Easy Apple Shortcake Recipe – The Home Cook’s Kitchen

My apple shortcake is a beautifully simple recipe that packs a cozy, spicy punch. Cinnamon stewed apples sandwiched between two layers of buttery, fluffy shortcake. This apple cake is perfect for a dinner party, or simply have as a go to cake for potlucks and afternoon tea parties.

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Why We Love This Recipe

I absolutely adore recipes that showcases simple ingredients and this apple shortcake does just that. You can’t go wrong with two layers of buttery, fluffy shortbread sandwiched between cinnamon spiced stewed apples.

This apple cake is one of those desserts that you can make if you’re in a hurry, or if you have unexpected guests coming around and need something quick to whip up!

Much like my flourless chocolate torte, I always have the ingredients for this cake on hand. Even if I don’t have apples, I always make sure to keep a can of apples in my pantry for occasions when I need a dessert on hand quickly.

You will love this recipe because:

• it uses simple store bought ingredients and pantry staples that you will likely to have on hand at all times.

• it can be adapted with different fruit or you can use the option of fresh or canned apple and it will still taste beautiful.

• it looks and tastes fancy, when in reality it is relatively simple to make

• the aroma of the cake that fills the house when you bake it is absolutely insane making it the perfect cozy cake to bake for Autumn or Winter.

Ingredients in this Recipe

Please see the recipe card further along this post for full details and qualities of this recipe.

This recipe requires very few ingredients, and they are ingredients I always make sure I have on hand in my pantry.

For all baking, cups are not the most accurate measurement and I recommend that you have a set of kitchen scales.

Butter – I use unsalted butter for this recipe. Unsalted butter helps control the salt quantity in your baking. You’ll need 115g/4oz for the cake and make sure it’s at room temperature. The butter gives that really decadent, buttery flavour to the cake.

Sugar – In all my baking, I use caster sugar. If you can’t find it (American supermarkets didn’t ever seem to have it I found), then regular white sugar is fine. You’ll need 95g/4oz. This is roughly ½ a cup plus 1 tablespoon of sugar.

Vanilla Essence or Paste – I use Queens brand vanilla bean paste because I love the extra vanilla flavour paste brings to a sweet dish. Vanilla essence will work however just not have as strong vanilla flavour but will still taste good.

What is an apple shortcake?

This apple shortcake recipe isn’t your typical ‘American’ shortcake recipe. From my understanding, a shortcake in America is more like a biscuit style dessert with fresh fruit.

This recipe on the other hand, is an Australian style cake, more like a buttery shortbread cake, sandwiched together with apple pie filling.

Eggs – Use good quality eggs. Doesn’t matter if they’re at room temperature or not.

Flour – This was the only flour I could find in the supermarket today!! If you don’t have self raising flours you can make your own by combining 2.5 teaspoons of baking powder with the plain flour. You’ll need 215g/8oz/half a pound of flour. This is about 1 ¼ cups plus 1 tablespoon.

Step By Step Instructions

Step 1 – using a stand mixer with the paddle attachment, (or hand beaters if you don’t have a stand mixer) cream the room temperature butter and the sugar together until combined. The butter shouldn’t be lumpy which is why room temperature butter works best.

Step 2 – add the egg and vanilla and beat further for a minute until they are combined.

Step 3 – add the flour in small increments (approx ¼ cup at a time) and combine. Make sure to scrape down the sides of the bowl to ensure everything is mixed. The mixture should come together to form a dough like consistency.

Step 4 – turn the dough onto a piece of plastic/cling wrap and shape into a ball. Refrigerate for 30 minutes. This hardens up the dough making it easier to roll into shape.

Step 5 – Preheat oven to 180C/350F, and grease a 23cm/9″ round cake tin.

Step 6 – Remove the dough from the fridge and cut into equal halves. To make this more accurate use a scale to measure equal halves.

Step 7 – Using lightly floured hands, press one half of the dough into your cake tin until it is evenly spread. Top with the apple mixture, then roll or press out the other half of the dough on a floured surface, then lay on top of the apple mixture.

