A soft and moist German apple cake with a crisp crumble topping, sweet and delicious, a perfect autumn cake recipe.
I still have so many apples in my cellar, different sorts of apples I have received from different neighbors and friends. So, I try to integrate apples in many of the dishes I cook and the cakes I bake these days.
I do have quite a large collection of apple cakes on the blog, so if you are also overwhelmed with apples this autumn, you might want to have a look here. I could not really pick a favorite, I do love apple cakes generally and I particularly loved each one I have ever posted, but the apple cake with whole apples, the apple muffins or the apple cake with meringue are some of the first to come to mind.
German apple cake with sour cream
This cake with sour cream is a typical German kind of cake, a so-called sheet cake or Blechkuchen. You can find this kind of cake in every bakery or coffee shop in Germany, you could probably get to taste one sort or another at any birthday party you will attend around here, a nice Blechkuchen is always part of the menu, so to say.
And why not, this kind of cake is delicious, easy to make and extremely versatile. You can make it with almost any kind of fruit or berries you can think of (plums, peaches, apricots, cherries, currants, blackberries, blueberries and so on), you can make a short crust base or a yeast dough base.
You can also top it with a poppy seeds mixture instead of fruit or berries, make a quark cheesecake in this form or a fluffy cake topped with only butter and sugar (Butterkuchen).
You can leave the cake with just the fruit on it or cover the fruit with a glaze, top the cake with streusel/crumble, meringue or with a sour cream/heavy cream mixture. You can add different kinds of nuts, coconut flakes or oats.
Really, I have seen and eaten so many versions of this kind of Blechkuchen, and still I would never get tired of them, because they are always so good and different.
Ingredients for the apple sour cream cake
You will need the typical ingredients to make the dough: all-purpose flour, sugar, butter, some vanilla extract or vanilla sugar and cinnamon.
What makes this apple crumble cake different is the fact that you will split the batter in two and mix half of it with sour cream. You will use the plain batter to make the base of the cake and the sour cream half to top the cake.
You will also need apples to make the apple crumble cake, about 750 g/ 1.6 lbs. Apples come in very different sizes, especially if they are not coming from a supermarket, so it is rather hard to say how many apples would make this quantity, perhaps about 5 medium ones.
However, the exact amount of apples is not crucial in the case of this German apple cake, just use as many apples as necessary to cover the dough generously.
I used regular sour cream for the cake with 10% fat content.
I used the same streusel or crumble I used to make the plum cake or Zwetschgenkuchen I have posted several weeks ago. To make the streusel you will need flour, sugar, butter and cinnamon.
How to make the apple crumble cake
Crumbles or streusel:
To make the streusel you could either mix the ingredients in the food processor until the mixture turns to crumbs or cut the cold butter into the flour with the help of a butter knife. Here you can see how you can cut the butter into the flour.
You can also make the streusel with your hands rubbing the cold butter into the flour mixture until you obtain the crumbs. However, if using your hands only rub the butter and the flour with your fingertips, the palms of your hands are too warm for this procedure. I always hold my fingers under cold water before doing this, I dry them well and then I start rubbing the butter into the flour.
Place the crumbles in the fridge until ready to use.
Apples:
Clean and chop the apples into small cubes. There is no need to peel them. Give the apple pieces to a bowl and add the lemon juice. Toss well, the lemon juice will prevent them from getting brown.
Batter:
Making the base of the German apple cake is super easy, much easier than making a yeast dough. Not that making a yeast dough is difficult, but it definitely requires a bit more focus and time.
To make the batter for the cake with sour cream, beat the soft unsalted butter until light and fluffy. Add the sugar, vanilla and cinnamon and mix well again. Add the eggs, one at a time, mixing well in between.
In another bowl mix together the flour and baking powder. Give this mixture, in 3 or 4 batches, to the egg mixture.
Topping:
Split the batter in half. Mix half of the batter with the sour cream and set aside.
Assembling the German apple cake:
Line a baking tray of about 30×40 cm/ 12×7 inch with baking paper. Evenly spread the batter without the sour cream on the tray. Spread the apple cubes evenly on top of the batter. Give the second half of the batter, the one containing the sour cream, over the apples.
Bake the cake with sour cream for about 50-60 minutes in the preheated oven at 200 degrees Celsius/ 400 degrees Fahrenheit.
The apple crumble cake can be made one day in advance.
The recipe can be easily halved and baked in a springform of about 26 cm/ 10 inches. Preheat the oven to 200 degrees Celsius/ 400 degrees Fahrenheit. Line a baking tray of about 30×40 cm/ 12×7 inch with baking paper. Crumble: Give the flour, sugar and cinnamon to the food processor. Pulse shortly to mix. Add the very cold butter, cut into cubes, and process shortly until the streusel form. If you want to make the streusel without the food processor, mix the flour, cinnamon and sugar in a bowl, give the cold butter cubes on top and cut the butter into the flour until you obtain the streusel. If doing this with your hands, only use your fingertips, if you use your palms the butter will get warm too quickly. Place the bowl with the crumbs in the fridge until ready to use. Apples: Clean and chop the apples into small cubes. There is no need to peel them. Give the apple pieces to a bowl and add the lemon juice. Toss well, the lemon juice will prevent them from getting brown. Apple cake: Give the soft butter to a bowl and beat until the butter is soft and fluffy. Add the sugar, vanilla sugar or vanilla extract and cinnamon. Mix well. Add the eggs, one at a time, mixing well in between. Mix the flour and baking powder in another bowl. Give this mixture to the egg and butter mixture in 3 or 4 batches. Incorporate. Divide this mixture in two equal parts. Leave one batch as it is and mix the second batter batch with the sour cream. The sour cream and batter mixture will be the topping of the cake. Assembling the cake: Evenly spread the batter without the sour cream on the prepared tray. Spread the apple cubes evenly on top of the batter. Give the second half of the batter, the one containing the sour cream, over the apples. Top with the crumbles. Bake the cake for about 50-60 minutes. The crumbs should be golden brown. If the cake starts to get brown long before the baking time is over, cover it very loosely with a piece of aluminum foil. The cake can be made one day in advance.Apple Crumble Cake with Sour Cream – German Apple Streusel Cake
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6 comments
Hi, dear Adina, what a lovely cake! Just one question, the crumble should go on top of the sour cream batter and bake all along? It’s my first baking experience ever. Thank you for such a nice recipe. Maria
Hi Maria. Yes, crumble on top. I can’t believe I forgot to write that.😨😨 Thank you for letting me know.😊😊
apple desserts will always be my favorite!
Am I just not seeing how many apples you’re using? Or how many cups?
Sorry guess I just had to read through the whole blog post to see that it’s about a pound and a half of apples.
Sorry about that, I added the apple amount in the recipe.