Brown Butter French Apple Cake
A buttery French apple cake filled with Gala and Honeycrisp apple chunks and topped with thin apple slices. Brown butter, vanilla, and a little cinnamon make it especially lovely with salted honey or maple chai ice cream.
Servings: 8 Servings
Equipment
- 9-inch springform pan
- Digital kitchen scale
- Heatproof bowl
- Mixing Bowls
Ingredients
- 95 g browned unsalted butter measured after browning, including the browned bits; see notes
- 450 g Gala and Honeycrisp apples weighed after peeling and coring, cut into ½-inch chunks; approximately 3 medium apples
- 1 additional Gala or Honeycrisp apple peeled, cored, and thinly sliced for the top
- 1 cup all-purpose flour
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- ½ teaspoon ground cinnamon
- ¼ teaspoon fine salt
- 2 large eggs room temperature
- ¾ cup granulated sugar
- 2 teaspoon vanilla extract
- ¼ cup whole milk, room temperature
- 1 tablespoon granulated sugar, for the top
- Extra butter for greasing the pan
Instructions
- Prepare the pan. Preheat the oven to 350°F (175°C). Grease a 9-inch springform pan and line the base with parchment paper.
- Brown the butter. Melt the unsalted butter in a small saucepan over medium heat, stirring frequently. Continue cooking as it foams until the milk solids turn golden brown and smell nutty. Immediately scrape into a heatproof bowl. Stir and measure out 95 g, including the browned bits. Let cool until warm, not hot.
- Prepare the apples. Peel, core, and chop enough Gala and Honeycrisp apples to give you 450 g of ½-inch chunks. Slice the additional apple about ⅛ inch (3 mm) thick for the topping.
- Mix the dry ingredients. Whisk the flour, baking powder, cinnamon, and salt together in a medium bowl.
- Mix the wet ingredients. In a larger bowl, whisk the eggs and ¾ cup sugar for about 1 minute, until slightly pale and foamy. Whisk in the vanilla, milk, and cooled brown butter.
- Combine. Gently fold in the dry ingredients just until no dry flour remains, then fold in the apple chunks.
- Add the topping. Spread the batter evenly in the pan. Arrange the apple slices in a lightly overlapping circle or fan, keeping to one layer and leaving some batter visible. Sprinkle with the remaining tablespoon of sugar.
- Bake. Bake on the middle oven rack for 45–55 minutes, or until the centre is set and a skewer inserted into cake, avoiding apple pieces, comes out without wet batter. Continue in 5-minute increments if needed. Loosely cover with foil if the top browns before the centre finishes.
- Optional broiled finish. Once fully baked, broil for 30–60 seconds if you would like more colour on the apple topping. Watch continuously and remove as soon as it is golden. Ensure the pan is broiler-safe, and no exposed parchment is near the element.
- Cool. Let cool in the pan for 20 minutes. Run a thin knife around the edge and release the springform ring. Cool for at least another 20 minutes before slicing, or cool completely for cleaner slices.
Notes
Brown butter measurement: This recipe uses 95 g of finished browned butter, not 95 g before browning. You can brown a larger batch and weigh out the amount needed, stirring first to distribute the browned bits.
Starting with ½ cup butter: Browning 113 g usually yields roughly 90–95 g. If you finish within that range, use it all. Do not top it back up to 113 g.
Apples: I used Gala and Honeycrisp. No exact ratio is needed; keep the total prepared apple weight at 450 g.
Topping: Use only enough slices for one light layer.
Baking time: Mine took approximately 50 minutes, plus a brief broil. Check the centre rather than relying only on the clock.
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