Step 8 – bake in your oven until golden brown, approximately 25-30 minutes.

What Equipment Do I Need?

You’ll need the following equipment to successfully bake this cake;

• A 23cm/9 inch round baking pan. These are easy to find and can be used for multiple recipes such as sponge cakes.
• Hand or stand mixer with paddle beaters attached
• Cling wrap/plastic wrap
• Large serving plate
• Serving utensils

FAQs and Tips

Why Chill My Dough?

I find that chilling the dough makes it WAY easier to place into my prepared baking pans. The dough firms up enough for you to shape it more easily. In addition cooled dough slows down the spreading process.

What Can I Use for Filling?

There are two options for this – you can make your own or buy remade apple pie filling.

In the USA, I used the Kroger Brand which was a 20oz tin. I do find this a little sweeter and more gel like than the Australian brands and my homemade apples, but it is still tasty.

You’ll need about 20oz or 565g to fill one of these apple shortcakes. If your pie filling isn’t sweetened, I’d suggest adding around 1 tablespoon of sugar and ½ a teaspoon of cinnamon to the pie filling, so it tastes a little sweeter.

To make your own apple pie filling, follow my recipe on how to stew apples. Stewing apples is super easy and can be done the day or night before.

Tips for Assembling the Cake

This step is arguably the trickiest part of this recipe as it requires you to shape out and roll dough. To start with, you’ll need 1 9inch/23cm round cake tin. I lightly grease mine so that it’s easy to remove from the pan when it’s cool.

To assemble the bottom layer of the shortcake, you’ll need to first divide the dough into even halves. The best way to do this is to weigh the dough, then divide the weight by half. Or you can do it by eye for a slightly less accurate portion.

When it comes to putting the dough into the pan, for the bottom layer I find it easier to use my fingers to lightly press the dough into the tin until it’s even.

Once you have your bottom layer down add your pie filling on top. For the top layer I placed my dough onto a piece of cling wrap/plastic wrapped and topped it with another piece.

Then I gently used my hands to press out the dough to the size of my pan. Then I flipped out the dough on top of my apple pie filling. It doesn’t matter if it doesn’t quite stretch to the sides, the self raising flour will make the dough expand into the gaps.

If you find your top layer is looking messy, or your dough doesn’t quite stretch the length of the pan, flip the cake onto a plate after it’s cooked  so that the bottom becomes the top. The bottom will be a lot neater!

How Long Does this Take to Cook?

This apple shortcake takes around 35-40 minutes to bake at 350F/180C in a non-fan forced oven, or 25-30 minutes in a fan forced oven. The top of the cake should be lightly browned. A good test is to stick a metal skewer into the middle of the cake (the shortcake only, not filling).

The skewer should come out clean with a few crumbs. If you’re finding that the cake is browning too quickly and not cooking, cover the cake with aluminum foil to prevent burning.

How to Serve Apple Shortcake?

This cake is best served the day off, with ice cream or whipped cream. Dust it with a little icing sugar after it’s cooled to make it look nicer and cover any cracks that may have appeared!

Can I use other fruit?

The only other fruit I have put in the middle of this cake is crushed pineapple. Get a large can and drain the pineapple juice before adding it to the middle of the cake. I imagine you could use stewed pears as well but I haven’t tried it.

How to Store This Apple Cake

I doubt it will last it tastes so good, but if you do have leftovers they store for about a day in an air tight container. This cake is best eaten the day off as it can go a little soggy after a while from the apple.

This is definitely one of my favourite cakes. Let me know if you’ve made it, I’d love to see your pics. Leave a comment and a star rating and any questions in the comments below.

Georgie x 

Want more recipes with apples?

If you loved this recipe, I’d love for you to leave a comment and review! Also, don’t forget to snap a pic of your finished recipe and share it on our on our Instagram account using the hashtag #thehomecookskitchen or tagging me @thehomecookskitchen. I’d love to see your creations!

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