A little cinnamon.
A taste of home.

Hungarian apple cake

A recipe full of childhood memories: for Patricia, this apple cake brings back moments spent baking with her mum. Braided yeast dough meets a juicy apple and cinnamon filling.

Patricia Meeussen @pams_dia

Ingredients

For the dough

• 500 g flour, plus a little extra if needed
• 250 g softened margarine
• 1 tbsp sugar
• 1 egg
• 1 pinch of salt
• 20 g yeast
• Approx. 100 ml lukewarm, sweetened milk

For the filling

• 2 kg tart apples
• Sugar and cinnamon to taste
• Approx. 2 tbsp semolina
• A few dried breadcrumbs

For dusting

• Icing sugar

Method

1. Let the yeast activate in the lukewarm, sweetened milk. Add the flour, margarine, sugar, egg and salt, then knead thoroughly using the dough hook. If the dough does not come away from the bowl, add a little more flour.
2. Divide the dough into four equal portions, cover and leave to rise. The original recipe does not specify an exact rising time.
3. Peel and coarsely grate the apples, then gently cook them in a saucepan. Add sugar and cinnamon to taste and stir in the semolina. Leave the filling to cool.
4. Cut four strips of baking parchment, each about 25 cm wide. Roll out one portion of dough directly on each strip. Cut the sides into strips, leaving the centre intact for the filling.
5. Sprinkle a few dried breadcrumbs down the centre and add a quarter of the apple filling. Braid the side strips of dough over the filling.
6. Bake on the middle shelf of a preheated oven at approx. 170 °C fan for about 20 minutes. The cake should remain pale. Leave to cool and dust with icing sugar.

Patricia’s tip
The apple filling can be prepared the day before.

Apple and cinnamon pull-apart bread

This one deserves a place on your autumn bucket list: Lana’s pull-apart bread combines yeast dough, apples and cinnamon. While Sweet Home Bakery kneads the dough, she gets on with preparing the apple filling.

Lana Wiltfang @lanusxh

Ingredients

For the yeast dough

• 500 g wheat flour
• 240 ml lukewarm milk
• 60 g sugar
• 1 egg (size M)
• 60 g softened butter
• 21 g fresh yeast or 7 g dried yeast
• 1 pinch of salt

For the cinnamon filling

• 100 g very soft butter
• 100 g brown cane sugar or white sugar
• 2 tbsp ground cinnamon

For the apple filling

• 350 g apples, cut into small cubes
• 1 tbsp butter
• 1 sachet vanilla sugar
• 1 tsp cinnamon
• 1 tsp starch

For the cream cheese frosting

• 100 g full-fat cream cheese
• 30 g softened butter
• 100 g icing sugar
• ½ tsp vanilla extract
• 1 pinch of salt
• 30–45 ml milk, depending on the desired consistency

Method

1. Knead the flour, lukewarm milk, sugar, egg, softened butter, yeast and salt into a smooth, supple dough. Cover and leave in a warm place for about 60 minutes, until doubled in volume.
2. Gently cook the diced apples with 1 tbsp butter in a frying pan. Add the vanilla sugar and cinnamon. Stir in the starch to thicken the liquid. Remove from the heat and leave to cool completely.
3. For the cinnamon filling, mix the very soft butter with the sugar and cinnamon. Roll the dough into a rectangle on a floured work surface. Spread the cinnamon butter evenly over it, then scatter over the cooled apple cubes.
4. Cut the dough into roughly hand-sized squares to fit the width of your loaf tin. Stack the squares, then stand them upright next to one another in a loaf tin lined with baking parchment.
5. Cover the pull-apart bread and leave to rise in the tin for another 25–30 minutes. Bake in a preheated conventional oven at 180 °C for approx. 50–55 minutes. If the top browns too quickly, cover loosely with foil or baking parchment.
6. While the bread bakes, mix the cream cheese, softened butter, icing sugar, vanilla extract and salt. Gradually add the milk until you have a creamy, pourable frosting.
7. Take the apple and cinnamon pull-apart bread out of the oven, generously drizzle the cream cheese frosting over it while still warm and enjoy straight away.

Moist cinnamon roll cake

Cinnamon roll flavour without yeast dough: Gina combines a simple cake batter with a buttery cinnamon swirl and creamy cream cheese frosting. No long rising time needed.

Gina Schlesinger @die_schlesis

Ingredients

For the cake batter

• 75 g butter at room temperature
• 2 eggs (size M)
• 400 g flour
• 1 sachet baking powder
• 1 sachet vanilla sugar
• 1 pinch of salt
• 150 g sugar
• 350 ml milk

For the cinnamon swirl

• 120 g butter
• 100 g brown sugar
• 1 tbsp flour
• 1 tbsp cinnamon

For the frosting

• 100 g icing sugar
• 60 g softened butter
• 120 g full-fat cream cheese
• 1 sachet vanilla sugar

Method

1. Beat the softened butter briefly until creamy. Add the eggs and beat everything together for about 3 minutes.
2. Mix the flour, baking powder, vanilla sugar, salt and sugar in a separate bowl. Add to the butter and egg mixture along with the milk and mix into a smooth batter.
3. Pour the batter into a lightly greased baking dish and smooth the top. The original recipe does not specify the size of the dish.
4. For the cinnamon swirl, melt the butter and mix with the brown sugar, flour and cinnamon. Spread over the batter and run a fork through it a few times to create a swirl.
5. Bake in a preheated conventional oven at 180 °C for about 25–30 minutes. Towards the end, insert a skewer to check whether the cake is baked through.
6. Leave the cake to cool slightly. Mix all the frosting ingredients together and spread over the cake while it is still warm.