Swiss Apple Cake

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With a light, fluffy, buttery, lemon scented sponge base, a generous helping of tender, sweet apples and a crunchy, sugary topping, this Swiss Apple Cake is traditional comfort food at its best. It is full of flavour and texture, it is seriously delicious and utterly addictive. Serve warm with some cream, crème fraîche or custard for dessert, or serve simply with a cup of tea or coffee. I also love it for breakfast, ideally with some natural yoghurt.

Where is this recipe from?

The Swiss eat more apples than any other fruit and they have a wealth of recipes where apples are a primary ingredient. Swiss Apple Cake is one fabulous example and it is very popular in apple season. To find a classic and traditional recipe, I went straight to Betty Bossi’s archives. Betty Bossi’s name is synonymous with Swiss food and Betty Bossi’s cookery books are a common feature in many Swiss kitchens. Interestingly, Betty Bossi is not a person, rather a Swiss Cookbook publisher. They also supply a range of convenience foods and kitchen products which can be found in most supermarkets in Switzerland. I particularly like their pre-made spätzle, a kind of egg noodle from mid Europe. Please see here for the recipe on Betty Bossi’s site.

Whilst I found a range of recipes in my research, they were actually all very similar and the presentation of the sliced apple halves, rather like Hasselback apples, is consistent and classic.

How to make Swiss Apple Cake

Collect all your ingredients together:

• unsalted butter, at room temperature
• caster sugar
• lemon, zest and juice
• fine salt
• eggs, separated
• plain/all-purpose flour
• baking powder
• eating apples, I use Pink Lady

How to make this wonderful cake:

1. It is important that the butter is at room temperature and soft enough to beat. If it is a little hard, beat it with a whisk before adding the other ingredients. If it is already quite soft, you do not need to do this. For information on softening butter, see here.
2. Add the caster sugar, lemon zest and juice, salt, plain flour and baking powder to the butter. I place my mixing bowl on top my scales and weigh everything in directly. 
3. Separate the eggs and place the egg whites into a separate mixing bowl big enough to whisk them in, bearing in mind they will dramatically increase in volume. Add the egg yolks directly to the bowl with the butter, flour and sugar.
4. Use an electric whisk to beat the cake batter until combined. This should take less than a minute. Half-way, use a spatula to scrape the sides of the bowl and ensure even mixing.
5. Next, using clean beaters, whip the egg whites until stiff and fluffy. If you hold the bowl upside down, the egg whites shouldn’t move. If they do, whisk a little more.
6. Fold the egg whites into the cake batter ⅓ at a time.
7. Transfer the cake batter into the greased and lined cake tin and level the surface.
8. Meanwhile, peel, halve and core the apples. Slice each halve thinly but do not cut straight through the apple, leave around 5mm at the base so it stays in one whole piece. To prevent cutting through the apple by mistake, I put the peeled, cored and halved apple, cut side down, on a chopping board and place chop sticks either side. When you slice down, you will stop as you hit the chop sticks. (See photograph above.)
9. Press the apple halves gently on top of the cake – place one half in the centre and the remaining halves around it. Sprinkle with caster sugar.
10. Bake in the centre of the oven for 50 – 60 minutes, until the cake is cooked, and the apples are soft. Start checking the cake after 40 minutes and if it becomes too brown when cooking, lightly cover with kitchen foil. The cake is cooked when:
    • the centre feels springy when lightly touched with your finger and no imprint remains.
    • a toothpick inserted into the centre of the cake comes out clean.
    • the cake is beginning to come away from the sides of the tin.
11. Leave to cool in the tin for 5 minutes and then transfer to a cooling rack.
12. Serve, warm, if possible, sprinkled with extra caster sugar with some fresh cream or crème fraîche on the side. Custard also works a treat in the cooler months.

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Made this recipe?

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