Though we can eat apples year round these days, they have a special appeal in autumn. And today I felt like making the heavy-on-the-apples cake my mother always loved.
It's a no-fuss, mix-it-all-up-in-one-bowl cake that you can get into the oven quickly. You don't even peel the apples. Good varieties to use are, in the US, Granny Smith, Pink Lady, Honeycrisp, Bramley, Braeburn; in the UK, Cox's Orange Pippin and Braeburn. Tell me in the comments what the best cooking apples are in your part of the world.
Of course, I can no longer bring any produce into the house without painting it; so please indulge me once again. 😊
I hope you'll give this a try with your next batch of apples and let me know how it turned out for you. Also, try Apple Pie - Autumn Classic. What sort of things do you especially enjoy in autumn?
If you like it, please Pin it and share it!
Autumn Apple Cake
(Makes one 7-inch cake)
1 stick (4 ounces/113 grams) unsalted butter, melted
1 1/4 dip-and-sweep cups (6.25 ounces/177 grams) unbleached all-purpose flour
2/3 cup (4.67 ounces/132 grams) sugar
1 teaspoon non-GMO baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
3/4 teaspoon cinnamon
1/8 teaspoon mace or nutmeg
2 large eggs, room temperature
3/4 to 1 pound (12 to 16 ounces/340 to 454 grams/2 medium to large) apples, cut into 1/3-inch dice
1 tablespoon dark brown sugar
1 Butter well and flour a 7-inch springform or push-bottom pan. Preheat oven to 350F/180C/Gas4. Melt the butter and set aside to cool.
2 In 2- to 3-quart bowl, combine flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, and mace or nutmeg. Whisk together well to "sift."
3 Scrub well--don't peel--and dice the apples into a small mixing bowl; set aside. Take out 1 cup of the apples to put on the top.
4 Add the eggs and cooled melted butter to the flour mixture. With a large spoon, beat well until thoroughly combined. Stir the apples (except the 1 cup) into the batter.
5 Scrape the thick batter into prepared pan (see "Note"), press down and smooth the top, and press the reserved cup of diced apples into the top of the batter. Sprinkle with the brown sugar. Bake for about 60 to 70 minutes, until it passes "the toothpick test" or is pulling away from the sides of the pan a bit. Do not underbake!
Note: I forgot to use my Ateco Stainless Steel 2x3-Inches-High Round Form to turn the pan into a tube pan to prevent the center-of-the-cake baking challenges of heavy batters like this or fruitcake. I love it! It turns any pan into a tube pan. Just center it in the pan and hold it steady while you fill in the heavy batter around it.
6 Cool in pan on wire rack for 10 minutes, then turn cake out of pan and continue cooling on wire rack for 2 hours. Before serving, you might give it a dusting of powdered sugar. And a little whipped cream is never a bad idea.
Note: I forgot to use my Ateco Stainless Steel 2x3-Inches-High Round Form to turn the pan into a tube pan to prevent the center-of-the-cake baking challenges of heavy batters like this or fruitcake. I love it! It turns any pan into a tube pan. Just center it in the pan and hold it steady while you fill in the heavy batter around it.
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| My homemade tube pan (or tube pan "hack," if you must!) |
6 Cool in pan on wire rack for 10 minutes, then turn cake out of pan and continue cooling on wire rack for 2 hours. Before serving, you might give it a dusting of powdered sugar. And a little whipped cream is never a bad idea.
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Jean
60 comments:
I love cakes (any recipe, actually) featuring fruit and am delighted to learn the apples don't need to be peeled. And yes, apples definitely deserve to be celebrated during this season. Thanks, Jean.
Thanks, Pauline. I rarely peel apples for anything. I like everything about it, including the fact that it is such a timesaver!
I want to stop by your house for a slice of your quick one-bowl apple cake. It’s the perfect size, too, by using the 7” springform pan. I’ll share my apple scones when I stop by!!
Super, Kitty! I'll put the kettle on--we'll have our very own apple fest!
I love apple recipes in the fall. My mom always baked with macintosh apples in Canada. They seemed to make the best pies. This looks yummy. xo Laura
First of all, your apple is perfection. I'm looking at the exceedingly thin yellow stripes on the side and thinking "how the heck did she do that?" Bravo.
This one sounds delicious. I'm in the mood for an apple cake and the apples are getting very good right now. I wonder if it would make cupcakes? Hmmm. My mind is running thinking of Cork Poppers in a few weeks!
