A moist and fluffy apple cake recipe re-imagined with active sourdough starter (or sourdough discard) and a buttery, crumble topping. Make it now, or ferment overnight in the fridge to maximize flavor and digestibility. You’re gonna love this one!
I’m a huge fan of grandma cakes. The non-pretentious kind that are simple and straight forward to make. That’s this cake. No icing. No layers. Just a moist interior crumb with tantalizing golden edges and hints of toasty cinnamon throughout. I’ve made this sourdough discard recipe many, many times for friends and family and it always gets rave reviews.
Inspired by my fresh apple cake, this updated version includes 1/2 cup of tangy sourdough starter, baking soda, and a splash of milk to lighten the texture. It’s perfectly fluffy, not-too-sweet and it can be made in advance!
Why You’ll Love This Recipe
Bake now, or bake later. It’s flexible. For immediate execution: combine the wet and dry ingredients, fold in the apples, top with crumbles and bake right away.
Or, to bake later: prepare as indicated above and ferment the batter overnight in the fridge. The naturally occurring enzymes and friendly bacteria in your sourdough starter makes this cake easier to digest, while amplifying the flavor.
Plus, baking the next day is a breeze! Just pop the cake pan into the oven cold (just like my sourdough blueberry muffins) and enjoy the heavenly aroma while it bakes.
What Apples Are Best?
Use whatever apples you have on hand. Again, this recipe is flexible. I use Granny Smith apples which you can find all year round. But Macoun apples, Golden Delicious apples, or even Honey Crisp apples are delicious as well. Try a combination. Macintosh apples are the only variety to avoid. They’re great for applesauce, but tend to get mushy and break down when baked in cakes.
Note: When first testing this recipe, I used Granny Smith apples totally past their prime with wrinkly skin (they were sitting out in the fruit bowl for too long) and the end result was still great. They’re remained tart and sweet, and held their shape nicely even after 55 minutes in the oven.
How To Make Sourdough Apple Cake: Step-By-Step Recipe
- Preheat your oven to 350 F. Butter an 8-inch springform pan; set aside.
- Make the crumbles: combine the flour, sugar and salt in shallow bowl. Toss well to evenly distribute the salt. Add the butter. Mix with your fingertips to form crumbles.
- Peel and chop the apples into a rough 1/2-inch dice.
- Cream the butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Add the eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition. Note: I use a stand mixer for convenience. However, the batter can be mixed by hand with a wooden spoon or rubber spatula as pictured above.
- Add the sourdough starter.
- Add the flour, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon and salt. Mix to combine.
- Pour in the milk.
- Fold in the chopped apples. The texture will be thick!
- Scrape the batter into the pan and smooth it out. Scatter the crumble topping over the top.
- To bake now: place cake on the center rack and bake for 55-60 minutes, or until a toothpick comes out clean when inserted.
- To ferment overnight: cover with plastic wrap and chill up to 12 hours. In the morning, bake straight from cold.
- Cool for at least 1 hour or more before slicing.
Helpful Tips:
- I prefer an 8-inch springform pan for this recipe, which makes the cake higher and more voluminous. If you don’t have one, a standard 9-inch springform pan can be used instead (just reduce the bake time slightly to compensate for the wider pan).
- If you only have salted butter, omit the additional salt in the cake batter and the crumble topping.
- This cake is best served barely warm or at room temperature. In my opinion, the taste, texture and structure improves with time. I bake this cake in the morning and serve later in the day, giving it a few hours to cool on the kitchen counter (minimum 1 hour).
More Sourdough Discard Recipes To Try!
If you like this sourdough apple cake, I imagine you’d love the following discard recipes as well. A few ideas to consider: Best Sourdough Pancakes, Ultimate Sourdough Banana Bread & Homemade Sourdough Blueberry Muffins. Let me know your favorite!
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Overnight Sourdough Apple Cake
- Prep Time: 20 minutes
- Cook Time: 55 minutes
- Total Time: 1 hour 15 minutes
- Yield: Serves 8
- Category: Sourdough Discard Recipes
- Method: Oven-Baked
- Cuisine: American
- Diet: Vegetarian
Description
A moist and fluffy apple cake recipe made with butter, light brown sugar, sourdough starter (active or sourdough discard!) and a buttery, crumble topping. Make it now, or ferment overnight in the fridge to maximize flavor and digestibility. For best results, use an 8-inch springform pan for height and volume.
