Sharlotka (Ukrainian Apple Cake)

Name: Sharlotka – Classic Ukrainian Apple Cake Recipe
Prep time: 30 min
Cook time: 1 h 30 min
Total time: 2 h
Cuisine: European
Ingredients: Eggs, large 8; Sugar 2 cups (360 g); Vanillin a pinch (or a packet of vanilla sugar); All-purpose flour 2 cups (260 g); Apples, sweet-tart 1 kg; Vegetable oil 1 tsp; Flour a little, for the pan; Powdered sugar for dusting

☆ 4.9

2 h

So, sharlotka with apples is our favorite apple cake. I bet many of you have a childhood memory like this: mom or grandma baking pies. I remember a house in the village, a huge stove taking up half the kitchen. The eve of some holiday. A hot fire, the cheerful crackle of firewood. The house cat staring at the flames as if spellbound.

Grandma is baking pies. The dough is climbing out of an enormous tub. A mountain of apples for the filling, ground poppy seeds, farmer’s cheese, cherries. The one I love most is the apple pie.

Since apples are available always and everywhere, they are the perfect pie filling. In the old days, pies were baked after the harvest, in autumn. People baked them in different ways, but the principle, of course, was always the same: dough and apples.

You have probably noticed that in American movies, cafés often serve apple pie. You could say apple pie is a national dish there, even a national symbol. They say that in Virginia it officially is.

A classic American apple pie is tricky to make, although it is often made from store-bought components. Just as delicious is a sweet cake of apples baked in batter, the so-called “sharlotka”. Apple sharlotka is quick and easy to make, just like apricot sharlotka. Some say the name comes from Queen Charlotte, wife of King George III. Or maybe from the word charlyt, which means a dish made of whipped eggs, sugar and milk.

This apple cake recipe has already become part of our family tradition.

Apple sharlotka with tea turns out wonderful, tender and fragrant.

More with apples

Tarte Tatin: French Apple Tart

1 h 30 min

Crostata: Italian Apple Pie with Shortcrust Pastry

1 h

More apples recipes

Ingredients

6 servings

For the batter
Eggs, large 8
Sugar 2 cups (360 g)
Vanillin a pinch (or a packet of vanilla sugar)
All-purpose flour 2 cups (260 g)
For the filling
Apples, sweet-tart 1 kg
For the pan and serving
Vegetable oil 1 tsp
Flour a little, for the pan
Powdered sugar for dusting

Step-by-step recipe

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Sponge batter

The cake is baked in a baking pan. You will also need a kitchen mixer.
Crack the eggs into a deep bowl and make sure no bits of shell get in.
Add the sugar and vanillin.
Beat the mixture with a mixer for about 7 minutes (set a timer or keep an eye on the clock). Beat long enough to get a thick, dense, almost white foam. The sugar should dissolve completely.
Add the sifted flour. Mix everything with the mixer until smooth.

Apples and the pan

Peel and core the apples.
Cut them into thin slices.
Grease the baking pan with vegetable oil and sprinkle in a little flour. Tilt the pan from side to side to spread the flour over the bottom and sides. Shake out the excess flour.
Spread half of the fruit over the bottom of the pan in a single layer, covering the whole surface. Right away, pour the runny batter over the apples.
Lay the second half of the apples on top of the batter. To make the cake look pretty, you can arrange the apple slices in a pattern. You can even spell out a word. The cake will only be better for it, it will even taste better.

Baking

Put the pan in an oven preheated to 180 °C. Bake until golden brown. It usually takes about an hour, 1.5 hours at most.
Take the pan out of the oven. Let the cake cool a little.

Serving

Cut it into pieces with an ordinary knife. Dust with powdered sugar, and you will definitely say this is that very fragrant cake. A little secret: grandma’s sharlotka is insanely good with warm milk or cherry compote.

Calories and macros

620 kcal

Serving ≈ 320 g

Protein17 g11% of kcal
Fat9 g14% of kcal
Carbs111 g75% of kcal

100 g193 kcalProtein 5.2 gFat 3 gCarbs 34.8 g

Calculated from the recipe ingredients, excluding salt and spices. Data: USDA and Matvaretabellen.

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To Get It Right

Which apples to use

For sharlotka, the variety matters less than the texture: the apples should be sweet-tart and firm, such as Antonovka, Simirenko or Granny Smith. Apples that are too sweet and soft give a bland taste and a lot of juice.

Beating is everything

A sharlotka gets its rise from 8 eggs beaten with sugar for about 7 minutes into a thick white foam, so no baking soda or baking powder is needed. Don’t cut the beating short, and mix in the flour only briefly, just until smooth. I use large eggs.

The pan

The pan for sharlotka is round, about 30 cm across on the inside. In a smaller pan the sharlotka will be taller and will need to bake a little longer.
A silicone pan doesn’t need greasing or flouring, but the sides brown less in it. Set a large silicone pan on a baking sheet or rack: full of batter, it bends when you carry it.
A glass dish works too, as long as it is ovenproof.

Vanillin and raisins

Use a pinch of pure vanillin or a packet of vanilla sugar: 2 g of vanillin is already too much and makes the cake bitter. Rinse a handful of raisins (50–70 g), pat them dry, toss them in flour so they don’t sink to the bottom, and fold them into the batter at the very end.

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Questions and answers

How long do you bake sharlotka in the oven?

About an hour at 180 °C, sometimes up to an hour and a half: it depends on your oven and how tall the cake is. Check with a wooden skewer: it should come out dry.

Which oven setting is best for sharlotka?

Bottom heat is enough; convection is ideal. It all depends on your oven model.

What flour should I use for sharlotka?

Ordinary all-purpose wheat flour works fine. Sift it before adding it to the batter.

Can I make sharlotka with 4 eggs?

Yes, if you scale everything down: for 4 eggs, 1 cup of sugar (180 g), 1 cup of flour (130 g) and 500 g of apples, in a smaller pan of about 22 cm. Our proportions were worked out by trial, to our taste.

How do you store sharlotka?

Cover the cooled sharlotka with plastic wrap or a lid: it keeps 1–2 days at room temperature and up to 3 days in the fridge.

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