With St. Patrick’s Day just around the corner, I had to share this simple Old Fashioned Apple Cake recipe.  Ireland has the perfect climate for growing apples, and they are beyond plentiful, therefore apple cake has always been known as a staple in many households there during apple harvest season. 

This particular apple cake recipe came from a friend of mine in Maryland and I’ve honestly never tasted a better apple cake anywhere.  This cake is packed full of apples, has a crunch from the pecans, is moist and tender, but slightly crispy around the edges.  It’s truly a symphony in your mouth!  You can serve on it’s own, with ice cream, whipping cream, whipped cream, or with more traditional custard.

Apple cake is not a pretty cake, so while it may not scream “make me, I’m delicious,” you have to trust me that it is well worth your time.  You will find yourself making this over and over again and not just for dessert, but as a snacking cake too.  

A couple of tips for this recipe:

• This recipe makes two 9″ cakes.  I thought about halving the recipe for this post, but this cake freezes brilliantly and we always make the two and freeze one or give one away.  If you want to just make one, jump to the recipe card at the bottom of the post and you will see a 0.5 on the Ingredient line that will half it for you. 
• I very rarely buy kitchen tools that have just one purpose, but if you peel, core and slice a lot of apples, this tool is going to be your best friend.  The Johnny Apple Peeler cuts down my time so much when peeling and coring apples, and to be honest, it makes it really fun.  You just put the apple on the prongs, then turn the handle.  Just be sure to read the manual, it helps you make all the adjustments you need to make it work properly!
• You can honestly use just about any apples to make apple cake, but my favorites are Granny Smiths.  They are nice and tart and stand up to the baking without turning to mush.  I also enjoy making it with Gala, Fuji, Honeycrisp… they are all yummy in this cake!
• When dividing the mixture between the two pans, do it a spoonful at a time in each pan, that way you get all the apples in evenly and the last bit which is usually the more saucy part of the batter can be divided equally too.

Ingredients:

• 1 cup cold water
• 2 Tbsp lemon juice
• 4 cups chopped apples (I used Gala)
• 2 cups granulated sugar
• 2 tsp cinnamon
• 1/2 tsp nutmeg
• 1/2 cup canola oil
• 2 eggs
• 2 tsp vanilla
• 2 cups flour
• 2 tsp baking soda
• 1 tsp salt
• 1 cup chopped pecans

Instructions:

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.  Spray two 9″ cake pans with non-stick cooking spray, and line with parchment paper.
2. Place water and lemon juice in large mixing bowl and whisk together.
3. Peel and core apples and slice in to small bite size pieces.  Place the pieces of apple in the mixture of lemon juice and water while you continue to chop.  Toss all the pieces well in the lemon juice and water mixture then drain the apples and return to the mixing bowl.
4. Sprinkle the sugar, cinnamon and nutmeg over the apples and toss.  Set aside.
5. In a smaller mixing bowl, whisk the eggs, oil and vanilla together until light yellow and a little frothy.  Add to the apple mixture and stir.
6. In a separate bowl whisk together the flour, baking soda and salt.  Fold in to the apples and mix until everything is evenly combined.
7. Divide the mixture evenly between the two prepared pans.
8. Bake at 350 for 40 minutes.
9. Remove from the oven and let cool for 10 minutes before loosening the edges and removing them from the pans on to a cooling rack.
10. Serve with caramel drizzle, ice-cream, heavy cream, whipped cream, custard, or all of them! 🙂