Dutch or Norwegian Apple Cake

I don’t know why this cake comes under both names. I have this method of making cake in my 1970′s Marks & Spencer Cakes Pastries and Bakes book, in there it’s called Norwegian Apple Cake and I have exactly the same recipe including the same ingredient amounts in my Darina Allen’s Easy Entertaining book published in 2005, but there it goes under the name Dutch Apple Cake.  If you google under both names the same method of making this cake turns up.  I’ve been told this cake is not that common in the Netherlands and it’s more a German rührkuchen, and that the famous Dutch apple dish is actually apple pie.  If anyone can shed some light on this it would put my confused mind at rest.

What makes this cake different from all other ways of making cake is that you make a batter.  A thick batter very similar to making pancakes, and because the mixture is so runny it’s baked in an oven-proved dish and not in a cake tin as it would seep through.  It’s baked in a relative short time of 25 minutes and because the mixture is so wet it produces a moist crumb.  This crumb is toped with a layer of apples that when cooked with the cake result in an apple gooey loveliness on top.  It’s a perfect perfect cake to have warm with some cream poured over and serve as a dessert, but also good the next day with a coffee or tea.

You can also make this cake dairy-free see here, or make with blackberries or plums as a pudding see here.

How to make Dutch / Norwegian Apple Cake

A very simple cake, the ingredients are the same as many sponge cakes except this one has quite a bit of milk added.

First start by whisking the eggs and sugar until the thick ribbon stage.

It will take anything between 7-10 minutes with an electric whisk on medium speed.

The colour of the mixture will be very pale and visibly thicker.

When lifting a spoonful of mixture and drizzle it it should flow as a thick trickle.

Bring the milk up to the boil with the butter in it.  I put mine in the microwave.  Put the mixture in a jug.

While whisking the mixture pour in the hot milk and butter liquid in slowly until all the liquid has been whisked in.

Sieve in the flour and baking powder.  I know it seems a drag to sieve flour but as the particles of flour fall onto the mixture they are taking in air particles which believe it or not gives the crumb an edge on lightness.

I tried to fold the flour in but decided it was stupid..

I couldn’t get rid of the little lumps…so it seemed only sensible to whisk the mixture for a few seconds.

About 20 seconds and the cake batter was perfectly smooth.

Butter a baking dish.

Flour it.  If you’ve never done this, you simple move the flour around the dish over the butter to cover the butter by moving the dish around and then tap out any excess flour…

…like this.

Squeeze the lemon juice into a bowl.  Slice the apple as thinly as possible.  I wish I had cut mine thinner here.

The thinner they are the less they weigh and will sit on top of the batter and you can over-lap them nicely, but it’s not the end of the world if they sink.

It occurred to me it would be rather nice to have some tiny cubes of apple sink into the batter and then the slices on top.

Take some sugar, here I had demerara (natural brown sugar) mix with half teaspoon of ground cinnamon.

And sprinkle it on top.

Bake for 25 minutes, check after 20 minutes.

If serving this as a warm dessert I would not bake it until completely dry, I would take it out when the edges are dry but the middle is just on the cusp of being dry.

If you have a blow torch you can give the top a nice glaze to finish.

If you don’t have a blow torch you can still glaze the topping by brushing it with melted warm apricot jam, or better still apple butter.

Dutch Apple Cake or Norwegian Apple Cake

Preheat oven to 180˚C fan.

Note * Doesn’t matter what shape the baking dish is so long as it will take about 1.5 litres (roughly 3 pints) and the edges are around 6cm (2 inch) in depth.  My baking dish was a square 23 cm wide (9 inch) by 6 cm (2 inch) deep.  Bear in mind, the shallowness of the dish will impact on the baking times and height of the cake.

Note ** I’ve made this cake with less baking powder than most recipes I’ve seen, and for this reason it’s important to whisk the sugar and eggs until the thick stage I describe as it will rely on the air created by whisking and then being semi-stabilised by the hot milk cooking the egg mixture.

• 2 large eggs
• 200g sugar – granulated or superfine.  Add another 25g of sugar if like it on the sweeter side.
• 100g butter
• 150g (or ml) full fat milk or single cream
• 180g plain flour
• 2 teaspoons of baking powder ** see note
• 3 apples
• 1 lemon
• 1 tablespoon of sugar (any) and 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon mixed together to sprinkle on top.

Squeeze the juice of lemon into a bowl large enough to take the apple slices.  Slice the apples as thinly as you can and put them straight into the lemon juice making sure they come into contact with it to stop discolouration.

Whisk the eggs and sugar together with an electric whisk on medium speed until the mixture is very pale, thick and creamy, it will take between 7-10 minutes.  You know it’s ready when dropping some of the mixture from a height it falls down in a thick stream as photo above shows.

Bring the milk to boiling point with the butter, you can microwave it.  Put the hot mixture in a jug to make the pouring in easier.

While whisking the eggs and sugar mixture pour in the hot milk/butter liquid slowly but constantly and keep whisking until all the liquid has been incorporated.

Sieve the flour and baking powder onto the batter and using the electric whisk blend it in for few seconds, 20-30 seconds until it’s a smooth batter again.  Don’t over-beat the flour as it will develop the gluten in it too much.

Brush the baking dish with butter and then dust it with little flour OR line the bottom of the dish with baking paper and butter and flour the sides only.

Pour the cake batter into the baking dish and layer the slices of apple overlapping each other on top.  Sprinkle with the sugar and cinnamon mixture and bake for 25 minutes (will depend on dish size, see note * above), check with toothpick after 20 minutes if your oven is usually quick.

For the dairy-free version; Dutch Cake Dairy-Free Version

For making this as a pudding or using plums, blackberries; Dutch Fruit Pudding

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