Sunken Apple Cake Is A Dessert With Many Names

Sunken apple cake is a light, simple treat with an intriguing appearance thanks to the sliced apples "sinking" into the cake. This refreshing delight has a pretty self-explanatory English name, but is known by a couple of different names in its native Germany.

While the precise origin of the sunken apple cake is elusive, Germans claim it with gusto. Their traditional name for the cake is "versunkener apfelkuchen," which literally translates to sunken (versunkener) apple (apfel) cake (kuchen). The cake is made in the same way as the American version, but because German apples are typically smaller than American varieties, the lumps of hasselbacked fruit may appear more evenly displaced.

Along with its traditional name, the versunkener apfelkuchen also has a charming nickname among Germans: mittwochskuchen. We've already established that "kuchen" translates to "cake," and if you've ever dabbled in German you may know that "Mittwoch" is the German word for "Wednesday." For an easy way to remember it, if you say it out loud, it kind of sounds like you're saying "midweek cooking," right? There's a good reason for that. Because of how easy this cake is to bake, it's ideal for weekdays when you don't have a lot of free time to spend in the kitchen. Hence why it's colloquially known as "mittwochskuchen" in some German households.

When it comes to sheer popularity, the Golden Delicious apple wins the day in Germany. American households, on the other hand, prefer the Red Delicious. The difference between Golden and Red Delicious goes beyond just color, with Red Delicious apples possessing a floral sweetness compared to the tart complexity of golden delicious apples. Golden Delicious apples, however, are much better suited to cooking due to the fact that they retain more of their flavor and structure when exposed to heat. This makes the Golden Delicious perfectly balanced in baked and fresh form.

The Golden Delicious' popularity does not necessarily mean it's the one apple you should use for a traditional German sunken apple cake. Versunkener apfelkuchen recipes shared by German folks don't tend to specify which type of apple to use, so you have a good deal of freedom in that respect. Aside from the Golden Delicious, the best types of apples for baking include the Honeycrisp, Braeburn, and Cortland — if you can, try different varieties to figure out which you prefer. You can even mix and match apple varieties for better baked goods or soak your apples in liquor to add more complexity to your cake's flavor, creating a sunken apple cake truly unique to your own kitchen.