This Jewish Apple Cake recipe is balanced with sweet and sour using Granny Smith apples and cinnamon spice. Serve with honey cake on Rosh Hashanah, or enjoy with a scoop of ice cream.
If you’ve never had Jewish Apple Cake, you’re in for a treat. This is like an apple cinnamon cake, studded with bits of apples in every bite.
Going apple picking? Pick some extra Granny Smith apples for this delicious cake. Don’t like Granny Smith Apples? Check out all the types of apples to see which tart apple you’d prefer.
Jewish Apple Cake ingredients:
- All-Purpose Flour – No need for cake flour or anything fancy.
- Salt – We use salt to balance the sweetness.
- Baking Powder – This is to help the cake rise.
- Granulated Sugar – We use this to sweeten the cake and the cinnamon sugar spread.
- Vegetable Oil – We also use avocado oil without issue.
- Eggs – Make sure your eggs are at room temperature for about 30 minutes prior.
- Orange Juice – You can use fresh squeezed or storebought.
- Vanilla Extract – Use a good quality vanilla extract.
- Granny Smith Apples – Tart Granny Smith Apples are perfect for baking. They have good flavor and hold up well.
- Ground Cinnamon – Using cinnamon mixed in the batter and sprinkled with cinnamon sugar gives the cake a delicious flavor and tastes like fall!
How to make Jewish Apple Cake
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Grease and flour a bundt pan.
Prepare the apples by peeling, coring, and slicing them.
Pour half of the batter into the tube pan, half of the apples, and some of the cinnamon mixture. Repeat with the batter, apples, and cinnamon. I swirled them around to distribute the apples more. The batter will be slightly thick.
Place into the oven for 70-90 minutes or until a toothpick comes out with minimal crumbs.
Recipe tips and variations
- We prefer the sour and sweet combination that is iconic of a Jewish Apple Cake. That being said, you can still use your favorite apples.
- Want even more orange flavor? Use a bit of orange zest.
- You can make this cake in a bundt pan, not just a tube pan.
- Want to make cupcakes? Bake for 18 minutes or until a toothpick inserted comes out clean.
- You can also make Jewish Apple Cake loaves. We use 3 loaf pans for this recipe.
- The batter will be thick, don’t worry! Our cake is lovely and holds up well like pound cake. It can be handled easily without falling apart.
How to serve
This is best served as a dessert. I love serving with a generous scoop of dairy-free ice cream.
Storage and reheating tips
- Storage: We like to store leftover apple cake in an airtight container on the counter for up to 4 days.
- Freeze: You can freeze apple cake in the freezer for up to 3 months. To freeze apple cake, you’ll want to protect it from freezer burn by wrapping the pieces in plastic wrap and then placing the slices into a freezer-safe container.
Frequently asked questions
It’s a dense cake made with fresh apples. It’s something we grew up eating for most Jewish holidays. It originated in Poland, but it’s now very popular in NJ and Pennsylvania.
The reason behind it being Jewish Apple Cake is due to it being safe to eat. It is forbidden for those who follow Jewish dietary laws to combine meat and dairy. For this, we use oil and dairy-free butter. We also love to top it with dairy-free ice cream. You do not need to be Jewish to enjoy this cake!
Jewish Apple Cake
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Print Pin Recipe 🖤 SaveIngredients
- 3 cups All-Purpose Flour
- 1/2 teaspoons Salt
- 1 tablespoon Baking Powder
- 2 cups Granulated Sugar
- 1 cup Vegetable Oil
- 4 Eggs
- 1/3 cup Orange Juice
- 2 teaspoons Vanilla Extract
- 5 Granny Smith Apples peeled, cored, and sliced
- 1 tablespoon Ground Cinnamon
- 5 teaspoons Granulated Sugar
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.
- Grease a bundt pan and sprinkle with some flour to coat.
- In a small bowl, combine 2 teaspoons of cinnamon and 5 teaspoons sugar. Toss the apples with the cinnamon sugar mixture and set aside.
- In a large mixing bowl combine flour, salt, baking powder, 2 cups of sugar, vegetable oil, eggs, orange juice, vanilla, and the remaining 1 teaspoon of cinnamon. Mix well.
- Pour half of the batter into the tube pan or a bundt pan, and then half of the apple cinnamon mixture. Repeat with the batter and apples. You can also add an extra sprinkle of cinnamon sugar to the top if you desire.
- Place into the oven for 70-90 minutes or until a toothpick comes out with minimal crumbs.
The nutritional information is automatically calculated and can vary based ingredients and products used. If the nutrition numbers are important for you we recommend calculating them yourself.
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This looks absolutely delicious. Thanks for sharing the recipe so that I can try it.
I’m part Jewish and never got this enough, I believe it’s what we call Bobka(sp?)and it’s my mother’s favorite!
I’m making this to bring to brunch at my brother’s house next week. Thanks for the recipe, it’s perfect for our get together.
Yummy!
This looks fabulous! My son would love this!
My mom makes an apple cake similar to this and really like it. I am a big fan of apple pie, I like it with pecans and cranberries. Yours looks really good, thanks for all the photos, its helpful!
Oooo… this looks YUMMY!
That looks really good!
What makes this Jewish? Nevermind…who cares?…It looks yummy! I love apple cake and this one looks like a great one!
This cake looks so delicious! I Pinned it to my Recipes board and I will definitely make it very soon! I love desserts with apples!
I made this cake and it was delish!! Very easy to make–no blender needed! However, my fan forced oven burnt the carmelisation on the last layer. To fix that, I’ll bake it @ 20 C lower temp for a about 70-80 mins or so next time. Thanks for this recipe! Everyone loved it and I’ll be making this again and again! Yum! Lisa
I have made this cake many times now! Great recipe! The only change I made was to add slightly less sugar to the batter and on one occasion I added a 1/2 tsp of ginger. Sometimes I add chopped walnuts to the center apple layer. This yummy cake is a Crowd pleaser every time! Great with coffee or tea. Delicious!!!