Several of our friends have July birthdays, as do I. We were invited to brunch (outdoors, of course) in early July and I offered to bake the birthday cake. This particular friend is not a traditional cake lover, no super-sweet icing or frosting for this guy, so I decided to find a nice European cake recipe with fruit, because they are always a hit!
This French Apple cake is made with rum and butter and is so delectable and moist, even though it has only 1 apple! I will definitely make this cake again for the non-cake lovers!

Super moist cake with little bits of apple and the lovely flavour of buttered rum.
French Apple Cake
For the original recipe, please click here. Note that I converted the recipe to metric measures and modified it a bit.
Makes 1 23 cm (9-inch) cake
Ingredients:
- 114 g unsalted butter, at room temperature
- 130 g granulated sugar
- 5 mL vanilla extract
- 45 mL dark rum
- 15 mL milk
- 2 large eggs
- Zest of one lemon
- 140 g AP flour
- 3 g baking powder
- 3 g salt
- 150 g baking apple, peeled, cored and cut into 1 cm cubes
- Sanding sugar
Directions:
- Preheat the oven to 350° F. Prepare a 23 cm (9 inch) round pan by lining the bottom with parchment and buttering the sides.
- Cream the butter and the sugar until light and fluffy.
- Add vanilla, rum and milk and mix well. Add the eggs one at a time and mix well.
- Whisk the flour, baking powder and salt together. Add to the butter batter and mix until combined.
- Fold in the apples.
- Pour into the prepared pan and dust with the sanding sugar. Bake for 30-35 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean.
- Cool the cake on a wire rack. When cool, run a thin knife along the sides to loosen and turn onto a plate. Flip right side up (sugar-side up).
- Serve slightly warm or at room temperature sprinkled with powdered sugar with whipped cream or Crême Fraiche.