Easy Apple Cake

Some recipes earn their place because they’re impressive. Others because you make them over and over again. This apple cake is firmly in the second camp.

It’s almost suspiciously simple: eggs, brown sugar, apples and flour. No butter, no oil, no milk. The eggs do all the heavy lifting, creating a light batter that bakes around a frankly ridiculous amount of apple.

And because there’s no dairy, it’s particularly good for the Rosh Hashanah table when you want a dessert that can follow a meat meal without having to make any substitutions.

The important part—and I mean important—is beating the eggs and sugar for a full six minutes. Don’t rush it. That’s what gives the cake its structure and lift.

A generous layer of cinnamon sugar on top bakes into a thin, crackly crust, while underneath, the cake stays soft and packed with tender pieces of apple.

No mixer gymnastics. No separating eggs. No complicated glaze.

Just a really good apple cake.

Easy Apple Cake

Ingredients

3 large eggs

1 cup light brown sugar

3 large apples, peeled, cored and cut into cubes

1 cup + 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour

Cinnamon sugar, for sprinkling

Method

Preheat the oven to 350°F. Grease and line a springform pan.

Beat the eggs and brown sugar together for at least 6 minutes, until very pale, thick and creamy.

Gently fold in the chopped apples, followed by the flour. Fold only until you no longer see streaks of flour—you don’t want to knock all that air out of the eggs.

Pour into the prepared pan and sprinkle the top generously with cinnamon sugar.

Bake for approximately 1 hour and 15 minutes, until deeply golden and a skewer inserted into the center comes out clean.

Allow to cool before removing from the pan. Dust with a little powdered sugar, if you like.

For Rosh Hashanah, serve it as is—or with a scoop of non-dairy vanilla ice cream.

Four main ingredients, no dairy, and more apples than you’d think could possibly fit into one cake. Sometimes the old recipes really are the best ones.