Introduction
Chock-full of apples, this is a favorite fall birthday cake. Though I’m sure it would be good without it, the frosting — reminiscent of maple-bar icing — is awfully tasty.
Ingredients
Cake
| 2⅓ | cups all-purpose, unbleached flour |
| 2 | tsp. baking soda |
| ½ | tsp. salt |
| ½ | tsp. cinnamon |
| ¼ | tsp. ginger |
| ⅛ | tsp. ground cloves |
| ⅛ | tsp. nutmeg |
| ½ | cup unsalted butter, softened |
| 1½ | cups sugar |
| 2 | eggs |
| 4 | cups apples (about 3 large apples), peeled and finely chopped |
| ¾ | cup pecans or walnuts, finely chopped |
Frosting
| ⅓ | cup unsalted butter |
| ~ | Pinch of salt |
| ½ | cup brown sugar, firmly packed |
| 4 | Tbsp. milk |
| 1½ | cups powdered sugar, sifted |
| ½ | tsp. vanilla or maple syrup |
Steps
- Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Butter and flour a 9-inch-by-13-inch baking pan.
- Make the cake: In a large bowl, mix together flour, baking soda, salt, and ground spices.
- In a mixer bowl, or with an electric mixer, cream together butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Add eggs and mix for another minute, until the eggs are blended into the butter and sugar.
- Reduce the speed to low and add flour mixture, a third at a time, just until the dry ingredients are incorporated. The batter will be very thick and stiff.
- Fold in the apples and nuts and stir just enough to evenly distribute the apples and nuts through the batter.
- Spoon the batter into the prepared pan and smooth the surface with a spatula, pushing the batter into the corners of the pan. Bake for 40 to 50 minutes. When the top of the cake is firm and an inserted toothpick comes out clean, the cake is done. Cool on a wire rack.
- Make the frosting: In a small saucepan, melt the butter. Add the salt and brown sugar and stir over medium heat until the sugar melts. Add the milk and bring the mixture to a boil.
- Remove pan from heat and pour contents into a medium bowl. Cool for 10 minutes. Add powdered sugar and vanilla or maple syrup and stir until well blended.
- Spread frosting on cooled apple cake. Cut into squares to serve.
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There are 5 comments on this item
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Average Rating 4
20% recommend this recipe
1. by trpeltz on Oct 18, 2007 at 4:41 PM PDT
Carrie - I am Gina Norton’s friend and she introduced me to culinate. I love the site and your writing. Just made your apple cake last night (minus the frosting - just too sweet - will try paring down the sugar next time and going for frosting too). Anyway - while my mixer died on me mid-way through mixing and led to a mixing debacle - the cake tastes great and was perfect for the occasion (book club). THANK YOU.
-tova
2. by carrie on Oct 18, 2007 at 10:27 PM PDT
Tova,
I’m glad you liked the cake and I understand the “too sweet” comment re. all the sugar in the frosting. Last weekend when I made apple cake I wondered if there was a way to cut back on the sugar and still get a similar tasting frosting. Cream, I thought, has potential; maybe you fold the cooled brown sugar-butter mixture into lightly whipped cream? It would have a different texture but it might be good. Sugar or cream, six of a one, half dozen of the other—choose your vice!
3. by Kiggles1208 on Oct 27, 2007 at 9:43 AM PDT
this cake is incredible! i really enjoy it for breakfast on the weekends with my coffee. and i took it to work to share with my coworkers and they raved about it! i will be making it for the 3rd time tonight. my in-laws are coming to visit and i think they’ll really love it. i think i might try it in a bundt pan. what do you think?
4. by carrie on Oct 30, 2007 at 12:14 PM PDT
kiggles,
I think it would be great baked in a bundt pan, though I’m not sure how that affects the cooking time. That said, more often than not, I use a different pan than what is recommended when I bake. My advice: check it after a half hour to see how it’s shaping up, then check it every 5-10 minutes (depending on how gooey or firm it was when you first checked it) until it’s done (it will be firm, browned and an inserted toothpick will come out clean).
5. by sj.breeze on Nov 28, 2007 at 1:43 PM PST
Carrie, this is a wonderful cake recipe; thanks so much for sharing it. I made it on Thanksgiving for the non-pie contingent and we enjoyed it for a good few days after too!
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