Ingredients
For The Cake
- 115 g (8 tbsp) unsalted butter, softened
- 150 g (3/4 cup) light brown sugar
- 2 large eggs
- 100 g sourdough starter (appx. 1/2 cup) active or fresh sourdough starter discard
- 190 g (1 1/2 cups) all purpose flour
- 1 tsp baking powder
- 1/2 tsp baking soda
- 1 tsp ground cinnamon
- 1/4 tsp fine sea salt
- 1/4 cup milk
- 300 g peeled and chopped apples, cut into 1/2-inch dice (about 2–3 apples)
For The Crumble Topping
- 75 g all purpose flour
- 1/4 tsp fine sea salt
- 50 g granulated sugar
- 50 g unsalted butter, softened
Instructions
- Preheat your oven to 350 F. Grease an 8-inch springform pan with butter; set aside.
- Make the crumble topping: add the flour, salt and sugar to a small bowl. Toss well to evenly distribute the salt. Add the butter and mix with your fingertips until small crumbles form; set aside.
- Peel and chop the apples into 1/2-inch dice; set aside.
- In a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment: cream the butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Add the eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition. Mix in the sourdough starter.
- Add the flour, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon and salt. Mix well. Pour in the milk (the batter will be thick).
- Fold in the apples by hand using a rubber spatula.
- Scrape the batter into the prepared pan and smooth it out. Scatter the crumbles over the top.
- At this point, you can bake the cake right away (see next step) or ferment overnight. To ferment overnight, see the notes section below.
- Bake the cake on the center rack for 55- 60 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean.
- Cool for at least 1 hour before serving.
- Cut into slices and enjoy!
Notes
For Overnight Fermentation: Cover the cake pan with plastic wrap. Chill overnight in the refrigerator, up to 12 hours. In the morning, preheat the oven to 350 F. Bake the cake (cold) for approximately 55-60 minutes on the center rack. Test with a toothpick for doneness. If the cake starts to brown too quickly, cover with foil.
Comments
Amanda says
This was my first discard recipe and it turned out soooooo good!!!! Everyone enjoyed it, the crumb topping is amazing! The cake is perfectly moist and so good with the apples in it. I’m so glad I tried this recipe!
Emilie Raffa says
Yay! Thanks for your feedback Amanda. So glad you liked it!
Mary Huey says
Have made this several times and like how light it is. Last time, I subbed cardamom for the cinnamon, replace half the apples with chopped cranberries, and added orange zest to the crumb topping. YUM!!
Deborah says
Hi Emilie,
Thanks for this deelish recipe! Would it work to freeze instead of refrigerating overnight, then thaw overnight prior to baking?
Paul says
Me and my 11 year old daughter baked this and its so good. We didn’t leave it overnight and we lined the tin. Best apple cake ever, we ate half immediately. The crunch from the topping plus the apple pieces then covered in double cream, unreal.
Thanks
Laura says
I am so excited to try this recipe. I am going to put it together tonight and bake it mid-morning tomorrow. I have to make a dessert for 20 people so I am hoping to double the recipe and put it in my spring form or Bundt pan. Could you please let me know if you think that will work? Thanks in advance! :)
Laura says
Just replying to my own comment. I said a spring form or Bundt pan but I meant TUBE pan or Bundt pan. I ended up using a tube pan and I did not let it ferment overnight because I was concerned about putting it in the tube pan and having it possibly leak out the bottom overnight. I baked it last night and it baked well in the tube pan but it did leak out of the bottom. It also released very well from the tube pan with just butter. We will see how it turned out tonight!
Deborah says
This is SO good! Used half AP and half spelt flour—worked great. Slivered almonds yummy in topping. Thanks for another winner!
Emilie Raffa says
Sounds delicious! I love spelt flour. And yes to slivered almonds! Thanks for the suggestions :)
Debbie says
Does overnight fermentation effect the baking powder and soda?
André says
Yes it will. Both will start reacting when wet. I did the recipe, without the milk, the apples and the b.s. & b.p.
Let the dough ferment 2hrs countertop and 20hrs in the fridge. The next day I added the missing ingredients, added the crumble and baked. Got excellent results.
