Old-Fashioned Apple Cake with Brown Sugar Frosting
This cake is an old, old favorite of ours. It's a cake where the whole is definitely more than the sum of the parts. The moist, semi-chunky cake, spread with the frosting equivalent of brown sugar fudge, is perfect served with a cup of coffee or, better still, a glass of ice-cold milk.
Cake
2 1/3 cups (9 3/4 ounces) King Arthur Unbleached All-Purpose Flour
2 cups (14 ounces) granulated sugar
2 teaspoons baking soda
3/4 teaspoon salt
1 1/2 teaspoons apple pie spice
2 large eggs
1/2 cup (3 1/4 ounces) vegetable shortening (trans-fat free)
4 cups (12 ounces) peeled, chopped apples (about 1 pound before peeling)
1 cup (4 ounces) walnuts, chopped
Brown Sugar Frosting
5 tablespoons (2 1/2 ounces) unsalted butter
1/2 cup (3 1/4 ounces) firmly packed brown sugar (light or dark)
3 tablespoons (1 1/2 ounces) milk
1 1/2 cups (6 ounces) confectioners' sugar
1/2 teaspoon vanilla
Cake: Preheat the oven to 325°F. Grease and flour a 9 x 13-inch pan.
Mix all of the ingredients except the apples and walnuts in a large bowl. Beat until well combined; the mixture will be crumbly. Add the apples and walnuts, and mix until the apples release some of their juice and the crumbly mixture becomes a thick batter, somewhere between cookie dough and brownie batter in consistency.
Spread the batter in the prepared pan, smoothing it with your wet fingers. Bake the cake for 45 minutes, or until the cake tests done. Remove from the oven and place on a rack, to cool completely; don't remove the cake from pan. When the cake is completely cool, frost with Brown Sugar Frosting.
Frosting: Melt the butter in a small pan over medium heat. Stir in the brown sugar and cook, stirring, until the sugar melts. Add the milk, bring to a boil, and pour into a mixing bowl to cool for 10 minutes.
After 10 minutes, stir in the confectioners' sugar and vanilla. Beat well; if the mixture appears too thin, add more confectioners' sugar. Spread on the cake while frosting is still warm.
This recipe reprinted from The Baking Sheet Newsletter, Vol. II, No. 9, September 1991 issue.
Reviews
03/03/2010
Incredible... I did it today and became instantly addict to it. And my husband too! I will wait for dinner and have a ... small or better a medium... why not a BIG piece of it with a glass of milk.
11/29/2009
I had a piece of cake at a local bakery similar to this and fell in love. When they wouldn't give me their recipe, I went looking for it. I made many other (not so great) apple cake recipes untill I finally found the "one". Thank you KAF for this GREAT recipe.
11/17/2009
I made the recipe without nuts due to an allergy in the family, but think nuts would have helped counteract the overall sweetness. That said, it was still a very nice cake and I would make it again. I found the frosting too sweet and not flavorful enough as written so I added a bit of maple flavoring. This took the frosting to a new level and really complemented the cake. Next time I might use dark brown sugar instead of light in the frosting to see if that ups the flavor, but I will still add the maple flavor.
11/10/2009
This is one of the best cakes I have ever made! It's very easy to prepare and is absolutely delectable. Aside from a couple of pieces I gave a neighbor, my husband and I ate the whole 13x9" cake!! (worth the calories!)
10/19/2009
Mistakenly I put this in a 9 x 9 pan. Ok, I should read more thoroughly, but although needing about 15 mins or so more time, it produced a cake second to none! I moved from the northeast to Texas and always get homesick in the fall. Not now! The aroma of apples and spices are great. I added some raisins with my nuts, and unfortunately never got to frost the cake, as my husband cut into it while still warm. It is THAT GOOD!
10/17/2009
I just made this cake this afternoon and frosted it this evening. DELICIOUS!!! My cake turned out to be very pale in color, perhaps because I left the nuts out. Everything about this cake is wonderful! Easy to make and it more than satisfies my husband's sweet tooth. And the icing is so so good! I used Granny Smith apples and their tartness blends well with the sweetness of the icing. I'm wondering how a bit of maple flavoring in the icing would taste, so I might try it next time I bake this autumn treat!
10/16/2009
OH. MY. GOODNESS. This cake is AMAZING! I made it just as directed - it needed about 5 more minutes for the cake to bake, but the frosting is LUSCIOUS and EASY! This is going into my heavy rotation of apple desserts!
10/01/2009
I made this cake for a friend at work to celebrate her birthday. People loved it. Several asked for the recipe. The cake is a little on the sweet side for my tastes. I am a lover of dark chocolate. But the cake tasted just right with a strong cup of black coffee.
09/20/2009
Oh, this was divine. It looks good, it smells great, and it tastes even better. It doesn't hurt that it's a walk in the park to put together, too. I generally avoid cakes like this because they tend to be too dry, but this was just spectacular. I also added a bit of the boiled cider in the icing, which put it over the top. An absolute delight.
02/21/2009
I have made this cake many times and, couldn't even consider NOT using the frosting recipe for this sweet chunky cake. It just screams Autumn!
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