This easy sharlotka apple cake is going to be your new favorite easy and light cake! This cake is fluffy, light, airy, moist, soft, and delicious. This cake contains only a few simple ingredients to make and takes under 20 minutes to prep.
We love making apple recipes, especially in the fall time. If you like apple desserts as we do, you should try out our apple fritters, easy apple cake, upside-down apple cake, and apple turnovers!
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Why this recipe works
- Extremely easy to make.
- Melt in your mouth delicious.
- Made with simple ingredients.
- Perfect to make when you need a quick dessert.
- The perfect size for family gatherings.
What is a sharlotka cake?
Sharlotka cake is a very popular Russian cake that is made with super simple ingredients. It's known to be affordable, quick to make, and easy. Russian sharlotka cake is made with a simple sponge cake mixture, mixed with lots of apples.
Ingredients
Before you start to make this recipe, measure and prepare your ingredients so the cooking process will go smoothly and easily.
Apples- we like to use granny smith apples for this recipe, they are a little bit less sweet, but any kind of your favorite apples will work!
Flour- we used all-purpose flour for this cake, cake flour will work as well.
Baking powder- to allow the cake to rise. Make sure that your baking powder is not expired.
Vanilla extract- for extra flavor.
Granulated sugar– we like to use granulated sugar, also the most common sugar used in baking. Caster sugar will work great as well.
Eggs- use room temperature eggs. Make sure you pull out the eggs from the fridge 20 minutes before making the cake.
Instructions
Preheat the oven to 180c (350f) and prep a parchment paper-lined 8-inch cake pan.
Peel and cut the apples into small bite-size cubes.
Into a big bowl or a stand mixer bowl, add the eggs and the sugar, and whip until the mixture is light and fluffy.
Add the vanilla extract, and the sliced apples, and lightly fold with a spatula until the mixture is just combined.
Add the baking powder and flour (sift the flour) and fold the batter until the mixture is just combined, and you don't see any flour lumps. you do not want to overmix the batter.
Pour the cake batter into the cake pan and top with extra apple pieces.
Bake the cake in a 180c (350f) preheated oven for 45-50 minutes.
Let the cake cool in the pan for at least 30 minutes. Then, top it with powdered sugar and serve!
Expert Tips
- Use your favorite apples. Use your favorite kind of apples! We like using granny smith apples, but any apple kind will work. If you like sweet apples, use
- Use room temperature ingredients. It is important that you use room-temperature ingredients like eggs. This step ensures that your mixture mixes into a homogenous mixture and bakes perfectly. you don’t want to place cold batter into the oven.
- Don’t overmix the batter, you don’t want to develop the gluten in the flour. This step ensures you have fudgy and moist brownies and not dense and dry brownies.
- Mesure you flour correctly! When measuring your flour, avoid scooping it with a measuring cup. Instead, stir the flour with a spoon to create as many air pockets as possible, and spoon it into your measuring cup. Finally, level it with a back of a knife.
- Be patient! I know it’s extremely tempting to eat this cake as it's pulled out of the oven, but let this cake cool for at least 30 minutes so it will be more firm and won’t crumble up.
- Make sure you line your baking pan with parchment paper to prevent the cake to stick to the pan.
Faq's
We like using Granny Smith apples for baking. Granny Smith apples have a few advantages: they hold their shape while baking, they have a crisp texture, they are not too sweet and have a little tang to them, and they are easy to find in any grocery store.
You can use any apples that you like best, but keep in mind that different apple kinds have different textures and flavors, some are sweeter, some are sourer, some have a crisp texture, and some have a mealy texture to them.
This cake will last for up to 3 days stored in an airtight container at room temperature of up to 5 days stored in the fridge.
We use all-purpose flour for this cake. Self-rising flour and cake flour will work great as well.
Storing
It’s okay to store this cake at room temperature. Make sure that you store this cake in an airtight container so it won’t dry out.
Freezing
Yes! This cake is very easy to freeze. After baking, let the cake cool to room temperature, transfer it into a freezer-friendly Ziploc bag, or wrap it tightly with a plastic wrap. Freeze up to 2 months.
To thaw: place the cake in the refrigerator overnight or place it at room temperature for a few hours.
Substitutions
Gluten-free - if you want to make this recipe gluten-free, simply replace the flour with gluten-free flour.
Variations
Fruit- you can swap the apples with pears or peaches, or any of your favorite fruit!
Glaze- top this cake with a simple four-ingredient glaze instead of powder sugar. Use our glaze from this recipe and swap the lemon zest and lemon juice with orange zest and orange juice.
Serving tips
Serve this cake next to a cup of coffee or tea. We like adding a big scoop of vanilla ice cream on top of the cake, but this cake tastes amazing by itself!
More apple recipes:
Apple upside-down cake- This upside-down apple cake recipe is a must-have for fall. This upside-down cake features an incredibly moist cake that is loaded with cinnamon and nutmeg, and topped with a caramelized topping.
Apple turnovers- These puff pastry apple turnovers are made with a delicious spiced apple filling and wrapped with flaky puff pastry.
Apple crumble- This apple crumble recipe is extremely easy to make, true comfort food with a crispy crumble exterior and a caramelized apple filling interior.
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📖 Recipe
Easy apple cake (sharlotka)
Ingredients
- 5 Eggs
- 1 cup Sugar
- 1 cup Flour
- 1 teaspoon Vanilla extract
- ¾ teaspoon Baking powder
- 3 Apples
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 180c (350f) and prep a parchment paper lined 8-inch cake pan.
- Into a big bowl or a stand mixer bowl, add the eggs and the sugar, and whip until the mixture is light and fluffy.
- Add the vanilla extract, and the sliced apples, and lightly fold with a spatula until the mixture is just combined.
- Add the baking powder and flour (sift the flour) and fold the batter until the mixture is just combined, and you don’t see any flour lumps. you do not want to overmix the batter.
- Pour the cake batter into the cake pan and top with extra apple pieces.
- Bake the cake in an 180c (350f) preheated oven for 45-50 minutes.
- Let the cake cool in the pan for at least 30 minutes. Then, top it with powder sugar and serve!
Notes
- Use your favorite apples. Use your favorite kind of apples! We like using granny smith apples, but any apple kind will work. If you like sweet apples, use
- Use room temperature ingredients. It is important that you use room-temperature ingredients like eggs. This step ensures that your mixture mixes into a homogenous mixture and bakes perfectly. you don’t want to place cold batter into the oven.
- Don’t overmix the batter, you don’t want to develop the gluten in the flour. This step ensures you have fudgy and moist brownies and not dense and dry brownies.
- Mesure you flour correctly! When measuring your flour, avoid scooping it with a measuring cup. Instead, stir the flour with a spoon to create as many air pockets as possible, and spoon it into your measuring cup. Finally, level it with a back of a knife.
- Be patient! I know it’s extremely tempting to eat this cake as it's pulled out of the oven, but let this cake cool for at least 30 minutes so it will be more firm and won’t crumble up.
-  Make sure you line your baking pan with parchment paper to prevent the cake to stick to the pan.
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