Ramon says
Truly OUTSTANDING! love the texture, love the flavors, love the streusel topping … I added some vanilla extract because I usually add vanilla to my cakes – everything about this recipe is great! I followed the recipe and I let it sit overnight in the fridge.
BUT wait, it tastes so amazing SEVERAL HOURS LATER once all the textures and flavors settled.
I am doing one more now (2X) time and I will bake it tonight and enjoy it tomorrow morning with my family first and then my co-workers.
Crystal says
Thank you so much for this recipe! We went apple picking this weekend and I am excited to use them in this cake 😃 My question is… Am I able to do a bulk ferment with this recipe ( at room temperature ) and, if so, what ingredients what I need to leave out for the counter-top ferment?
kristina kellenbarger says
Fermented this cake last night and baked this morning and when I tell you I most def will make this again, I mean it! I baked in a round cake pan, my springform pan was way too big. Taste was great, perfect texture and not super sweet, would be great with a cup of coffee in morning
Matthew carpenter says
Baked it for the first time and taken it into work for my birthday. One lady bowed down to me calling me a legend. Thank you for a great recipe
Hal says
My wife and I grow southern apples in the East Texas Piney Woods. Last year we had a bumper crop (this year, with the scorching heat, not so much!). We core, peel and slice the apples and freeze them for what ever. So… estimating how many apples was in a gallon bag can be challenging. We made this recipe, and it’s awesome. I think maybe we used too many apples, it was very moist in the center, but delicious. We’ve still got plenty of apples to experiment with, so we’ll be making it again. We grow pears as well; I’ll bet this would work with pears just fine, because I’d cross busy traffic for a pear pie!
Melanie Thompson says
Just thought I would mention, I freeze apples too. I find that when I peel and core them, prior to freezing, I cut them in quarters, it’s easier to calculate how many apples to pull for a recipe.
Rachel says
This was quite tasty! Super moist, too. I used a cake pan conversion cheat sheet to bake mine in an 8″ x 8″ square pan, which required me to scale up the recipe by 1.25x. Because of this, I had to bake it for an additional 35 minutes (I was looking for the temperature to reach 200 – 205 degrees), but that didn’t have any adverse effect on the final cake (though I did cover the top with foil at a certain point when the edges were about to brown too much). I went with the overnight fermentation option, and I also added a maple glaze and served the cake with whipped cream. Yum!
Syl says
Also! I think next time, I may add some slivered almonds to the crumble on top.
Syl
Syl says
Every one of your recipes has been excellent. This one is absolutely delicious!! I made it last night and baked this morning. Perfect texture.
Used honey crisp and Lobo. Keep the motivation going… keep being ‘unstuck’ 💙
Sydney says
Truly divine! Fluffy, not overly sweet. Warm and cinnamony. The crumble was a beautiful touch, as I’m not huge on glazes! My first bite felt like a big hug. This recipe will get written down and baked every year during autumn. Thank you!
Emilie Raffa says
A big hug. I like that! Thank you Sydney!
Chandni Jhaveri says
Hi! I love your recipes! I bought your book Artisan Sourdough Made Simple a while ago and I’ve tried almost every vegan recipe in there! My question to you is, can this recipe be made vegan-friendly?
Emilie Raffa says
Yay! Thank you so much! I haven’t tested a vegan version of this. Off the top of my head: vegan butter and plant milk should be fine. Just two things: if your vegan butter is salted, omit the salt in the cake batter and crumbles, respectively. Also: you’ll need a reliable egg substitute.
Amanda says
I can’t wait to try this recipe! Can I use shredded apples instead of chopped? I have a family member with texture issues.
Emilie Raffa says
Ooo, I like this question. I haven’t tried it, but I don’t see why not? Let me know how it goes!
Esra says
I made the cake yesterday/today with apples from our garden and it’s a great recipe, thank you so much! The overnight fermentation gives it a wonderful flavour.
I wonder if it would work to freeze some pieces of it?
Emilie Raffa says
Yes, definitely. Wrap tightly in plastic wrap, then foil and freeze. Defrost at room temperature.
Nic says
Very keen to try this one! Could this work as muffins too?
Emilie Raffa says
Great question. The answer is yes, but I haven’t tried it yet! Off the top of my head, I would fill the muffin cups 2/3- 3/4 full and bake for 18+ minutes on the center rack. If you experiment, let me know how it goes.
