Teddie's Apple Cake
Author Notes: Consider this the holiday season's lovable anytime cake -- breakfast, snack, and show-stopping dessert all in one. Serve it with coffee for breakfast, with whipped cream for dessert. Gift it; freeze it; portion it out for a bake sale. Feel free to swap in booze-soaked raisins or darker sugars, whole wheat or olive oil -- this cake is virtually indestructible. Adapted very slightly from The New York Times and Jean Hewitt. —Genius Recipes
Serves 8
- Butter for greasing pan
- 3 cups all-purpose flour, plus more for dusting pan
- 1 1/2 cups vegetable oil
- 2 cups sugar
- 3 eggs
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1 teaspoon cinnamon
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 1 teaspoon vanilla
- 3 cups peeled, cored, and thickly sliced tart apples like Honeycrisp or Granny Smith
- 1 cup chopped walnuts
- 1 cup raisins
- Vanilla ice cream or whipped cream (optional)
- Preheat oven to 350°F. Butter and flour a 9-inch tube pan. Beat the oil and sugar together in a mixer (fitted with a paddle attachment) while assembling the remaining ingredients. After about 5 minutes, add the eggs and beat until the mixture is creamy.
- Sift together 3 cups of flour, the salt, cinnamon and baking soda. Stir into the batter. Add the vanilla, apples, walnuts and raisins and stir until combined.
- Transfer the mixture to the prepared pan. Bake for 1 hour and 15 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Cool in the pan before lifting out. Serve at room temperature with vanilla ice cream or whipped cream, if desired.
- This recipe is a Community Pick!
More Great Recipes: Desserts|Cakes|Breakfast & Brunch|Fruit|Ice Cream
7 days ago Susan Nicolazzo Norton
I do not have a"mixer", so I must stir ingredients by hand.Would you give me any instructions in preparing the batter? I would love to try this recipe using a bundt pan. Thanks!!!
7 days ago MarinA
I just made this yesterday, it's delicious! My husband says it's the best autumn cake I've ever made!
8 days ago alyssasol
This cake is truly indestructible- my oven caught on fire while it was baking and it still turned out great
3 months ago Maureen Letocha
I've been making this recipe since it appeared in the NYT in 1973! That's 43 years! I've made it with different apples, oils, flours, nuts and raisins and in every pan I own! You cannot ruin this cake! It is my husband's favorite. I usually use a tube pan, sprayed with PAM, and after cooling it, cut into quarters, wrap and freeze. It's always fine. I haven't made it vegan, but I think it would be just delicious...
I cut the apples on the "short side" of the wedge, so they're smaller. Sometimes I've shredded them...
This is my "funeral cake". I drop it off with instructions about how to freeze it, but there's never anything left. I almost always have one in the freezer. Not now! It's July, so it's blueberry pound cake followed by peach pound cake until the apples come in.
It certainly serves 16- 20 if you cut it in half and then cut in slices.
It's cake! Make it and enjoy...or give it away.
3 months ago Angela Grace Milburn
Maureen I wager your house smells amazing absolutely all the time!! All that baking!! : )
5 months ago GAIL IN ENGLAND, UK
That will be my smilies. Feel i canot write without using them. Bad habit from the girls texting me.
5 months ago GAIL IN ENGLAND, UK
Ok i now see why.
thank you for your help ?
5 months ago GAIL IN ENGLAND, UK
Thank u sabele for the visual image ??
5 months ago GAIL IN ENGLAND, UK
Ok panic over lady next to me answered my question.
So my question is can i make this in a cake tin ?
Again thank you. !
5 months ago sabele
I never have, but I think it's *possible*. The original article this appeared in said that the tube was necessary because the cake is so dense. It really is a dense cake (and it rises a lot, which is part of why the cake tin isn't so great).
5 months ago GAIL IN ENGLAND, UK
Sitting in supermarket having a coffee before shopping is i expect a bit late to ask what is a 9 inch tube pan. Can anyone help ?
Thank you.
5 months ago sabele
http://ecx.images-amazon...
5 months ago sabele
I'm not sure that that worked... I guess you can't put pictures up in the comments.
5 months ago Pamela_in_Tokyo
https://www.amazon.com... At Amazon.
5 months ago Pamela_in_Tokyo
It is a large, or tallish, cake pan that has a tube in the center, so the cake gets some heat/cooking in the center too. I don't have one. I tried to make these kinds of cakes and a 9 x 13 pan if possible. It I tried to make these kinds of cakes and a 9 x 13 pan if possible. It depends on how much better there is.
