Old fashioned autumn apple cake

Welcome in the glorious month of October with this one bowl apple cake

I’ve been making this old fashioned apple cake for over 25 years and it never fails to get rave reviews. I found the recipe in a cabinet in my grandmother’s kitchen in upstate NY in the early 90’s. The paper looked about 50 years old at the time and very well tested. She was well into Alzheimer’s by then so unfortunately I couldn’t ask her about it. But I can share it! I love that it only requires basic pantry ingredients and 3-4 apples. I get so many dm’s from people saying this apple cake has become part of their Rosh Hashanah tradition which makes me so happy.

The batter is mostly apple chunks (so it’s healthy 😏) and you can make it in one bowl. It’s great plain, or with a dollop of yogurt (this qualifies as breakfast in my house), with whipped cream, caramel sauce, a honey drizzle, or vanilla ice cream. The flavor reminds me of caramel apples and blondie brownies. You can double the recipe and make an impressive looking layer cake with lightly sweetened whipped cream in the middle and on top

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Old Fashioned Apple Cake⁣⁣⁣

Ingredients:

• 1/4 cup butter, at room temp (must be soft!)⁣⁣⁣

• 1 cup sugar⁣⁣⁣

• 1 egg, at room temp⁣⁣⁣

• 1 tsp vanilla⁣⁣⁣

• 4 apples, peeled, cored and roughly chopped into 1/2” cubes or smaller ⁣⁣⁣

• 1 cup flour⁣⁣⁣

• 1 tsp baking soda⁣⁣⁣

• 1/2 tsp salt⁣⁣⁣

• 1 tsp cinnamon ⁣⁣⁣

• 1/8 tsp allspice⁣⁣⁣ (optional)⁣

Instrustions:

1. Preheat oven to 350 F.

2. Cream butter and sugar in a standing mixer or with an egg beater until fluffy, 3-5 minutes.

3. Beat in egg and vanilla until combined.

4. Add dry ingredients and mix until smooth.

5. Add apples and mix until apples are evenly distributed. Batter will be chunky - it’s mostly apples!

6. Dump into a greased 9” cake pan with a circle of greased parchment on the bottom (don’t skip the parchment!) Spread batter until top is relatively smooth but not perfect.⁣⁣

7. Bake at 350 for 45-50 minutes or until top is golden brown and a toothpick comes out clean. Don’t underbake! Cool in pan and then run a knife along the edge and invert on to a plate. You can serve this with the crisp, drier side up, or the wet side up (which will have a sort of apple mosaic on it) - totally up to you, I do both depending on my mood.

8. Remove parchment and serve with whipped cream, ice cream, caramel, sauce or a honey drizzle. ⁣