Apple cake

Name: Apple cake
Prep time: 14 min
Cook time: 27 min
Total time: 41 min
Yield: 4 servings
Cuisine: Netherlands
Ingredients: 4 Eggs; 200g Sugar; 200g Self-raising Flour; 200g Melted Butter; 1 tsp Vanilla Extract; 1 tsp Ground Cinnamon; 3 Apples; Pinch Salt; Sprinkling Ground Sugar

By The Spice & Simmer Kitchen · Published May 3, 2026

A one-pot Dessert recipe with Netherlands flavors, built for busy weeknights when you want real food without a sink full of dishes. Comes together in roughly 65 minutes, serves about 4, and uses ingredients you can find at any normal grocery store. The technique is simple: build a base in your pot, layer in the main ingredients, simmer until everything has had time to talk to each other, and serve straight from the pan. If you're cooking for picky eaters, this one tends to land — the flavors are recognizable, the texture is comforting, and there's nothing weird hiding in the ingredient list. Perfect for the kind of evening where you want dinner on the table by 7pm and the kitchen empty by 7:30.

Ingredients

Makes 4 servings · 41 min total

4 Eggs
200g Sugar
200g Self-raising Flour
200g Melted Butter
1 tsp Vanilla Extract
1 tsp Ground Cinnamon
3 Apples
Pinch Salt
Sprinkling Ground Sugar

Step-by-step instructions

Preheat the oven to 180°C. (350˚F) Grease a cake pan and line it with baking paper.
In a large bowl, break the four eggs with the sugar and beat until they have tripled in volume and become fluffy.
Sift the self-rising baking flour and add it to your egg mixture. Fold this over, preserving as much air as possible. Add the melted (and slightly cooled) butter and mix until combined.
Add cinnamon, pinch of salt and vanilla extract.
Add the diced apple to the batter and gently fold them into the batter so that the apple pieces are evenly distributed. You can roll the apple pieces through some more cinnamon.
Pour the batter into the prepared cake pan and smooth the top with a spatula.
Place the apple slices on top of the batter and press lightly. Sprinkle optionally with some almond shavings.
Bake the apple cake in the preheated oven for about 45-50 minutes, or until a wooden skewer comes out clean when inserted into the center of the cake.
Remove the cake from the oven and let it cool in the mold for a few minutes. Then carefully remove the cake from the mold and let cool completely on a wire rack.
Sprinkle the cooled apple cake with powdered sugar.

Why this works on a weeknight

Apple cake lands at about 41 minutes total — a little longer than our 30-minute target, but most of that time is hands-off simmering, which is why it earned a spot in our Sweet Finishes collection. The technique is forgiving, the ingredient list is grocery-store standard, and the active cooking time is short enough that you can answer a text message in the middle without ruining dinner.

Cleanup notes

This is a single-pan recipe, so the cleanup is exactly one pan, one cutting board, and one knife. While the dish rests, fill the pan with hot soapy water — by the time you are done eating, the residue lifts off with a single pass of a sponge. Skip the steel wool on cast iron; a stiff brush and warm water are all you need to keep the seasoning intact.

Make-ahead and leftovers

Leftovers keep covered in the fridge for up to three days. Reheat in a dry pan over medium-low with a splash of water or stock to loosen the sauce. Apple cake actually improves overnight as the flavors keep talking to each other, so doubling the recipe and packing tomorrow's lunch is a high-leverage weeknight move.

Filed under 🍮 Sweet Finishes Dessert Netherlands