Versunkener Apfelkuchen: Sunken Spiced Apple Cake In Mugs

I hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas! The Germans (5 of my family members) were inhabiting my in-laws’ house for the holidays, probably scaring them for life with our weird ways. 🙂 For example, every person in the house ate their own breakfast because we simply can’t agree on one meal. That’s I guess what happens when you (temporarily) live with a vegetarian, a gluten free person (my mom - by choice), a 6-year-old, and a semi-americanized German (that would be me). We also tried to make my half-brother Oscar believe that Santa delivers presents a little later in the United States, so he had to wait until Christmas to open them (in Germany we open presents on Christmas Eve).

American Christmas Food For The Germans

For Christmas brunch I made homemade cinnamon rolls with about ½ cup of ground almonds that I added into the filling (this cinnamon roll recipe is to die for and earned it's sacred spot in my recipe collection). I also made mini quiche using a muffin tin and frozen puff pastry, so all I had to do is make the 3 versions of fillings to make everyone happy. We also served up some prime rib with horseradish cream sauce and a fruit salad, and prosted with Bloody Mary's and Mimosas. I told my husband that I would totally pay $50 for this kind of brunch! For Christmas dinner, my father-in-law cooked up some delicious ribs and wings on the smoker grill to give the Germans an idea of what Midwest American BBQ is like. Everything was impeccable!

A Mug Cake With A Twist

But back to what you came here for. Today's apple cake is super easy to make. The twist? Bake it in mugs for a fun presentation and roll the apples in sugar mixed with the gingerbread spice I used for making my gingerbread cookies a few weeks ago. I LOVE this gingerbread spice as it literally goes with so many things! It's great in oatmeal with some apples or pear, over pancakes mixed in with some sugar, as a rub on pork loin or roasts, and of course in gingerbread cookies..! If you don't want to make your own, feel free to cheat by using this spice mix (it doesn't have all the spices though that a traditional German gingerbread mix has), or personally import it from Germany during your next trip. 😉

There is a new German cookbook on the market and it's very comprehensive! I prepared a duck recipe from the book and it turned out so well, that I will make this dish over and over again. More about it in my next post.  Make sure you are subscribed to receive weekly emails with new recipe notifications, so you're not missing out when a post goes live!

Makes 4 servings:

• 8.5 tablespoon (125 g) butter (room temperature)
• ⅔ c (125 g) sugar
• 2 eggs
• peel of ½ organic lemon
• 1 pinch salt
• 1 + ⅔ c (200 g) all-purpose flour
• 2 teaspoon baking powder
• 2 tablespoon milk
• 1 sour apple (I used Granny Smith)
• For Gingerbread Spice Coating: 3 tablespoon sugar + 1 tablespoon Gingerbread spice (if you don't want to make your own, use this one)

1. Preheat oven to 340 degrees Fahrenheit (170 degrees Celsius). Mix butter and sugar until creamy (about 5 minutes). Gradually add in the eggs, lemon peel and salt. Sift together flour and baking powder and mix in with the batter. Add in the milk to achieve a smooth consistency.
2. Prepare 8 oz mugs with parchment paper (you can also just prep them by rubbing them with butter, then dusting with flour), then divide up the batter between the mugs.
3. Core, peel and quarter the apple, then slice the apple long ways, only going half way through the apple. Roll each quarter in the sugar gingerbread spice mixture before pressing them into the batter in the mug.
4. Bake on the middle rack for about 30 minutes or until an inserted toothpick comes out clean.