Cheat’s Danish Apple Cake (Gammeldags Æblekage)

Today I’m sharing my Cheat’s Danish Apple Cake (Gammeldags Æblekage) and step-by-step video tutorial with you. As autumn is just around the corner my mind wonders to apples and one of my favourite traditional apple desserts, Danish Apple Cake which I posted a few years ago. This is usually layers of sweetened stewed apple with vanilla, sweetened toasted oats (or breadcrumbs) topped with whipped cream and I like to finish with a grating of dark chocolate.

However, I have to admit that as much as I enjoy eating Danish Apple Cake, (usually courtesy of my mum at Christmas and other special occasions), I rarely make it myself. It’s the making of the toasted oats with sugar and butter that can sometimes be a bit tricky as they can catch and burn, plus it’s just another bit of fiddle and an extra pan to wash up. So it was time to give this traditional recipe a modern time-saving twist I felt!

For some time I’ve thought I should cheat and substitute the toasted oats for something else. So I decided to use crushed oaty biscuits (aka Hobnobs but I used a supermarket own brand) or you could also use granola, Amarettini biscuits or any other crunchy biscuit eg Gingernuts would be great to ring the changes!

So how do you serve Cheat’s Danish Apple Cake?

I’ve usually served it in one large serving bowl but this time opted for individual glasses/goblets. You could even make miniature dessert shots in tiny glasses which would be great if you’re having a buffet and want to serve various desserts! Mum actually said she used crushed Digestive biscuits the other day and served a deconstructed version whereby everyone just assembled the dessert in their own glass at the table! This a great idea if you have people of different ages or dietary needs, they can just take as much or little as they want!

I do hope your try my Cheat’s Danish Apple Cake and if I’ve put you in the mood for apple desserts you might like to check out the following:

Eve’s Pudding
Quick Apple Puddings
Rustic Apple Galettes with Honey & Thyme
Homemade Caramel Apple Ice Cream
Plum Apple & Almond Tarte Tatin
Open Face Apple Pie
Apple Rose Puffed Pastries
Apple Rhubarb Crisp
Peanut Butter Apple Cheesecake
Blackcurrant and Apple Steamed Pudding
4 Ingredient Cream Cheese Apple Dip

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Cheat’s Danish Apple Cake (Gammeldags Æblekage)

Cheat’s Danish Apple Cake (Gammeldags Æblekage) – this traditional Danish dessert consists of layers of sweetened stewed apple with vanilla and oaty biscuit crumbs which are topped with a layer of whipped cream and a grating of dark chocolate. If you can't get hold of Bramley apples (cooking apples) then just use all dessert apples.

Course Dessert, Pudding

Cuisine Danish

Keyword Apple, chilled, danish, traditional, æblekage

Prep Time 23 minutes

Cook Time 15 minutes

Cooling time 1 hour

Total Time 38 minutes

Servings 6

Author Camilla Hawkins

Ingredients

• 500 g Bramley apples
• 500 g dessert apples
• 3 tbsp granulated sugar
• 2 tsp vanilla sugar
• 50 g unsalted butter
• 200 g oaty biscuits eg Hobnobs
• 300 ml whipping cream
• 15 g grated dark chocolate

Instructions

1. Fill a pan with water.
2. Peel, core and finely slice apples and drop into water.
3. Drain, add 1 tbsp water and stew apples with 3 tbsp sugar and vanilla sugar under a lid until tender (about 10 - 15 minutes).
4. Transfer cooked apple to a bowl and allow to cool.
5. Whip the cream until softly stiff, then pop in fridge.
6. Put the oaty biscuits in a bowl and crush with the back of a rolling pin until you have irregular crumbs. Using a food processor just turns the biscuits into too fine a crumb I find.
7. Once the apple has cooled put a layer of apple and biscuit crumbs into 6 serving glasses/goblets or one large bowl and repeat layers.
8. Top with a layer of cream and decorate with grated chocolate.
9. Serve straight away or chill until for up to a couple of hours until needed. You want the biscuit to remain as crisp as possible.

Recipe Video

Recipe Notes

Instead of oaty biscuits you can also use Amarettini biscuits, granola or another biscuit of your choice! Ginger biscuits would be fab to ring the changes. For ease you can prepare all the elements of this dessert the day before you need it and just put together at the last minute before serving! To grate the chocolate I find a potato peeler does the best job!