2020

So glad you liked it! Yes, this cake works particularly well with stone fruits, no need to sauté - I’ve made plum, plum/strawberry, peach, apricot with amaretti cookie crumbs on top instead of fancy sugar. Pears would be great also; if they’re not very ripe, you might want to sauté them as well.

Jessica October 5, 2019

Sooo Good! This cake is so perfect and beyond easy to make. I followed the recipe exactly but doubled to make 2. I froze 1 and served the other immediately. The fresh out of the over looked nicer but the frozen one tasted just as amazing once warmed up. Microwaved leftovers were amazing too. I can't get over how easy and delicious this cake is. Thank you for the recipe.

JulieS September 9, 2018

I was thinking of substituting honey for the sugar with the apples (and sauté them as in your original directions) to incorporate the “apples & honey” combo for Rosh Hashanah. Have you ever tried it this way?

zahavah September 9, 2018

I haven’t personally tried this, but as long as you’re not replacing the sugar in the cake batter with honey, you should be good - just be careful not to have the heat up too high because honey can burn more easily. Another way to up the honey flavor is to drizzle some honey over the cake after you’ve arranged the apples instead of using Demerara sugar.

Hope September 19, 2020

Thank you for the great recipe, agreed that it’s super versatile! I didn’t have enough apples so I subbed one super ripe peach and put it in the batter. I used cassava flour to make it gluten free and coconut oil instead of margarine or canola. Then I drizzled honey on top and baked for 30 minutes in silicone muffin pans. Beautiful, delicious, portion controlled and super easy to freeze and save for later! The peach made the batter decadent!