Kuglof – Croatian Apple Bundt Cake
An easy cake that is moist and light, and it comes out of the tin in a really pretty shape!
Bundt, it’s the name of the shape of the tin rather than the recipe of the cake, so I guess it’s possible to use any recipe, but if I’m in doubt, this is the recipe I use.
Adding citrus to this cake gives it a fresh flavour and as for the apples, I used one of my favourites, pink ladies, and I deliberately recommend, if you make this Kuglof, that you pick your favourite apples to use.
I figure if they are good to eat, they are good to cook with!
And then it’s the citrus, orange is my go-to in most baking that I do, , but traditionally, lemon is used in a Kuglof, so you choose!
The batter isn’t a thick one, so don’t panic if it’s not dense when poured into the tin, as long as its smooth, it’s good to go!
I was trying to think where I found this Bundt tin, and of course, as with most of my kitchenalia, it was in a thrift shop (charity shop).
God, I do love a good charity shop, and need to make room in my kitchen cupboards to be able to re-fill with more cute kitchen stuff.
Out with the old and in with the new!
Go on, give it a go and enjoy your sweet life!
Love the shape of a Bundt cake
What You Need
4 Large Eggs
340g Caster Sugar
180ml Water – Room Temperature
250g Plain Flour Plus extra for dusting & & 2 Tbsp for the apples
3 Tbsp Greek Yogurt
1 Tsp Baking Powder
1 Tsp Vanilla Extract
1 Large Orange – All the zest and juice of half
1 Tbsp Dark Rum
2-3 Medium Apples – Peeled, Cored, Grated
Pinch of Salt
Margarine to grease the tin
Flour to dust the tin
Icing Sugar to serve
Pink Lady apples are one of my favourite
How It’s Done
Heat the Oven to 180c
Prepare the tin - Put some margarine onto a sheet of kitchen roll and wipe it around the inside of the Bundt tin. Making sure every crease and crevice has a good coating
Add a couple of tbsp of plain flour to the inside of the Bundt tin and shake it around until the entire inside of the tin is dusted with the flour. – See Tip Box
My Bundt tin - love it - a real find in a thrift shop
Place the grated apples into a clean t-towel and squeeze as much of the juice out of them as possible and place them into a bowl
Add 2 Tbsp of flour in with the grated apples and give it a good mix up so the flour is coating the apples - See Tip Box
Into a large bowl of an electric mixer, add the sugar, vanilla, rum, eggs until pale and fluffy.
Add the room temperature water, the oil, orange zest and orange juice.
Beat it again until the mixture is smooth.
Add 1/3 of the flour and the pinch of salt, and gently fold it in to the cake batter.
Add the second 1/3 and gently fold it into the batter
Add the last 1/3 of the flour and fold it into the batter – Don’t over mix the batter – See Tip Box
Lastly, add the squeezed apples and once again, fold them very gently into the batter – See Tip Box
Pour the batter into the prepared tin, into the hot oven and bake for around 30-45 mins, until baked all the way through and a toothpick comes out clean when inserted into the middle.
Mix in the 2 Tbsp of flour with the grated and squeezed apples
When baked, remove the tin from the oven, and allow to cool for 10 minutes
Place a cooling rack over the top of the tin, and turning it right side up, let the cake slide out and sit on the rack to cool completely.
Once cooled, place onto a serving plate, dust the top with lots of icing sugar and serve.
The batter is not a thick one
Tip Box
Prepare the tin – Preparing the tin is really important and using the method I’ve described above, is a certain way of making sure that the cake doesn’t stick to the Bundt tin. Its never let me down yet.
Perfect out of the tin
Fold – To fold, in the baking world, is a technique which incorporates something into another something, usually flour into a wet batter.
How it’s done – using a large metal spoon, cut the wet batter in half and fold it over itself. Turn the bowl ¼ and then repeat the spoon motion. Keep doing this, cutting in, folding over and turning the bowl ¼ until the flour has gone into the batter.
Mixing the grated and squeezed apples with a little flour helps to keep too much moisture out the cake and will, hopefully, stop the apple from sinking to the bottom of the cake.
