Amazing Apple Cake.
Ah, fall…with all your pumpkins, crunchy leaves, corn mazes and apples, how I love (and miss) you.
Simple and delicious. This Apple Cake will leave your friends…well, amazed.
This is a very simple cake to prepare and bake. The hardest part is flouring the pan. Really. You mix all of the ingredients together and put it in the oven. Don’t let the 49 photos of me peeling an apple freak you out.
Here’s what you need:
Apples*, Flour, Sugar, Salt, Eggs, Salad Oil, Baking Soda, Baking Powder, Walnuts, Cinnamon & Vanilla.
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Let’s talk apples! For baking, I try to find a nice hard, crunchy apple with lots of flavor. If you live in an apple producing state, pick something fresh and in season like a Honeycrisp, Haralson or Jonathan. I’m using 3 Honeycrisp and 1 sad lonely Granny Smith that was languishing in my fridge. I would NOT use red or yellow delicious as they are too soft and don’t have much flavor.
True confession…since I no longer live in an apple producing state, I bring back bags and bags of apples whenever I’m “up north.” I also bring steaks back from Kansas City. I would have made a great bootlegger.
Pre-heat your oven to 350 degrees.
If you have a big mixer, great. If not, you can use a small hand mixer or even go old school with a big bowl and a spoon. If you’re mixing by hand, you might want to cut the apples in smaller pieces. Otherwise, everything is the same. Mix away.
Add 1 cup of salad oil (canola, safflower, vegetable oil, etc…something light in color with no flavor) to a mixer or bowl.
Add 2 eggs to the bowl. It is a good idea to break your eggs into a small bowl before adding them to any recipe. That way if you get a wayward piece of eggshell, you can easily remove it. Also, in the unlikely event that you get a rotten egg, you haven’t ruined all your other ingredients.
Add 1-1/2 cups sugar and 1 Tablespoon Vanilla (the real stuff, please) to the bowl.
Give the oil, eggs, sugar and vanilla a quick stir to combine.
Add 2 cups of flour to the bowl. Remember that when you measure flour, you need to use something like the back side of a knife, spatula or even a very clean finger to level off the flour.
Add 1/2 teaspoon of salt, 1 teaspoon of baking powder and 1 teaspoon of baking soda to the bowl.
Baking Soda and Baking Powder are both used in this recipe.
Mix all of the ingredients until they are combined. Don’t over mix…we still have to add the apples and nuts. Use a spatula to scrape down the sides and bottom of your bowl to incorporate all of the flour into the batter.
Add 2 teaspoons of Cinnamon to your batter.
Grab your apples and using a small sharp knife, remove the peel.
Set the apples upright and cut down the side of each apple near the core to remove a round section. Go around all 4 sides of the apple removing the flesh from the core.
Slice the apples into thin strips. If you are mixing by hand, you might want to cut the apples up even a bit more just to save your arm.
This recipe uses 1 cup of chopped walnuts. You can buy pre-chopped walnuts at the store, or save money and chop them yourself.
The walnuts REALLY make this cake special. So unless you are allergic, I would encourage you not to skip the nuts.
Add all of the apples and nuts to the mixing bowl.
Mix the batter together on slow speed until all of the ingredients are thoroughly incorporated. The mixer will break up the apples a little bit as it does the stirring for you.
The batter is VERY thick, gooey and delicious.
I’ve always baked this cake in a Bundt pan. You can also use a tube pan. It is important to have a pan with a hole in the center to allow the cake to bake all the way through.
This is a very gooey batter and all of the apples make it a very moist cake. However, it’s no fun if the cake doesn’t cook in the center so grab a Bundt pan.
To keep the cake from sticking, it is very important to grease and flour your cake pan. I like to use Crisco because it doesn’t add any flavor to the cake. Put a good blob of Crisco on a paper towel and smear it all around the pan.
Don’t forget all the little nooks and crannies and the middle tube section of the pan.
Next, add a few spoonfuls of flour to the pan and shake it all around to coat the sides and center.
Keep shaking until the sides and center tube are completely covered in flour. If you have trouble getting flour on the tube part, you can use your fingers to scoot some flour up the tube while holding the pan to the side.
To remove any excess flour, turn your pan upside down over the sink and give it a couple of good whacks on the edge of the sink. All the loose flour should fall out leaving a nicely coated pan.
Pour or spoon the batter into the pan.
Use a spoon or spatula to move the batter evenly around the pan.
Bake at 350 degrees for 50 -60 minutes. Use a long wooden skewer to test the cake. If the skewer comes out clean and the cake is golden brown, it is done.
By the way, your house smells AMAZING right now.
Let the cake cool for 10 minutes in the pan.
Use a knife or spatula to gently loosen the sides and center of the cake.
Put a cake plate on top of the pan and gently flip it over. Remove the pan and marvel at your Amazing Apple Cake!
This recipe comes from Jean Smith, a truly lovely woman who lived across the street from my family while I was growing up. Jean and her husband “Smitty” were very nice to the weird redheaded neighbor kid. And she made a mean apple cake.
Here’s the recipe!
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