Justine says
I made them into muffins today and they were great!! I let the batter set overnight and then baked them for about 18 mins and they came out so lovely!
Christine says
How many muffins did you end up with?
S E Stevens says
I got 18. As I used (2) 6-muffin pans, I added a/3 more of baking powder & baking soda to the last batch of 6 to get them to rise & that worked great!. Next time I’ll use my 12-muffin tray + (1) 6-muffin tray & bake all at once.
sigrid says
What an excellent apple cake recipe and the addition of sourdough makes it perfect. Thank you so much. My family loved it.
Emilie Raffa says
I’m thrilled to hear this. Thanks Sigrid!
Elisa says
Looks terrific! Could this work using vegan butter and oat milk please?
Emilie Raffa says
Yes! A few things: ff your vegan butter contains salt, omit the salt in the cake batter and the crumbles (on that note, I’ve never made crumbles with vegan butter before, but I can’t see a problem using it). Oat milk is fine. As always, when using substitutions, the final texture will be slightly different compared to the original but still good!
Carol says
Can’t wait to try this. I have my friend who also uses your book as her sour dough Bible coming to visit in a couple of weeks and have fresh Gravenstein apples that need to be used soon. Do you think it can be made ahead and frozen?
Your chili cheese, cinnamon raisin, everyday sourdough, mighty multigrain and multigrain are on regular rotation along with your focaccia for pizza
Emilie Raffa says
Ooo… I love that. Sourdough bible ;) About freezing the (unbaked) cake, I’ve never tried it so I’m unable to advise on specifics. If you experiment let me know! As an alternative, you can always bake the cake, let it cool, wrap it tightly and then freeze.
Carol says
I meant to say baked cake! I’ll do that and look forward to enjoying next moth! Thank you.
Sabrina says
I love this recipe. I did the overnight bake and it gives it almost more of a coffee cake like flavor and texture. It was light and not overly sweet. I might experiment with the crumble. I’m thinking an almond flour crumble or oats might be really nice too. I like this recipe because I can make it the night before and bake it off right before I need it.
Emilie Raffa says
Thank you Sabrina! Yes, it definitely has coffee cake vibes. I like your suggestions about using oats and/or almond flour. Play around!
Lisa says
My apple trees have given me a bountiful harvest this year so I used a combination of varieties in this cake. Lovely balance of tart and sweet. Great crumb. The hardest thing is waiting to cut into the cake! I’m going to try it again with ginger instead of cinnamon and sliced almonds in the crumble!
Your recipes never fail!
Stacey says
Do you think a bundt pan would work for this recipe? I don’t have a spring form. Thanks!
Emilie Raffa says
Ooo… great question. A bundt pan should work (haven’t tried it though). Just two things: make sure it’s well buttered so the cake doesn’t stick. And reduce the bake time if necessary to compensate for the larger pan. Just keep an eye on it. Please let me know if you experiment with this- I’ll update the recipe for those who’d like to use a bundt pan too. Thanks!
Stacey says
Thanks for your help, I will be sure to let you know.
Emilie Raffa says
Lisa, you are SO lucky to have apple trees growing in your yard. What varieties? I’m curious! Sliced almonds sound wonderful.
Susan C Hammond says
What other pans can be used in addition to springform?
Emilie Raffa says
Susan, a regular 9-inch cake pan will work. The final cake just won’t be as tall. Just reduce the bake time as needed time to compensate for the larger pan size.
Merrill Hill says
Must the sourdough discard already be very active for it to work okay in this recipe?
Emilie Raffa says
If using sourdough discard, it doesn’t have to be active. Typically, discard isn’t very active to begin with (but it all depends…). The only thing though, is make sure your discard is fresh. Meaning, you’re not using discard that’s been sitting in the fridge for months. It will taste too sour. Feed your starter a few times and use the discard from your freshly fed starter for this cake.
Angela W says
Looking forward to trying this. I made your overnight blueberry muffins so I’m sure this will be delicious. What do you think if I make them in my muffin tin?
Emilie Raffa says
Hi Angela! Another reader asked this same question ;) I haven’t tried the muffin version yet. However, off the top of my head: fill the muffin cups 2/3- 3/4 full and bake for 18+ minutes on the center rack. If you experiment, let me know and I’ll update the recipe.