Thanks, Laura. I haven't had a macintosh apple in decades, but I remember they were wonderful. Maybe I can special order some?
Jeanie, thank you so much. Only you would notice those little stripes! I'll look for your post about the Cork Poppers--I always enjoy those. Never tried this as cupcakes/muffins, so if you do, let me know!
On the great Avenue of Life, cake is on one side of the street, pie on the other. The difference, for me, is moisture content. In the middle of the street I put an applesauce cake so moist you could roll it into a ball and leave no crumbs. All by way of saying that your – no doubt – perfectly made Autumn Apple Cake may be a tad too dry for my jaded tastes. But I could eat that painting of the (Red Delicious, I’m guessing) apple. If you don’t make your million selling baked goods, you’ll quickly make it with paintings, for sure.
Sully, thanks for your vote of confidence on my painting! Not sure which of several varieties of red apple that was, but I know it wasn't a Red Delicious. I never buy those because they have no tartness at all, and we are into tart. This isn't a dry cake, but it's a cake that is more chunks of apple with just a little cake holding it together, so definitely not like an applesauce cake.
Mmm, that is a scrumptious looking cake! Would you believe I don't own a spring form pan? I know...We use Granny Smith, Macintosh, Cortland {my favourite} Pink Lady apples, among others. A nice piece of your cake with whipped cream and a cuppa would be lovely!
Sandi, thank you. I love all those, except I've never had a Cortland. If it's your favourite, though, I must look into it!
I love a good apple cake, Jean. I use honeycrisp and granny smith apples to cook with and to eat. Thank you for a lovely recipe that is perfect to serve this time of year.
Thanks, Martha! Those are two of our faves. I don't think there are any that I cook with that I don't like to eat raw as well.
Looks great, Jean!
I'm really leaning into the apple flavours this fall season. Today, I served Golden Apple Spice Green Tea at the office! The tea smelled sooo good and my co-workers loved it!
I failed to mention your lovely watercolor! It's beautiful!
Apple cakes are one of my favourite thing in Autumn. This looks beautiful and very yummy, Jean.
It is true, apples this time of year make the season even more enjoyable.
Your cake looks delicious with those extra apples.
I love your painting!
I have a tree overladen with apples at the bottom of my garden Jean. If you can get round here you can have them all.I have no idea what type of apple they are but they are eaters. They have a nice crisp, juicy, sweet taste to them. The tree was probably planted in the late 1930s or early 1940s in the effort to,"Dig for Britain," when people were encouraged to grow fruit and vegetables in their back gardens to supplement their diets during the war years.
But apple pies, or even cakes, are very acceptable. It was would be very nice to have a slice of this, Jean. You apple water colour picture is very good too.
Here is a picture, just freshly picked, sorry, taken, of apples on my apple tree.
AGH!!! I can't attach the picture. Never mind. You will have to imagine it. Tony
I love that you made that cake in a spring form pan. Thanks for the idea. And your paining is fabulous. Wish I had your talent.
Oh my, your apple cake looks so delicious! I would love to have a very thick slice of it :-) And the apple in your painting looks so fresh and sweet!
I have a apple tree and a 7" spring form pan, so will have to pick some apples today and make the cake.
Your apple cake looks delicious. While we can buy apples anytime of the year, I think we all look to apples for a great fall dessert.
The apple to dough ratio is perfect! I love a loaded apple cake! I like using a variety of apples---granny smith, golden delicious, Honeycrisp, Jonathans.
Thank you, Angie. Not as fancy as some, but tasty!
Thank you, Debbie. I'm having a lot of fun with my little paintings!
Tony, thanks. If I had an overladen apple tree, I'd be slicing and freezing them. Do you have freezer space? If so, I'll tell you what to do!
Lea Ann, thanks so much. And I love my little Ateco food form that turns any pan into a tube pan.
Tamago, thanks so much! I hope you'll try it soon.
Martha, thank you for noticing my little watercolor!
Tea lady, do let me know how it turns out for you. AND what kind of tea you have with it!
Karen, thanks. You are so right. The apple aroma wafting around makes the house smell like autumn.
Liz, thank you! I like to use a combination, too. One of my favorite, and readily available, combos is Granny Smith and Golden Delicious. I don't often see Jonathans, but we love Honeycrisps.
Margie, I soooo want to go to work in your office! Serving tea to your coworkers must make you very popular!
