Szarlotka (Jewish Apple Pie)
Updated December 1, 2025
David Malosh for The New York Times. Food Stylist: Rebecca Jurkevich.
- Total Time
- 1 hour 40 minutes, plus cooling
- Prep Time
- 10 minutes
- Cook Time
- 1½ hours, plus cooling
- Rating
- Comments
- Read comments
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Ingredients
Butter and sugar, for the pan
2¼ pounds tart and firm apples (8 to 10 medium apples), such as Granny Smith, Braeburn or Cortland
3 tablespoons/40 grams unsalted butter, at room temperature
2 ¼ cups/450 grams sugar
4 eggs, at room temperature
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
½ teaspoon kosher salt (such as Diamond Crystal)
2 cups/250 grams all-purpose flour
¾ teaspoon ground cinnamon
Vanilla ice cream (optional), for serving
Preparation
- Step 1
Line the base of a 9-inch springform pan with parchment paper, then butter the sides and coat with sugar. Heat the oven to 400 degrees, ideally with the convection setting turned on.
- Step 2
Peel, core and slice the apples into 1 ½- to 2-inch chunks. Gently pile the apples into the pan, all the way to the top. (There’s no need to pack them tightly.)
- Step 3
In the bowl of your stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, cream the butter and 2 cups/400 grams of the sugar on medium speed until fluffy. Continuing to mix, add the eggs one at a time, then increase the speed to medium-high. Beat for about 5 minutes, until the batter turns a pale yellow. Reduce the speed to low and add the vanilla and salt. Finally, add the flour and continue to mix on low speed until your batter is smooth. It will be thick but pourable.
- Step 4
Pour the batter over the top of the apples in the springform pan, covering the top entirely. Use a spatula to smooth the batter to the edges of the pan. If it doesn’t seem like enough batter, don’t worry! It will sink down among the apples as it bakes.
- Step 5
In a small bowl, mix together the remaining ¼ cup/50 grams sugar and the cinnamon, then sprinkle evenly over the szarlotka.
- Step 6
Bake for 15 minutes at 400 degrees, then lower the heat to 350 degrees and continue to bake for another 45 to 55 minutes. The top will be a rich tan color and a knife inserted into the middle will come out clean but wet from the apples. If the top starts to get too dark, cover loosely with aluminum foil for the remainder of the bake.
- Step 7
Remove from the oven and allow to cool completely before sliding a knife around the edge of the cake and undoing the springform sides.
- Step 8
Serve at room temperature with vanilla ice cream if you’d like, or store, covered, in the fridge for up to 5 days, serving cold or reheating in the oven.
Private Notes
Comments
I just made a French apple cake that is very similar to this recipe except that the French version has much less sugar, as do many European desserts compared to those in America. And a friend from Germany made a German apple cake much like this. Overall I do prefer this to traditional American apple pie. And I do recommend using less sugar.
Lovely. I would make one adjustment: toss the apples in some of the cinnamon sugar mixture before putting in the pan. It carries that flavor throughout and the cake looks more interesting when you slice into it.
This is a terrific cake. My sister-in-law and I made it a couple weeks ago, from the Dobre Dobre cookbook. The hard part is peeling and slicing the apples -- But I have a Pampered Chef peeler/slicer and so it was pretty fast. Once you fill the pan with apples, the batter goes on top. While it bakes, the batter sinks down and holds the apples together. It's quite delicious and looks terrific. It's primarily a lot of apples held together with a little bit of batter. I recommend this recipe.
This recipe is very different than the one for Szarlotka in her cookbook, Dobre, Dobre. Why is that?
Now I understand, this is the Jewish Apple Pie. I was looking at the Shortcrust Apple Cake. They both go by the name Szarlotka, which is also a delicious apple cocktail that is a favorite in Poland.
I followed the directions the second time I made this (I know! What a concept) and the top came out like a baked meringue. That lady mixing got give minutes really elevated the cake. I also used a cast iron pan, no parchment paper, and buttered the sides and bottom with unsalted butter dusted with turbinado sugar. It’s so good!