German Apple Pie Recipe (Gedeckter Apfelkuchen)

gedeckter apfelkuchen german apple pie dirndl kitchen

5 from 4 votes

German Apple Pie Recipe (Gedeckter Apfelkuchen)

Gedecketer Apfelkuchen is a super delicious and relatively easy German apple cake recipe that's similar to an American apple pie in a way that it has a bottom and top crust and an apple pie-like filling, except it's glazed and really not like pie at all! The kids and I love it and I am sure so will you!

Prep Time30

Cook Time50

Resting Time3

Total Time4 20

Course: Baking, Coffee, Dessert

Cuisine: German

Keyword: Apfelkuchen, German Apple Cake, German Apple Pie, Recipes for Apple Pie Crust, Recipes for Apple Pie Filling

Servings: slices

Calories: 480kcal

Author: Author: Sophie Sadler

Equipment

1 springform pan 9 inches or 23 cm in diameter

Ingredients

Gedeckter Apfelkuchen Dough

300 grams flour plus more for rolling out the dough
80 grams almond flour
2 eggs medium
½ teaspoon salt
150 grams sugar
175 grams butter room temperature, plus some more for greasing the pan

Gedeckter Apfelkuchen Filling

1 ½ kilograms tart apples Granny Smith work best in my opinion
1 lemon juice only
60 grams sugar
50 grams almond flour
1 tablespoon ground cinnamon
1 tablespoon cornstarch or 2 tablespoons of flour

Lemon Glaze

150 grams powdered sugar
3 Tablespoons lemon juice

Garnish

50 grams almond slices lightly toast them without oil in a small skillet over medium heat

Metric - US Customary

Instructions

Make the Dough

Preheat the oven (conventional setting) to 200° C or 390° F. Grease your springform pan with some butter (I also like to use parchment paper on the bottom layer before clipping it in). Knead together all dough ingredients until smooth, cookie-like dough.
300 grams flour, 80 grams almond flour, 2 eggs , ½ teaspoon salt, 150 grams sugar, 175 grams butter
Flatten the dough in your mixing bowl (or shape into a circle on your counter) and divide it into 3 equal portions.
Use one third for the bottom crust and another third to cover the sides of the springform (about 2 inches tall). Press the dough together where the bottom meets the sides so there are no gaps. Poke the bottom crust several times with a fork. No need to par-bake!
Place the springform in the freezer (fridge is okay too) while you prepare the apple filling. Wrap the remaining third of the dough in plastic wrap and put it in the fridge until you're ready to roll out the top crust.

Make the Filling

Peel, quarter, remove the core, and cut apples into ¼ inch cubes. Mix with the lemon juice.
1 ½ kilograms tart apples, 1 lemon
Add the apples to a large saucepan and cook over medium heat, stirring frequently, for about 5 to 10 minutes, or until the apples start releasing their juices.
Add the cinnamon, sugar, vanilla bean paste or vanilla extract, almond flour, and cornstarch. Stir everything together until well combined.
60 grams sugar, 50 grams almond flour, 1 tablespoon ground cinnamon, 1 tablespoon cornstarch
Remove the springform from the freezer and distribute the hot apple filling evenly over the bottom crust. Spread out the apples and push down to create a somewhat uniform, flat top.
Roll out the remaining third of dough into a circle large enough to cover the apples.
Lay the dough over the filling, trim any excess dough around the rim, and crimp the edges to seal the top and bottom crusts together. You can now optionally using the backside of a soup spoon to push down on the edges to smooth them out. Poke several holes into the top crust with a fork to allow steam to escape while baking.
Bake for about 50 minutes, then allow cooling completely in the form (about 2 to 3 hours).

Let Cool & Glaze

Carefully remove the cake from the pan and transfer to a cake plate. Stir together the powdered sugar and lemon juice for the glaze and brush onto the baked top layer.
3 Tablespoons lemon juice, 150 grams powdered sugar
If desired, garnish with toasted almond slices.
Serving it with freshly made vanilla whipped cream is always a good idea!
If you have any leftover crust, you could also cut out some fun shapes with cookie cutters and garnish the cake with those too. I meant to do that and completely forgot.
Store leftovers in the fridge for up to 5 days. Typically this cake is eaten at room temperature or cold, but I won't stop your urge to warm it up.

Notes

Does it keep well?

If you're running short on time, simply make the whole cake the day before. It keeps amazingly well in the fridge for up to 5 days.

Why use a springform pan?

The number 1 tool that is nice to have for this Apfelkuchen recipe is a Springform cake pan. Springform pans consist of a bottom flat pan and a ring that has a clip to fasten it around the bottom pan. The reason a Springform works so well for this recipe is that it makes ejecting the cake from the form easy and uncomplicated (both things I need more of in my life). A Springform cake pan takes the worry out of baking cakes with a Mürbeteig crust like this one or Pumpkin Käsekuchen (one of my favorite recipes!) and it's one you'll want to invest in if you're baking German cakes for sure. My favorite Springform cake pan is by a German manufacturer and has a non-stick surface, although I will still butter the pan and even put parchment paper on the bottom of the pan. I simply clip a larger piece of parchment paper into the pan, then cut the paper off around the edges. So easy!

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