From grandma, the apple cake with air fryer is enjoyed like this, in a modern and quick version. In fact, it is prepared in a few minutes and baked in a round pan with a diameter of 7-8 inches, even a pizza one is fine, or with one of the air fryer round or square accessories. Don’t think that the ingredients are few and that the pan is small, because you will get 4-6 servings. By the way, in all my air fryer recipes, I use a COSORI 5.5 lt 1700 watt single resistance, wonderful, and non-stick pans in carbon steel or aluminum which are excellent heat conductors.
With a few ingredients and 1 apple, your cake will be ready. Serve it with powdered sugar or a vanilla cream. Enjoy it at breakfast, snack, or after dinner, grandma’s apple cake is always a treat at any time of the day.
- Difficulty: Very Easy
- Cost: Very Low
- Preparation time: 10 Minutes
- Portions: 6 Pieces
- Cooking methods: Air Frying
- Cuisine: Italian
Ingredients
- 3/4 cup all-purpose flour
- 1/4 cup potato starch (or corn starch)
- 1/4 cup sugar
- 3 1/2 tbsp milk (can be plant-based)
- 3 1/2 tbsp sunflower oil (or corn oil)
- 1 egg (large)
- 1 apple (large)
- 1 tsp baking powder
- 1 packet vanillin (powdered)
- 1 pinch salt
- 1 tsp lemon juice (with zest)
- to taste powdered sugar
Steps
To make things easier and quicker, try this method:
Put milk, oil, egg, lemon juice with a bit of zest in a small bowl and mix everything with a fork.
Add sifted flour, potato starch, sugar, pinch of salt, vanillin, baking powder, and mix well with the fork until smooth and homogeneous.
Butter and flour a round pan of 7-8 inches in diameter, even a pizza one
is fine, as long as it has at least a 1-inch rim. If you have a releasing spray, spray it all over the pan surface.
Pour the cake mixture into the center of the pan and let it expand to the edge. Tap the pan gently on the work surface to release any bubbles from the batter.
Peel the apple, cut it into four wedges, and then cut each wedge
into another 4 wedges and arrange them on the batter in a star shape, filling also the central part.
Preheat the air fryer to 320°F for 3 minutes.
Place the pan inside the fryer basket.
Start baking the cake at 320°F for 30 minutes, until golden. Depending on the different models and power of air fryers, you might need an additional 5 minutes of cooking.
Do not open the air fryer before time. Do the toothpick test at the end of cooking, without confusing it with the apple’s moisture, and as I’ve already recommended, if necessary, continue cooking for another 5 minutes.
Let the cake cool before removing it from the mold. Separate the edge with a silicone spatula, to avoid scratching the pan, then turn it over and place it on a tray. Sprinkle the apple cake with powdered sugar and serve it.
FAQ (Questions and Answers)
Why are the ingredient quantities reduced compared to a cake baked in a traditional oven?
In the air fryer, ingredient quantities are always reduced to less than half due to the size of the pans and to facilitate the lower baking of the cake. On average, air fryer baskets are 8 inches x 8 inches and have a resistance placed at the top, so one must adapt to these measures and know that the heat coming from above will be circulated in a circular manner throughout the basket chamber with the power of the air fryer’s watts.
What kind of pan can I use to bake a cake?
First of all, I do NOT recommend using silicone or glass pans because they are materials that do not transmit heat evenly, they are fine for a traditional oven but not for air fryers when cooking a dish that cannot be turned. To bake a cake, I recommend a non-stick aluminum pan which is an excellent heat conductor and allows for uniform and homogeneous baking of the cake.
Can I replace apples with other fruits?
Of course, you can, for example, pear cake, also with the addition of chocolate chips. Instead of the apple, take 1 large pear, cut it into slices, and place it on top of the batter.
In the photo below, you see the version of the cake with pears, simple, without chocolate chips.
Why didn’t the cake cook perfectly, it’s raw at the bottom?
As I’ve already explained, many factors must positively intersect for a cake to succeed in the air fryer. They are: Ingredient quantity, suitable pan, right temperature, adequate time, and last but not the least, air fryer that has the minimum characteristics to achieve it, I mean power in watts.
Regardless, whether it has one or two resistances, the cake bakes perfectly in an air fryer.
The most common mistakes are: Doubling the quantities, putting too much fruit or too watery fruit, not preheating the air fryer, using preset programs, increasing the temperature, not personalizing the baking according to the fryer characteristics which sometimes requires 5-10 more minutes. not letting the cake cool completely before removing it from the pan.
The toothpick test is a thermometer to verify if everything went well, but if you add fruit, do not confuse the cake’s rawness with the inserted fruit’s moisture.
Increasing the temperature to 356°F or more will burn the cake’s surface and won’t give it time to bake all the way.
In the photo below, you see the bottom of the well-baked apple cake.
