You can pull together this Traeger baked apple cake in no time, and it needs less than an hour of baking time! Laden with the flavors of apple pie and surprising bits of toffee, this cake is perfect for an easy dessert AND for a yummy breakfast on-the-go the next morning.
Traeger Baked Apple Goodness
Built with layers of sweet seasoned apples and spongy cake, a Jewish apple cake is the perfect addition to a weeknight meal. At our house, we can pull the ingredients together and assemble the cake while the main dish is cooking in the Traeger, and then throw the cake in the preheated grill as soon as we pull the main course. No need to turn on the oven at our house– we just bake everything in the Traeger and benefit from the consistent convection-style cooking that is a signature of the grill.
We’ve made several variations of this cake over the years– and have seen them labeled as Dutch Apple Cake, French Apple Cake and Jewish Apple Cake. The main difference is the use of oil in the cake rather than butter, which allows those who keep Kosher to enjoy this yummy dessert after a meal with beef. Obviously, you’d need to omit the butter in the crumb topping to keep it Kosher.
But as you know, we don’t keep Kosher– or anything close to that– at our house. I do believe that bacon makes everything better! That being said, this Jewish Apple Cake recipe does hit the spot and is super easy, and I wanted to share it with you!
Primary Ingredients
- Large crisp apples, peeled and sliced thinly (we used honeycrisp)
- White sugar
- Spiceology Apple Pie spice
- Lemon
- Flour
- Baking powder
- Salt
- Eggs
- Vegetable oil
- Orange or apple juice
- Vanilla
- Brown sugar
- Flour
- Butter
- Toffee bits
Why Baking This on the Traeger Works
We use our Traeger grill for cooking nearly everything we eat. From baking lasagna to grilling hamburgers to slow cooking pork shoulders, the Traeger is a versatile workhorse. What we love about baking in the Traeger is that it is like a perfectly-engineered convection oven. The shape and design of the grill affords very even and consistent heat, which circulates throughout the cooking space and makes for very limited hot-spots.
Additionally, cooking it on the Traeger reduces the use of the oven in our house (we never use it, really), makes cooking super simple because we put the cake in the grill right as we pull the main dish from the grill for dinner, and cleanup of drips is as easy as changing the grill liner.
Step By Step for Baked Apple Cake
- Preheat your Traeger grill to 375*.
- Grease and flour a bundt cake pan.
- Wash, peel and thinly slice your apples.
- Toss them in a large bowl with the juice of ½ a lemon, two tablespoons white sugar and the apple pie spice.
- Set the fruit aside and make the batter by combining the remaining white sugar, flour, baking powder, and salt. Stir to mix well.
- In a separate bowl, combine the eggs, oil, fruit juice, and vanilla and whisk until fully mixed.
- Into the larger bowl, carefully combine the wet ingredients with the dry ingredients and stir until just combined. Do not over mix.
- Layer the batter and apples in alternating layers in the prepared pan, beginning with batter.
- In a small bowl, mix the brown sugar, additional flour, butter, apple pie spice and toffee bits. Mix with your hands until combined and crumbly.
- Top the cake with the brown sugar mixture.
- Place in the preheated Traeger above a cookie sheet and bake for 50-60 minutes until a toothpick comes out clean.
- Allow to cool briefly and then unmold from the pan.
- Slice and serve while still warm.
More About Baking in the Traeger
While our Traeger grills are workhorses at our house for cooking all sorts of proteins and main dishes, the reality is that we use it nearly as often for sweets, desserts and baked goods. I did a blog post last year about baking in the Traeger– check it out here. If we aren’t making something homemade for dessert, it’s just as easy to throw some brownie batter (from a box) in the grill and still serve up something delicious.
If you want more baking inspiration, check out my cookbook where there are a variety of great desserts featured, including an apple gallette! It has similar flavors and ingredients to our Traeger baked apple cake. In the meantime, I have a recipe for pumpkin cheesecake baked on the Traeger here on my website!
Products used in this cook:
Did you make this recipe?
I’d love to know how it turned out!
Leave a review below or snap a photo,
share it on Instagram and tag me at @ThisJewCanQue
Traeger Baked Jewish Apple Cake
Equipment
- Traeger grill
- Springform/ Bundt pan
- Cookie sheet
- Several bowls
- Apple peeler
- Whisk
Ingredients
- 4 large crisp apples peeled and sliced thinly (we used honeycrisp)
- 2.5 cups white sugar
- 4 tablespoons Spiceology Apple Pie Spice
- 1 lemon
- 3.5 cups all-purpose flour
- 1 tablespoon baking powder
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 4 large eggs
- 1 cup vegetable oil
- ½ cup orange juice
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- ½ cup brown sugar
- ¼ cup flour
- 3 tablespoons Spiceology Apple Pie Spice
- 4 tablespoons butter
- ¼ cup toffee bits
Instructions
- Preheat the Traeger grill to 375* and use a pellet like apple, signature or pecan
- Prep a bundt or springform by first greasing the sides and bottom. Then coat it lightly with flour and tap out the extra. Set the pan aside.
- Wash, peel and slice the apples thinly. They should be almost paper-thin.
- In a large bowl, combine the apples with ¼ cup white flour, the juice of ½ a lemon, and 4 tbsp of the apple pie spice.
- Toss well to coat and set aside.
- Make the batter by combining the remaining white sugar, the flour, baking powder and salt in a medium bowl. Using the whisk, mix the flour well.
- In another bowl, combine the oil, eggs, fruit juice, and vanilla.
- Gently combine the wet ingredients with the dry ingredients, stirring until only combined. Do not over mix.
- In the prepared pan, layer the batter and the seasoned apples. It should make 2-3 layers total.
- In a small bowl, combine the brown sugar, additional flour, butter, apple pie spice and toffee bits. Mix until the texture resembles sand.
- Top the final layer of the cake with the brown sugar mixture.
- Cook in the preheated grill, set above a cookie sheet
- Bake for 50-60 minutes until no dough sticks on the toothpick.
- Remove from the grill and allow to cool for 10-15 minutes.
- Unmold the cake from the pan and cut with a serrated knife into slices.
- Serve and enjoy!