Such a gorgeous cake!
I buy apples year-round, but mostly for the goats :) For myself, I still have to wait for Autumn to visit a small orchard in a neighboring town. The woman who owns it has spent many years reclaiming a typical Massachusetts neglected orchard and nurturing many varieties of heritage apples which of course makes me act like a kid in a candy store. For some years now my favorite has been Rhode Island Greening, but there are never many available - and it turns out they are also the orchard-woman's favorite! - so if I come home with even a half-peck of those I feel very lucky. Last year there were none at all. I'd better get over there in the next week or so and see what my chances are this year!
p.s. I'm SURE there is a portrait of a Rhode island Greening on my blog somewhere, because I recall painting it and being rather pleased with the result :)
Quinn, thank you. And thank you for sharing that. I've never had that variety, so I just looked it up, and it sounds like perfection. Would love to make a pie with them. I'll look for that painting!
Yumm, Jean! Looks delicious! Thanks for the recommendations on type of apples. Loved your watercolored apple--feels like fall!
Thanks so much, Sue! Apples must be the most versatile fruit there is.
The words Apple and Autumn just go so well together.
This looks a great recipe, many thanks for sharing it.
Enjoy the Autumn season.
All the best Jan
PS I like your watercolour.
Jan, thank you so much. Happy Autumn!
It is Apple time and your reicpe looks delicious! Thanks so much for sharing your awesome talent with us at Full Plate Thursday. Hope you are having a great weekend and come back to see us real soon!
Miz Helen
Thank you, Miz Helen. You are too kind! Love your blog and Full Plate Thursday!
My sister was hankering after a nice apple cake. I'm sending her the link to this recipe, it looks so delicious.
Wishing you a beautiful week ahead...
Brenda
Sounds absolutely delicious. I am going to have to try. So please I came across this recipe.
Really lovely cake for this time of year. I've had a bit of an obsession with apple cake recipes for many years since I started to stumble across a variety of recipes from different parts of England. I have very fond memories of desserts of apple cake and clotted cream in various parts of Devon and Dorset. I think it's a great shame that there are many hundreds of traditional apple varieties that are very hard to find these days so I try to use as many different varieties as possible. This week I've been eating Suffolk Pink and Windsor Red apples.
This looks like a good apple recipe, Jean. I was gifted some apples and if I can get around to it I'll use them for this recipe since our kids are all arriving this weekend. Happy week to you!
Brenda, thanks so much! I love it when people tell their friends and family about my blog! Hope she likes the cake. I'm getting a hankering for it again!
Justine, thanks. I hope you'll try it soon and let me know how it turned out for you AND what kind of tea you had with it!
Phil, I've not heard of either of those varieties; must look them up. I look for different varieties as well and often will buy just one to try out and, if I like it, I hurry back for more. I'm going to look up Suffolk Pink and Windsor Red right now!
Thank you, Ellen. I'm going to run down the street in a day or two and see if my neighbor's trees are still overwhelming her!
Hi Jean,
Your Autumn Apple Cake looks delicious! Thank you so much for sharing the recipe with us on Farm Fresh Tuesdays...I featured your post this week! I hope you'll stop by and share more of your yummy ideas!
Thanks so much, Lisa; I will!
I will definitely be trying this cake soon, Jean. When I made my mother’s cookbook, the only recipe that was a complete flop was my grandmother’s apple cake. It was the oiliest, most disgusting thing I’ve ever cooked. All I needed was your recipe instead! I love apple cake in the fall.
Thank you, David. Oh, that oily cake sounds awful! I hope this one works out well for you. We really like it. I know that 1/8 teaspoon mace or nutmeg sounds so insignificant that many are probably tempted to add more, but any more than that would be overpowering.
Autumn apples ARE the best, aren't they? Love 'em neat, love 'em even more made into baked goods. Excellent looking cake -- thanks.
That cake looks and sounds so good I need to hold off on all my baking because I'm eating too much LOL
Thanks, John! We take our apples "neat" every morning and in baked goods later in the day!
Thanks, CIMT! You might try my little trick--cutting desserts into reasonable portions and freezing them. That way a whole cake isn't staring at you every time you walk by!
Your watercolor apple is awesome. I have zero painting skills! Thank you for linking up with Creative Compulsions! And my apologies for being behind with commenting.
Thank you, Michelle! I'm having a lot of fun learning something new!
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