Oma's Apple Kuchen

Whenever we visited my Oma, my sisters and I would race up the stairs to her apartment. First to get a hug and kiss, then to explore the kitchen to check what's for dinner. The favored combination was Spaetzle and Sauerkraut with either Apple Kuchen or Cheesecake for dessert. My Oma always had everything ready when we arrived because she wanted to enjoy our company. Unfortunately, this also left gaps in our culinary knowledge, like how to make it, when she died unexpectedly. The only recipe I had from her of the big three favored foods was her cheesecake. Everything else I had to research and experiment.

Last night was a great moment in our family's history, I taught my niece how to make my Oma's Kuchen. Until last night, there hasn't been an Apple Kuchen made in 30 years where I wasn't making it. I have very generously shared this recipe with my friends, relatives and each of my cousins's when they married. Nobody has yet to advise making it. However, when the phone rings and someone died unexpectedly, I am already checking what fruits are in the refrigerator suitable for this cake, while offering advice on cheap coffins. I bring this cake to holiday parties, funeral lounges, wherever my family gathers it is the first dessert to disappear. Last year, I made an American flag Kuchen with star fruit, blueberries, plums and apples. The only disappointment was the Star Fruit.

Just last week, I made this cake for a birthday party. The celebrant does not like chocolate, not too cakey a cake, not too sweet, fruit is acceptable and he tends to favor sour. I knew instantly what to make: Plum Kuchen.

My recipe is heavily adapted from Joy of Cooking's Apple Cake Cockaigne. Cockaigne in the Joy of Cooking designated recipes, which were personal family favorites of the authors.

Apple Kuchen

A buttered 13.5 x 9. 5 pan

Preheat oven to 425 degrees F.

In the bowl of a food processor:
1 cup flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
3 tablespoons sugar

Pulse the food processor to mix the dry ingredients together. Then add:
4 tablespoons butter (1/2 stick) which has been cut into small cubes

Pulse the food processor to cut in the butter into the dry ingredients like you would do for pastry. If you later drag a fork through the mixture and pick no large lumps, then you are ready to add the wet ingredients:

Beat well in a measuring cup:
1 egg
1/2 teaspoon vanilla
Add: enough milk to make 1/2 cup.

Pour wet ingredients into the dry, use the continuous speed to mix everything together which should take 15 seconds or less.

Deposit the dough into the middle of the butter pan. Flour your hands and gently press the dough evenly to the edges.

Fruits I have used for this cake: apple (Jonathon, Gala, Granny Smith - never MacIntosh), plums, peaches, pears, blueberries, mango, this is a versatile platform.

Except for the blueberries, I peel (except plums), slice and arrange the fruits slightly overlapping each other and allowing no gaps from row to row. I also try to match the curve of the fruits. Something I never realized until my student last night turned fruits every which way giving an uneven appearance.

Sprinkle on top of fruits a mixture of:
1 cup sugar
2 teaspoons cinnamon
3 tablespoons melted butter

After I sprinkle the sugar mixture on, I will drag my hand across the rows of fruits to evenly distribute the sugar.

Bake about 25 minutes. For very juicy fruits like plums and peaches, I usually need to cook 5-10 minutes longer.

Plum Kuchen


Although my Oma has been gone nearly 30 years, I still think about her often. When we were breaking up her household, her entire kitchen was going to charity. Well, so they thought, but I packed up most of the pots, pans, bowls and gadgets to take home. There are things I still use daily, which every time I pick them up I have a memory flash of my Oma. My only mistake was not taking her food preservation equipment, but otherwise I did fine.

My niece promised to teach her children and grandchildren this recipe. I asked to please be sure it is Oma who gets all the credit. You are not entirely gone until you are forgotten.

My mom, Oma to my kids has a treasure trove of good German recipes, mostly in her head; made-from-scratch spaetzle, goulash, rouladen, cabbage rollups, and her own variation of Apfel Kuchen.

I do have her recipe for red cabbage made the right way. You need to save your duck fat for this, but turkey fat will do in a pinch.