A dense but very delicious cake layered with cinnamon laced apples, perfect for feeding a crowd at your impromptu Kaffeeklatsch.

Growing up having coffee with a sweet treat was a very common occurrence. My paternal grandmother, Grammy Pook as I called her, would often have family and friends over for such an affair. It was very informal, basically it was just a visit that happened to have coffee or tea with cake and/or other goodies. Very similar to the British afternoon tea and almost identical to a Dutch Kaffeeklatsch. Which honestly makes sense looking back because my grandmother was predominantly Dutch so she probably grew up with this as well. Anyway, this Jewish Apple Coffee Cake would often be served during such an occasion and it was always a family favorite. 

This cake is an absolute beauty, especially for a coffee cake type cake. It’s your typical coffee cake with a dense cakey interior but it’s studded with cinnamon laced apples and has an exterior that’s beautifully crusty due to the caramelization of the sugars. It’s pure bliss with a hot cup of coffee and of course plenty of friends to share it with.

Jewish Apple Coffee Cake

Batter

3 cups All-Purpose Flour

2 cups granulated sugar

½ cup vegetable oil

½ cup orange juice

3 tsp baking powder

¼ tsp kosher salt

2 ½ tsp vanilla extract

4 large eggs

Filling

6 peeled and sliced baking apples

½ cup granulated sugar

2 tsp ground cinnamon

Preheat the oven to 350°F and thoroughly grease a Bundt pan. 

In a large mixing bowl, combine oil and sugar. Beat one egg at a time into the sugar mixture until they are all incorporated, add orange juice and vanilla. Mix in flour, baking powder and kosher salt.

In a separate bowl, combine peeled apples, cinnamon, sugar and salt for the filling. 

Pour half of the batter in your prepared pan. Layer half of your apples in and top with more batter. Top with the rest of the apples and drizzle on any juice leftover from the apples. 

Bake for an hour to hour and twenty minutes or until done. Poke with a cake tester and when it comes out clean the cake is fully baked. 

Let the cake cool completely in the pan on a wire rack before releasing. 

Release the cake by running a knife along the edges of the cake and then give the pan a shake until you hear the cake thud against the pan. Turn the cake onto a cutting board and then flip it again onto a plate so the apples are on top. Slice and enjoy with your favorite coffee or tea.

*Notes: When releasing it is very important to gently run a knife along the side of the pan before turning it out. The crust of the cake will be a little sticky from the sugar in the apples and it helps to break up any sugars that might be attached to the pan.

Some baking apples that I like to use for this cake are McIntosh, Granny Smith and Braeburn.

The baking time varies with this cake recipe. It all depends on the moisture from the apples. The more moisture that bakes out of the apples the longer it will have to bake.