Easy-as-Pie Apple Cake
Published December 1, 2015
- Total Time
- 1¼ hours
- Rating
- Comments
- Read comments
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Ingredients
1 cup/125 grams unbleached all-purpose flour, more as needed
¼ teaspoon baking soda
¼ teaspoon kosher salt
2 ounces/57 grams unsalted butter (½ stick), softened
1 cup/200 grams granulated sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
¼ teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg
1 large egg
2 cups diced apples (from about 2 apples)
½ cup/57 grams toasted pecans, chopped (optional)
Preparation
- Step 1
Heat oven to 350 degrees. In a large bowl, whisk together flour, baking soda and salt.
- Step 2
In a mixer bowl fitted with the paddle attachment, cream butter, sugar, vanilla, cinnamon and nutmeg. Add the egg and mix until smooth.
- Step 3
With the mixer on low, beat in dry ingredients until smooth (at this point the batter will be quite thick). Fold in the apples and nuts by hand.
- Step 4
Spread batter evenly into a greased and floured 9-inch fluted tart or quiche pan with 1-inch sides. (Alternatively you can use a 9-inch cake pan with 1-inch sides.) Bake until cake is golden brown and a toothpick inserted in the center of the cake comes out clean, 40 to 45 minutes. Let cool 10 minutes before serving.
Private Notes
Comments
This recipe appeared in one of my grandmother's community cookbooks (and I'm no youngster, so it's an old recipe). It's about the only cake I make. I make it with apples, pears, rhubarb, plums, blobs of ripe hachiya persimmon; I use different spices and sometimes cocoa; I use olive oil in place of butter; I add up to half of different flours. It's a wonderful recipe.
In name of all of us from the Old World, I would like to thank the author of this recipe for adding the amounts in grams. All hail universally understandable measurements!
"...a greased and floured 9-inch fluted tart or quiche pan..." is round. That's not the same as a 9" square pan which is 81 sq. in. The area of a 9" round pan is ~63.5 sq. in. An 8X8 pan has almost the same area as a 9" round pan.
Made this once before and thought it needed a few changes to accomodate gluten & dairy free eaters. I made it with gluten free flour and almond flour, olive oil instead of butter, a teaspoon of pumpkin pie spice, and 1/4 teaspoon of cardamom, 1/2 the sugar, used 2-3 cups of diced apple which I tossed with cinnamon and a drizzle of maple syrup....a wonderful welcome to Fall!
I made this for the family this evening and everyone loved it. My brother said this definitely needs to go in rotation!!
I’m trying not to eat half of this, straight out of the oven, before I go to bed. Sooo good.
Karen, we couldn't cool it down fast enought, a super winner!

