Bake

Brown Sugar Apple Cake With Pecans & Dried Figs

December  4, 2018
4.7
3 Ratings
Photo by Mark Weinberg
  • Prep time 25 minutes
  • Cook time 1 hour 15 minutes
  • Makes 1 Bundt cake
Author Notes

This chock-full-of-mix-ins apple cake was inspired by the very-genius, totally-adaptable Teddie’s Apple Cake. I swapped in whole-wheat flour, brown sugar, pecans, and figs, which add up to an ultra-cozy slice. Serve with big dollops of sour cream. —Emma Laperruque

What You'll Need
Ingredients
  • 1 tablespoon unsalted butter, more or less, for greasing pan
  • 2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour, plus more for dusting pan
  • 1/2 cup whole-wheat flour
  • 1 1/2 cups vegetable oil
  • 1 1/4 cups light brown sugar
  • 3/4 cup granulated sugar
  • 3 large eggs
  • 1 teaspoon kosher salt
  • 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
  • 1 teaspoon baking soda
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
  • 3 cups peeled, cored, and sliced or chopped tart apples like Honeycrisp or Granny Smith
  • 1 cup toasted, chopped pecans
  • 1 cup diced dried figs
Directions
  1. Heat the oven to 350°F. Butter and flour a 9-inch tube or Bundt pan.
  2. Beat the oil and sugar together in an electric mixer fitted with a paddle attachment. After 5 minutes, add the eggs and beat until the mixture is homogeneous and creamy.
  3. Meanwhile, whisk together the flours, salt, cinnamon, and baking soda in a bowl. With the machine on low, stir these dry ingredients into the batter. Add the vanilla, apples, pecans, and figs. Stir until just combined.
  4. Transfer the cake batter 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 turning out.
  5. Serve at room temperature with sour cream to dollop on top.

See what other Food52ers are saying.

  • Courtney Lyons-Garcia
    Courtney Lyons-Garcia
  • Pat
    Pat
  • Aybüke
    Aybüke
Emma was the food editor at Food52. She created the award-winning column, Big Little Recipes, and turned it into a cookbook in 2021. These days, she's a senior editor at Bon Appétit, leading digital cooking coverage. Say hello on Instagram at @emmalaperruque.

3 Reviews

Pat October 16, 2022
The batter is very thick but it turned out great. So delicious. It’s a recipe I will make again for sure. I followed the recipe to a t with no changes.
 
Courtney L. January 12, 2021
This came out dry and crumbly despite using duck eggs.
 
Aybüke October 27, 2020
I made this recipe, but my batter was too thick that i had to add milk. Result was perfect! The caramel smell comes from brown sguar is so good. Next time i will make the carrot- raisin- walnut version. Thanks for sharing this.