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"Home" » Nordic Dessert

"Home" » Nordic Dessert

Danish Apple Trifle

Published: Mar 9, 2015 · Modified: Jan 12, 2021 · About 3 minutes to read this article. · By Kim Nielsen

Easy-to-make and very delicious Danish recipe for Apple Trifle. This recipe is very popular in Denmark and was been used for many years.
Jump to Recipe Print Recipe

Recipe for Homemade Traditional Danish Apple cake or Apple Trifle

This is another old and Danish recipe. This time it is a delicious apple trifle made from simple ingredients; apples, sugar, hazelnuts, heavy cream and water. An apple trifle is a cold dessert typically made in a transparent glass bowl or as single servings in small glasses. The special about this dessert is that it is made in several layers starting with a thick layer of apple puree, then some hazelnut croccante and then some whipped cream. The dessert is then made with 2-3 of these layers, which makes it a beautiful dessert seen through the glass.

The taste is very fresh with a crunchy feeling from the hazelnut croccante. Hazelnut croccante is sugar coated hazelnuts chopped in small pieces. This gives the dessert a very delicious crunchy taste.

We are not sure that this recipe is originally from Denmark. However, it has been around for a very long time and it very popular in Denmark and the Nordic countries in general. This recipe, with hazelnuts croccante layers, is very close to the traditional and properly even older recipe for another version of this Danish apple trifle. In this other version of the dessert one of the layers is made from a small Danish sugar cake called a makron, which is very similar to macaroons.

We normally make this dessert as a single serving in small glasses. We think this is the best way to serve it. However, you can also make one big serving in a large glass bowl or similar.

Danish Apple Trifle

Easy-to-make and very delicious Danish recipe for Apple Trifle. This recipe is very popular in Denmark and was been used for many years.
Print Recipe Rate Recipe
Prep Time: 45 minutes minutes
Cook Time: 30 minutes minutes
Total Time: 1 hour hour 15 minutes minutes
Course: Dessert
Cuisine: Danish
Servings: 4 people
Author: NordicFoodLiving.com

Ingredients

Metric - US Customary

Apple puree

  • 5 apples
  • 50 g granulated sugar
  • 1/2 dl water
  • 1 vanilla bean

Hazelnut croccante

  • 100 g hazelnuts
  • 50 g granulated sugar

Topping

  • 3 dl heavy cream (for whipped cream)

Instructions

  • Rinse and peel the apples. Remove the core and cut the apples in smaller pieces.
  • In a sauce pan; add water, the apple pieces, sugar and the seeds from a vanilla bean. Also add the empty vanilla bean, it still have a lot of flavor.
  • Heat up the apple mixture and let it simmer until the apples are tender. If the apples are sour you should add a little extra sugar. When the apples are done; set aside to cool off completely.
  • Pour the hazelnuts in an oven proof dish and bake them for 10 minutes at 200 C (400 F).
  • Pour the warm hazelnuts in a clean dishcloth and rub them well until most of the skin are removed.
  • Pour the sugar on a frying pan and slowly melt it at medium heat. Do not stir in the sugar while it is melting. Let the sugar melt completely and become light brown.
  • Add the skinned hazelnuts to the molten sugar and stir in the mixture for about 1-2 minutes. Pour the hazelnut croccante on a sheet of parchment paper and let it cool off.
  • When the hazelnut croccante is cooled off; chop it using a food processor or similar.
  • Whip the heavy cream into a whipped cream.
  • Now the apple trifle are to be assembled; Use two large or four smaller glasses; Start with a layer of apple puree, then some hazelnut croccante and then some whipped cream. Continue until you have the amount of layers you like. We normally have two layers. Finish off with some of the hazelnut croccante. Serve right away or keep it refrigerated.



Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. Carole

    September 19, 2017 at 7:19 pm

    My Danish in-laws made abelkage every Christmas, using applesauce layered with crumbs browned in butter, and topped with whipped cream. Their version used crushed Nabisco Zweiback, which sadly is no longer available, for the crumbs. All of my attempts to find a satisfactory substitute for the Zweiback have failed. This year, I'll try macaroons, or probably, amaretti per your description. Or I might just go with the more modern version--your hazaelnut apple truffle which sounds delicious.

