Chef Juliana
Bolinho de Chuva
You don't need a bakery, a mixer, or courage. You need a bowl, a spoon, hot oil, and the sense to fry small spoonfuls until they're golden.
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Bolo de Maçã com Canela
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Those apples getting soft in the bowl are not trash. They're cake. Cinnamon, a simple batter, and a little patience turn them into coffee-table comida de verdade.
Desserts
Brazilian
Comfort Food
Budget Friendly
Make Ahead
20 min
Active Time
40 min cook•1 hr total
Yield10 slices
You look at the fruit bowl, see two apples going wrinkly, and think: isso não é pra mim. Cake belongs to people with special pans, quiet afternoons, and some secret hand for baking. Wrong. Cozinhar não é dom, é um aprendizado, and cake is no exception. Anota aí: if you can measure, stir, and wait until a toothpick comes out clean, you can make this.
This is the kind of sweet that belongs in a Brazilian house because it doesn't pretend to be a spectacle. A gente eats the everyday plate, rice and beans, an egg or a piece of meat, something green, and later there is coffee. Sometimes there is cake with that coffee. Not a powdered mix, not a plastic package pretending to be a snack, but a real bolo made from fruit that had one good day left in it.
The method is plain on purpose. The chopped apple goes into the batter so it softens and keeps the crumb tender. A little cinnamon warms the flavor without turning the cake into perfume. The oil keeps it moist for tomorrow, which matters because a good home cake should solve more than one coffee break.
Don't overmix it, don't open the oven every five minutes, and don't panic when the batter looks thick around the apples. Thick is right. By the end, you get a soft, honest cake, golden at the edges, smelling like someone learned something useful today.
Apple cake in Brazil sits inside the broad home-baking tradition of bolos simples, the unfrosted cakes served with afternoon coffee rather than saved for parties. Apples are not native tropical fruit, but they became common in everyday Brazilian kitchens through southern production, especially in Santa Catarina and Rio Grande do Sul, where cooler climates made commercial orchards possible in the twentieth century. Cinnamon came through Portuguese colonial trade routes and stayed because it does exactly what home cooks need: it makes simple fruit smell like a full house.
The technique, the tradition, and the story behind every dish.
Discover Culinary ExplorerIngredients
medium apples
Quantity
2
peeled and chopped, peels reserved
lemon juice
Quantity
1 tablespoon
eggs
Quantity
3 large
sugar
Quantity
1 cup
neutral oil
Quantity
1/2 cup
milk
Quantity
1/2 cup
all-purpose flour
Quantity
2 cups
ground cinnamon
Quantity
1 tablespoon
divided
baking powder
Quantity
1 tablespoon
salt
Quantity
1/2 teaspoon
sugar
Quantity
1 tablespoon
for topping
| Ingredient | Quantity |
|---|---|
| medium applespeeled and chopped, peels reserved | 2 |
| lemon juice | 1 tablespoon |
| eggs | 3 large |
| sugar | 1 cup |
| neutral oil | 1/2 cup |
| milk | 1/2 cup |
| all-purpose flour | 2 cups |
| ground cinnamondivided | 1 tablespoon |
| baking powder | 1 tablespoon |
| salt | 1/2 teaspoon |
| sugarfor topping | 1 tablespoon |
Equipment Needed
- •23 cm round cake pan or 22 x 12 cm loaf pan
- •Blender
- •Large mixing bowl
- •Wooden spoon or silicone spatula
- •Measuring cups and spoons
Instructions
- 1
Heat and prepare
Heat the oven to 180°C (350°F). Grease and flour a 23 cm round cake pan, or a 22 x 12 cm loaf pan. Get the pan ready before you mix because baking powder starts working once it gets wet, and cake batter should not sit around waiting for you to find the pan.
- 2
Cut the apples
Peel the apples, save the peels, and chop the fruit into small cubes, about 1 cm. Toss the cubes with the lemon juice and 1 teaspoon of the cinnamon. The lemon keeps the apple from browning too fast, and the cinnamon clings better now than if you throw it in at the end.
Use apples that are softening but not spoiled. Wrinkly is useful. Mushy, sour-smelling, or moldy is not a recipe, it's compost. - 3
Blend the wet base
In a blender, beat the eggs, sugar, oil, milk, and reserved apple peels for about 1 minute, until smooth and pale beige. The peels bring apple flavor and a little color back into the batter instead of going to waste. That's home cooking, not fuss.
- 4
Mix the batter
In a large bowl, whisk the flour, salt, and the remaining cinnamon. Pour in the blended mixture and stir with a spoon just until you don't see dry flour. Stop there. If you beat the batter like it owes you money, the cake gets tough, and then you'll blame the recipe instead of the overmixing.
- 5
Fold in apples
Add the chopped apples and the baking powder. Fold gently until the fruit is spread through the batter and the powder disappears. The batter will look thick and full of apple pieces. Good. The apples release moisture as they bake, which keeps the crumb tender instead of dry.
- 6
Top and bake
Scrape the batter into the prepared pan and level the top. Mix the topping sugar with a pinch of cinnamon if you like, then sprinkle it over the batter. Bake for 35 to 45 minutes, until the top is golden, the edges pull slightly from the pan, and a toothpick poked into the center comes out clean or with a few moist crumbs, not wet batter.
- 7
Cool and slice
Let the cake cool in the pan for 15 minutes, then turn it out or slice it right there if it's a simple pan day. Warm cake is tender and fragile, so give it those minutes to set. Slice when the crumb holds together and the apple pieces look soft and glossy.
Chef Tips
- •The best apples here are the ones losing their crispness. Save the perfect crunchy apple for eating out of hand. Cake likes fruit that has started to soften.
- •No boxed cake mix. Flour, eggs, oil, sugar, fruit, and baking powder are not difficult ingredients, they're a recipe. The packet is selling you the idea that you can't stir.
- •If your apples are very sweet, keep the sugar as written anyway the first time. Receitas que funcionam start with a tested baseline. Adjust next time once you know the cake.
- •You can skip the blender and grate the apple peels finely into the wet ingredients. It works, but the crumb will be a little more rustic. Honest shortcut, honest cost.
- •This cake is better after a few hours. The apple settles into the crumb, the cinnamon calms down, and the slice behaves beautifully beside coffee.
Advance Preparation
- •The cake keeps covered at room temperature for 2 days, or refrigerated for up to 5 days.
- •Slices freeze well for up to 2 months. Wrap individually and thaw at room temperature for an easy coffee break.
- •The apples can be chopped up to 2 hours ahead if tossed with the lemon juice, but don't mix the batter until you're ready to bake.
Frequently Asked Questions
Nutrition Information
1 serving (about 105g)
Calories
355 calories
Total Fat
14 g
Saturated Fat
2 g
Trans Fat
0 g
Unsaturated Fat
12 g
Cholesterol
60 mg
Sodium
235 mg
Total Carbohydrates
52 g
Dietary Fiber
2 g
Sugars
27 g
Protein
5 g
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