11 Apple Desserts From Around the World

One of the best things about traveling is finding new-to-us apple desserts. Back in the Milk Street kitchen, we codify these confections into recipes for you to make at home.

We have recipes for Austrian and Italian-style apple strudels, both wrapped in layers of delicate pastry yet distinctly different; an eye-catching upside-down cake cobbled with caramelized apples; and a French cake with apples that are so finely sliced, they become “invisible” when baked into its rich custardy batter. Don’t worry, we also have a classic American-style apple pie—Chris’ no-cinnamon, all-about-the-apples apple pie, to be exact.

Austrian Apple Strudel

Chris finally got to make the Austrian apple strudel he’d been talking about for years—the one with paper-thin pastry surrounding a buttery, sweet-tart filling. He learned this recipe in Austria from Eva-Maria Steinbichler and her daughter, Petra Steinbichler, who taught him to roll the strudel in one smooth motion.

Romanian Apple Pie with Cinnamon and Walnuts (Plăcintă cu Mere)

Cookbook author Irina Georgescu introduced us to Romanian plăcintă cu mere, a hybrid of slab-style apple pie and bar cookies. This baked treat sandwiches lightly sweetened, shredded apples between two layers of tender crust. For our version, we created a buttery, sour cream–enriched dough and we use both tart and sweet apples for a more balanced flavor.

Burnt Sugar Apple Upside-Down Cake

Drenched in bittersweet caramel, the apples here create a sumptuous topping for a simple skillet cake. Be sure to cook the fruit in the caramel until the syrup bubbling at the edges is practically burnt. That rich, deep color is how you know the dish will be packed with flavor. Move the skillet from the stovetop to the oven to finish.

Tarte Tatin

Our latest voyage into the freeform apple dessert genre is the classic French Tarte Tatin: a pie plate of apples baked in sugar under a blanket of rich pastry. Flip it over, et voilà: velvety, caramel-soaked fruits atop a flaky, buttery crust.

In this version, we opt for homemade pie pastry rather than a store-bought puff pastry. The result is crisp, flaky and buttery, and it’s sturdy enough to hold a pile of caramel-y fruit. Honeycrisp apples boast the best balance of sweet and tart, while Gala apples make an excellent runner-up.

Italian-Style Apple Strudel

With a traditional combination of golden raisins, citrus zest, pine nuts and, of course, apples, this Italian-style strudel stands out from the Austrian variety. We use store-bought phyllo dough to make a beautifully crisp shell that encases a jumble of fruits and nuts. Instead of trying to puzzle together a single large strudel with the delicate sheets of phyllo, consider making two smaller ones like we did. It makes the shaping far easier.

Invisible Apple Cake (Gâteau Invisible)

“The charm of this dessert lies in the extreme thinness of the apples,” Chris Kimball writes. The slices practically dissolve into the custard, hence the word “invisible.” The slice, he writes, “looks like a cross-section of Precambrian strata.” This cake may look impressively complex, but the batter comes together easily. The key to success with this cake is minimizing air pockets between the layers, which is easily accomplished by mindfully arranging the apple slices, then rapping the pan against the countertop to knock out any remaining air bubbles.

Greek Apple Cake with Honey and Cinnamon (Milopita)

Greek apple cake (milopita) is a perfect example of why you shouldn’t rely on frosting for flavor—here, fragrant orange, apple cider syrup, baking spices and honey permeate the crumb. Our take on milopita is an easy no-mixer affair. The spicing is simple but warm, balanced by the brightness of orange, and we amp up the apple flavor by reducing apple cider to a syrup that’s used in the batter as well as a lustrous glaze on the cooled cake.

Ricotta-Semolina Cake with Caramelized Apples

Adapted from “Summer Kitchens” by Olia Hercules, this cake-cheesecake hybrid is inverted out of the baking pan to reveal a layer of silky caramelized apples. Whipped egg whites assist in keeping the batter light. Think rich ricotta, an airy crumb, and a buttery, golden-hued topping. You can keep leftovers for three days, though we guarantee they’ll vanish sooner.

French Apple Cake

This is the cake for apple pie filling lovers. It’s less of cake than a pile of sautéed apples, suspended in an airy, bouncy crumb that bakes up with a thin, crisp crust. “It is a last-minute dessert thrown together without a recipe,” Chris Kimball writes. “When one requests exact measurements, French cooks explain the process with a disdainful flick of the head, an exhalation of cigarette smoke and a phrase of discouragement: ‘N’importe.’”

Christopher Kimball’s Double-Crust Apple Pie

It’s only a minor overstatement to say that apple pie is holy for Chris Kimball. This recipe is the product of decades of study. The double crust (i.e., the bottom and crown on top) is easy to mix and roll out and bakes up tender and flaky. Chris swears by a combination of apples: sweet McIntoshes, which break down into a soft applesauce that envelops tart, firm slices of Granny Smiths. He rigidly rejects cinnamon, which overpowers the apple flavor—instead, he highlights it with a brightening cut of lemon.

German Apple Cake (Apfelkuchen)

“This is one of those slam dunks that worked, and I loved it right away,” writes Luisa Weiss, author of “Classic German Baking,” and creator of this German Apple Cake (Apfelkuchen). It’s proof that the best recipes can be found in the most unexpected places (in this case, from a recipe on a package of almond paste). Almond paste gives the crumb a custardy richness, a moist, tender texture and a pleasant—but not overpowering—almond fragrance and flavor. Tangy-sweet sliced apples are fanned on top of the batter and baked into the surface for an elegant effect.

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Allie Chanthorn Reinmann

Allie Chantorn Reinmann is a Digital Staff Writer for Christopher Kimball’s Milk Street. She’s a Thai-American chef who earned her diploma for Pastry and Baking Arts at The Institute of Culinary Education and worked professionally for over a decade honing her craft in New York City at places like Balthazar, Bien Cuit, The Chocolate Room, Billy’s Bakery and Whole Foods. Allie took her know-how from the kitchen to the internet, writing about food full-time at Lifehacker for three years and starting her own YouTube channel, ThaiNYbites. You can find her whipping up baked goods for cafés around Brooklyn, building wedding cakes and trying her hand (feet?) at marathon running. She’s working on her debut cookbook and lives in Brooklyn, NY.