    Reply
    • Michael Schildt

      November 29, 2019 at 12:01 am

      I know your comment is from 2 years ago but hopefully this helps. My wife just found this post you commented on, we’ve been making what my Norwegian grandmother called Applesauce Pudding, it’s obviously payed applesauce and whipped cream with the ground up Nabisco Zwieback which as you said is no longer made. Well it took a few years of trying but I’ve been using this brand for a few years now and no one in my family can tell the difference. Hope this helps. Brandt Der Markenzwieback ( Rusk Bread ) - 225 G https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0015XRZB8/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_i_j8f4DbNAQ733W

      Reply
    • Hanne

      October 14, 2020 at 7:18 pm

      my Danish mother always used plain store-bought breadcrumbs, and toasted them golden brown in a skillet, with butter and sugar. stir until coated and be sure they don't burn. Can also sprinkle some cinnamon into the crumbs. she usually used jarred applesauce. I prefer the chunky style if you can find it.

      Add a drop of vanilla and sprinke of sugar to the whipped cream.
      Decorate the top with dots of red currant jelly.

      Reply
    • Shirley Stokholm

      April 10, 2021 at 7:32 pm

      Carole, I’ve been making this dish using my MIL’s personal instructions originally and her recipe ever since. She always used (as I still do) crushed Holland Rusk (i think it’s similar to zwieback) cooked with sugar, butter, and chopped almonds until toasted. One year when I couldn’t find the rusk, I toasted Hawaiian Sweet bread and crushed it. It was good. My MIL said occasionally she put almond macaroons on the bottom. Once I was taking a conversational Danish class, and we had a small meal at the end. I brought abelkage (sp?), and the instructor said it was just like her grandmother used to make!
      I like the idea of individual serving dishes, and the hazelnut croccante sounds interesting.

      Reply
  2. Karen McCullough

    September 29, 2017 at 3:44 pm

    Hi Kim,
    My father came from Denmark to Canada as a very young man, my mother's father also came from Denmark as a young man. So it's understandable that my mom would learn to make the apple trifle. She made it with toasted bread crumbs. She made it often as her nine children, and dad of course absolutely loved it, and it was inexpensive to make.
    I am excited to try your recipe using the hazelnut croccante. My mom would have loved it also, as we loved nuts in anything. Looking at all your recipes has me excited to try them.

    Reply
  3. Carol Iversen

    November 15, 2017 at 1:13 pm

    Dutch crispbakes or any other bread type rusk such as french toast are good substitutes.

    Reply
  4. Judy

    June 28, 2018 at 3:50 am

    I want to try this recipe but can't copy and paste the recipe. Have you done that on purpose?

    Reply
    • Kim Nielsen

      June 28, 2018 at 5:37 am

      Hi. I've had problems that people copy my content and upload it on their own website. That's why I have a copy-paste protection on my site. There is a Print-friendly bottom at the top of this page which you can use to print the recipe. I'm sorry about this issue. I hope that you understand.

      Reply
  5. Odin

    December 25, 2018 at 12:07 am

    My danish mother used graham crackers cooked in butter.

    Reply
  6. Troy

    January 22, 2019 at 5:15 am

    My grandmother made a similar recipe using white breadcrumbs browned with sugar and butter, then crushed and layered. She called it bundipeg (sp) that I grew up as a child, have a Danish/Norwegian background. So enjoyed many of the Scandinavian deserts growing up.

    Reply
    • Hanne

      October 14, 2020 at 8:24 pm

      "Bondepige med Slør"

      Reply
  7. Karen

    November 28, 2019 at 4:39 am

    I also grew up with this desert and it’s wonderful. My Danish grandmother made it all the time. She used zwieback and decorated the top layer of whip cream with little dabs of current jelly. I’m making this for Thanksgiving to bring to a friends house and will try the hazelnut variation, thank you. Someone else uses rolled oats. I think I’ll try a combination of the two.

    Reply
    • Kim Nielsen

      December 01, 2019 at 11:52 am

      You are welcome. I'm happy that you like the recipe. It sound delicious with the hazelnuts and rolled oats. :-) I hope it turned out good.

      Reply
  8. Ocean O'H.

    May 13, 2020 at 3:13 pm

    Just hosted a danish lunch for my boyfriend's family and used SO MANY of your wonderful recipes - so TAK.

    I made this and about 5 other things on your channel, literally saved me on quite a few recipes as they were hard to find other places online with ingredients I could get in Sainsbury.

    (Tips on hosting a danish lunch = https://pacificallyocean.home.blog/2020/05/06/hosting-a-danish-lunch-skim-learning-as-a-native-notice/ )

    Reply
    • Kim Nielsen

      May 14, 2020 at 6:04 am

      I am happy that you like my Danish recipes. I just looked at your pictures from your blog. They look great - this is exactly how a Danish lunch should look like :-) Regards Kim (NordicFoodLiving.com)

      Reply
5 from 2 votes (2 ratings without comment)

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