This thick, custardy baked apple pancake takes me straight back to my childhood. Dust it with powdered sugar for a sweet finishing touch & dig in!
My sister and I used to beg my mom for things like Fruity Pebbles and Frosted Flakes. She didn’t cave often, but I remember the few times she did… she’d sigh and say, “If I buy this, are you really going to eat it this time?” We’d smile and nod, excited to be taking home the same colorful boxes our friends had.
We’d each eat maybe one bowl full. Then up in the pantry it would go… to collect dust and then ultimately get tossed in the next pantry clean-out. The smiling kids on Saturday morning commercials would convince us to beg again… and we’d try SO hard to like the stuff. But sugary soggy flakes and blue milk were not for us.
Especially when homemade muffins, pancakes, eggs, doughnuts, and this German(ish) apple pancake were all part of our regular breakfast rotation.
This was a staple of our childhood, and my mom still makes it every time she visits.
Apples, brown sugar, and cinnamon get softened in a pan with butter, and an egg mixture gets poured on top. The thin egg layer and pillowy apples create more of a custard-like texture than a traditional doughy pancake.
Bake until it puffs up and serve hot slices right out of the pan.
For more brunch ideas, try these vegan banana pancakes, this shakshuka, or this frittata!
(The photo above is of a 5-inch mini skillet, but the recipe makes enough to fill approx a 12 or 13-inch skillet. Use either a seasoned cast iron skillet, or a non-stick pan).
Apple Pancake
- 2 tablespoons butter (or vegan earth balance)
- 3 apples, peeled, cored and sliced
- ¼ cup brown sugar
- ½ teaspoon cinnamon
- 3 large eggs
- ½ cup almond milk (or regular milk)
- 2 tablespoons flour (any kind: white, wheat, spelt*, or a gluten-free blend)
- ¼ teaspoon baking powder
- Powdered sugar, for dusting (optional)
- Preheat oven to 375.
- Combine brown sugar and cinnamon.
- Whisk together eggs and milk.
- Mix together flour and baking powder and stir it into the egg/milk mixture.
- In a skillet, heat butter, add the apple slices and 1 tablespoon of the brown sugar mixture and cook, stirring, until soft. About 5 minutes.
- Pour the batter over the apples and sprinkle the remaining brown sugar on top.
- Bake until it puffs up, about 18-20 minutes.
- Dust with a little powdered sugar.
I don’t usually leave reviews, but I felt compelled to share my experience with this recipe. I’m typically a big fan of Love & Lemons — their recipes are often fantastic — but unfortunately, this one really missed the mark for me. As others have mentioned, the result was more like an apple omelet than anything I’d hoped for. It ended up feeling like a waste of good ingredients, which is especially frustrating given how expensive groceries are these days. I hate to sound harsh, but I’d recommend skipping this one.
Yeah, very confused about this one! There’s no way the one in the picture is the same recipe. 1/4 t. of baking powder is not enough to make this puff up like a Dutch baby. I wonder if she meant 1/4 t. of baking SODA?
Flavor wasn’t bad, but probably won’t make this again.
Thank you so much for this recipe! It reminds me so much of the the apple pancakes my dad used to make us Christmas morning. He passed away a couple years ago and I’ve been trying to make them for our family on Christmas morning ever since. This is the closest I’ve gotten to it and it’s delicious!
Hi Melisa, wow, that’s great to hear! I’m so glad you love the recipe.
Won’t use recipe again. Just didn’t have any pizzaz.
Should have read the reviews. This turned out weird – like an overly sweet egg omelette with apples. This is NOT a German pancake.
Maybe something is off with the recipe? Like maybe it needs more flour, less sugar & thinly sliced apples that cook longer to get rid of all the moisture?
Didn’t really work. Also wondering why we cannot see the 65 reviews averaging 4.4 stars supposedly. I only see (rather) negative reviews here
Wouldn’t make this again, it’s almost like an omelette with apples. Didn’t puff up like the picture
I appreciate what this recipe was going for. Next time I’ll mix the batter in a blender to get it smooth like in a Dutch Baby. And if chop the apples smaller to make it easier to slice, dish and eat. Overall, I like the dish. Not very sweet and love having an apple breakfast dish for the fall. Thank you.
I questioned the 2 tablespoons of flour but trusted the recipe. After making this with my daughter who was so excited, I don’t understand! It is NOT a pancake nor is it close to a pancake in taste or texture. It’s also NOT a custard. A pancake or custard does not taste like this which is an omelet with brown sugar and cinnamon apples. So WEIRD!! ? ZERO STARS if I could.