I originally shared with you my “Invisible Apple Cake (Gateau Invisible)” last February when this style of cake was taking Japan by storm. The rainy days we are having at the moment reminded me of this invisible apple cake, because I love baking in this sort of weather.
Even though it is nearly December and nearly summer here in Brisbane, I am still wearing long sleeves and wrapping myself in a fleece blanket! It is unseasonably cold for this time of year, so I have decided to fire up the oven to make myself warm. The original Invisible Apple Cake has been one of the most popular recipes on my blog, so I have decided to make this again update the recipe for you. This time I wanted to give the cake a little bit of a twist to this cake and try something a little different rather than the sliced almonds on top…
This time I have baked a Gateau Invisible Apple Crumble Cake, and instead of topping the cake with sliced almonds, I sprinkled it with a delicate and delicious crumble. It turned out just as delicious as it looked! I often browse online to see what types of food are trending in Japan, and this beautiful and cleverly named French cake caught my eye. Although, I did not see anything like this when I visited Paris this time last year — and I would have bought a recipe book if I had seen any!
This cake is referred to as an “invisible cake” because of the thinly sliced apples that are baked into the cake batter. The layers of apple become somewhat invisible (unless you are looking hard to spot them!) I sliced my apples about 2 mm thick last time, but I thought it might be better if the apples were a tad thicker this time. I thought this because that way the apple slices won’t break easily when combined with the batter mixture.
Any apples are suitable for this cake, but I think varieties like Pink Lady and Fuji apples would be better because of their firm and crunchy texture. Because I increased the thickness of the apple slices in this recipe, they are a little more visible than last time. In my original post I used a slicer to create those paper thin 2 mm slices, but this time because I was using slices that were approximately 3-4 mm thick, I decided to cut them by hand. If you decide to slice your apples super-thin (like in my original post) you will need to be very careful when coating your apples with the batter, try not to break the apple slices into pieces.
I also decided to use a narrower pound cake pan this time so that the cake will be look taller and more impressive! My pound cake tin was 8 cm wide x 20 cm long x 6 cm in height.
A strip of baking paper should line the bottom of the tin so that the cake can be removed from the tin easily.
When you pour your apple cake batter mixture into the tin, make sure you line up the sliced apples in the same direction so that when the baked cake is sliced, the apple layers look beautiful. While the invisible apple cake is delicious warm and fresh out of the oven, it slices much better after it has cooled down and been refrigerated for at least two hours.
The texture of this cake is very moist, and because there are a lot of sliced apples mixed in, it lowers the amount of calories in the cake! We enjoyed this Gateau Invisible Apple Crumble Cake on a rainy Sunday afternoon. This recipe is very easy to make, looks fantastic, and is super delicious.
If you liked my recipe for Gateau invisible apple crumble cake, please rate it and leave a comment below. Also, don’t forget to follow me on Youtube, Pinterest, Facebook and Instagram to keep up to date with all the latest happenings on Chopstick Chronicles. Don’t forget to use the hashtag #ChopstickChronicles so I see your wonderful creations!
Gateau Invisible Apple Cake
Ingredients
- 3 Apples each weighing around 150 g each, I used the Lady Pink variety
- 3 Large eggs each weighing around 50 g each
- 80 g Plain flour
- 50 g Caster sugar
- 1/4 tsp Ground cinnamon / Cinnamon Powder
- 60 ml Milk
- 50 g Unsalted butter
Crumble
- 30 g plain flour
- 30 g almond meal
- 20 g caster sugar
- 25 g unsalted butter
Instructions
- To make the crumble: Place the flour and almond meal in a mixing bowl. Add cold diced butter into the bowl. Combine the butter with the flour and almond meal by squish and rubbing together with your fingertips to create a crumble or breadcrumb like texture.
- Wrap the crumble mix with cling film and keep refrigerated until needed.
- Prepare the baking tin by spreading a little unsalted butter thinly around the pan, then dust with about ½ tbsp. of caster sugar. Line with 8 x 36 cm baking paper strip along the edges of the pan.
- Preheat the oven to 180 Celsius degrees (350 Fahrenheit).
- Melt the butter and set aside.
- Place the egg and sugar in a large mixing bowl and combine.
- Add the cinnamon and flour into the mixing bowl and mix together.
- Add the milk a small amount at a time, ensuring to stir well after each addition.
- Add the melted butter to the mixture and mix well.
- Slice the apples thinly (3 – 4 mm) and add them carefully into the mixture.
- Coat the apple slices with the cake batter using a spatula in a gentle folding motion. Make sure not to break the apple slices into smaller pieces.
- Pour the mixture into the prepared tin, lining up the apple slices in the same direction (this will make the cut surface look pretty for presentation).
- Sprinkle the crumble over the cake and bake it for about 40 minutes.
- One cooked, take the cake out of the tin and let it cool down for a few minutes.
- Refrigerate for at least 2 hours before slicing the cake to allow the cake to cool completely.
- Sift the icing sugar over and slice to serve.
This looks delicious! Can you please tell me what size tin you use. Thank you so much!