5 months ago Pamela_in_Tokyo
Sorry, bad proof reading: I try to make these kinds of cakes in a 9 X 13 inch pan if possible. It depends on how much batter there is.
9 months ago Shen Mcleod
I don't have a mixer. I have an amazing blender and also hands and spoons. What should I use to make this cake?
9 months ago Sthornenyc
Hi there, I make this cake all the time and love it. I would not use a blender but just spoons if that's all you have. It's such a forgiving cake that I think it will turn out well mixed by hand. Good luck!
9 months ago Eva Vooijs
Hi Shen, I've often made this cake by hand. A strong wooden or metal spoon is just fine. One tip: warm the sugar and oil slightly so that you lose the grain and shorten the time you need to mix it to lose the grain.
It's a good work out ;)
10 months ago blackjack
Has anyone ever baked and frozen this cake? If so how did it taste when thawed and served?
10 months ago sabele
Yes! It freezes very well!
10 months ago blackjack
Thanks sabele.
10 months ago Mary Gillis
I whipped up this cake at the last minute to take to a birthday party for a gluten-free friend. I used the suggested changes I found in the comments (1 c dark brown sugar, double the cinnamon, replace the oil with butter and greek yogurt) and also replaced the wheat flour with a gluten-free blend. The stakes were high and this cake came through! It was a big hit with everyone and I was so proud and relieved. Thank you to the recipe-writer and (crucially) to all those who shared their experiences making this cake!
10 months ago Elena Yusing Chan
wonderful recipe, versatile and yummy, absolutely gonna make it again! thanks for sharing
10 months ago Peter Gagnon
I made this cake for Thanksgiving and it was a huge hit. I typically make a chocolate raspberry cake for Christmas but have decided to make this apple cake again. I found this cake to be better after sitting covered for a couple of days. I'm making it early this time.
7 days ago Suzanne Truong Hoyer
What chocolate raspberry cake recipe do you use? Sounds delicious!
10 months ago SophieL
This recipe was in my "saved" file for awhile and I shouldn't have waited so long to make it because it's fabulous. As the header notes said, it's quite forgiving, and taking some of the suggestions, I did the following: AP flour & whole wheat flour; dark Muscovado sugar & granulated sugar; subbed Penzey's cake spice* for the cinnamon; instead of raisins, used currants soaked in apple brandy; and subbed pecans for the walnuts. I also diced the apples instead of thick slices. Baked in two mini-bundt pans and a loaf pan (one for me and the others to give as Christmas presents) and kept an eye on the oven to rotate the pans and to test for doneness. This recipe is a keeper!
*Highly recommend Penzey's cake spice; it's a blend of cinnamon, star anise, nutmeg, allspice, ginger and cloves. Adds a depth to baked goods above and beyond cinnamon.
11 months ago Pamela_in_Tokyo
How many apples make 3 cups of thickly sliced apples, I wonder? Apples here in Japan awe vey large.
10 months ago Poodleranch
Maybe two large? I just used 5, but they were very very small.
11 months ago Lori
Using a stand mixer is the way to go. The batter is extremely thick but be patient. Scoop it into a well oiled and floured pan. Truly special - makes you look like a gourmet baker. Will bake in a springform pan next time.
11 months ago Adelucchi
Thanks so much for this recipe! I made this today for our band practice tonight to rave reviews. Some mentioning "this reminds me of my mother's cakes. ".The ultimate compliment in my book! I made a few tweaks; whole wheat and equal amount AP flours; dried cranberries, and raw sunflower seeds. Used the last tree ripened fruit from our fugi apples tree; splash of rum. Followed the remainder of directions as printed. Great recipe for anytime a great dessert is needed.
11 months ago LobsterBrieAvocadoBreath
Please comment on the types of apples you all have preferred. Honey Crisps are my all time fav--eat them daily, but I have not cooked with them. Those of you who loved the recipe, which apples have you used that tasted the BEST! Thanks!
12 months ago Bronwyn Louisa Adams
This cake was delicious. I followed the recipe exactly. However, I think it baked a bit too long. Next time I'll bake it for 45 minutes. It was difficult measuring thick slices of Apple. So, I'd add more apple slices and walnuts, too. Worth making again and sharing the recipe, as well.