It’s simple to make this wonderful Ukrainian cake. This pastry base can also be used with pitted cherries, plums, or thinly sliced peaches.
| Prep Time: | 15 mins |
| Cook Time: | 25 mins |
| Total Time: | 40 mins |
| Servings: | 12 |
| Yield: | 1 8-inch square cake |
Ingredients
- 1 ½ cups all-purpose flour
- ¼ cup white sugar
- 2 teaspoons baking powder
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- ½ cup unsalted butter, cut into pieces
- ⅓ cup cream
- 1 large egg, beaten
- 4 large apples – peeled, cored, and thinly sliced
- ½ cup brown sugar
- 2 tablespoons flour
- 2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
- 2 tablespoons cold unsalted butter, cut into pieces
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F (190 degrees C). Lightly butter an 8-inch square baking dish.
- Make the cake: Sift flour, sugar, baking powder, and salt into a mixing bowl. Cut in butter with 2 knives or a pastry blender until mixture is crumbly.
- Whisk cream and egg together in a small bowl; add to flour mixture and gently mix until a soft dough forms. Press into the prepared baking dish. Layer apples over top in neat rows, overlapping slightly.
- Make the streusel topping: Whisk brown sugar, flour, and cinnamon together in a small bowl. Cut in butter until mixture is crumbly. Sprinkle topping over apples.
- Bake in the preheated oven until apples have softened and topping is golden brown, about 25 minutes.
Nutrition Facts
| Calories | 264 kcal |
| Carbohydrate | 37 g |
| Cholesterol | 50 mg |
| Dietary Fiber | 2 g |
| Protein | 3 g |
| Saturated Fat | 8 g |
| Sodium | 189 mg |
| Sugars | 21 g |
| Fat | 13 g |
| Unsaturated Fat | 0 g |
Reviews
Ok sorry for harsh review – but i made this recipe several times over few years and keep forgetting to make a note for myself that 25 min is totally not enough for baking this cake. Apples are still fresh by then – Its more like 50 min! Adjust your recipe please! Also its best cooked ahead a day before. It tastes better when all flavours melt into sach other
verry dlicious
Absolutely delicious! I had to bake it a little longer, but otherwise followed the recipe. I used a square pan, as said in the recipe. My entire family loved it, even my father, who is a harsh judge, rated it a 9.5/10. We all thought it was high quality and homey/comfort food and served it with a little bit of cream. We will definitely be making this again!
This recipe is IDENTICAL (except for the streusel topping) to the recipe found in the classic Traditional Ukrainian Cookery by Savella Stechinsin. The original recipe does not use brown sugar or flour in the topping. This was delicious, nevertheless.
Great recipe! Very easy to make, though my daughter got a little fussy with organizing the apples. I’m glad I took the advice to let it sit out for a day, it was MUCH better after having time to sit.
Only change was to use condensed milk instead of cream. Everyone loved it! I would add a photo, but it would be an empty dish…
The only difference was I used canned evaporated milk since I didn’t have regular milk on hand.
I absolutely love this cake!! It’s soooo good! The flavor and texture are perfect! I lined my 8×8 pan with enough parchment to have overhang on all sides, and that made for easy removal from the pan–alongside easy cleanup. I baked this at 350 for 35 minutes, and I should have probably gone another 5-7 minutes–as the middle was a touch doughy still (my fault, not the recipe’s). Oh, and pressing the dough into the pan can be a bit tricky–but if you lightly oil your hands, it makes it a total snap to press in evenly. Really really great cake! Thanks so much for sharing!
These were super good and I made with both peaches and apples. I actually made them in little muffin tins, so they were bite sized and they held up well (baked for 11min instead) all in all super good!
This passed the taste test with us & our neighbors, but won’t be making again as it is just way to much work. If we had kept the recipe we’d cut the struesel topping in half, & mix part of the cinnamon with the apples. I felt the topping had way to much cinnamon so it was almost like a burnt taste.
I made it for the Eurovision last Sat. I had drawn Ukrania so had to make a traditional dish and I chose this. It was the favourite dish of the night and surprisingly Ukraine also won Eurovision. I made it with apples and used light brown sugar. Only had an 8 inch round enamel tin and only used 3 apples. It was eaten cold with no cream or sauces. It was perfect and I cant wait to make it again.
simple and delicious. serve with ice cream.
I’m not a baker…I’m a photographer and BBQ’er. But I thought I’d try this. First time around….the apples did not cook through. But I saw the potential, and changed it up a bit. I took 1/4 cup sugar, 2 tsp cinnamon, and 1/3 cup water and precooked the apples in a 6 qt sauce pot for 30 minutes over low/medium heat. (Simmering, stirring frequently) I let them cool for 10 minutes and then layered them in the cake per the original recipe. I served it warm (Sat 15 minutes in microwave) with softened vanilla bean icecream. And WOW! I can do more than BBQ! Next try…..make more dough and layer it with the apples.
This is a very tasty cake. My husband loved it. Unfortunately I did not have cream on hand and was hesitant to substitute, but I was determined to make this. So I used cream cheese in place of the cream and it turned out well. My husband never goes past it without taking a piece. Will do the original recipe nest week.
Once again, esp to the person, who used water for eggs, coconut oil for the butter and more water to some strange flour concoction and then had the nerve to give the recipe 1 star…. If you don’t use the recipe and the ingredients then don’t rate the recipe, because you didn’t use it!
I thought the base was a bit dry and the topping lacked flavor. I served it to my Ukrainian and Russian friends and they ate it, but it wasn’t a hit.
Great recipe, very moist cake. Because of allergies, I substituted water for the eggs, coconut oil for the butter, and coconut milk for the cream. I also left out the cinnamon. I added extra water as using organic milled wheat and let it sit for a few minutes before baking for the baking powder to start acting.Like pancakes, it helps make it fluffier. If using a hard fruit like apples, it works out better to stew them for a few minutes until soft before adding to the cake.
I had bought 9lbs of apples to make some pies, but my children and husband enjoyed them so much, I didn’t have enough! Thank you allrecipes for giving me a yummy recipe to use up the “left over” apples! This is a keeper~I will try other fruits as they come into season. But next time, I will add a little more sugar to the cake bottom. My littlest one scraped off the apples and left the cake.
This recipe was..interesting. Not bad, but not great either. I wouldn’t make it again. Thanks anyways.
You have to understand that Europe does not make their desserts as sweet as the US. This was excellent. I tripled the recipe and placed it in a jellyroll pan to feed the masses. I did not deviate at all from the recipe. It was beautiful and delicious! The bottom was cake-like, but hinted taste like a butter cookie. The streusel appeared more like a glaze (which actually was beautiful and gooey-licious). I decided to bake it at 350 until the apples were done, which ended up being about 70 minutes in my oven. Hope this helps 🙂
It’s delicious. I made one change, which was to use 1/4 cup of brown sugar instead of 1/2 cup, because looking at all the pictures make me think the struesel was a bit loose, and I wanted crispy. I think it was best warm out of the oven, still pretty good later that day at room temperature, and edible but not nearly as good the next day–the cake went stale pretty fast, and the struesel got soggy. Eat it quickly!