Apple snacking cake

This comforting apple cake, moist and soft, has as many apples as a pie. Bake it in a tube pan for lovely presentation or a regular Pyrex for easy snacking squares. Adapted from the ever-inspiring Smitten Kitchen.

Apple ingredients

• 6 apples (a bit of tart is nice, eg Pink Lady, Granny Smith, McIntosh)
• 1 tablespoon cinnamon
• 5 tablespoons sugar

Cake ingredients

• 2 3/4 cups flour
• 2 cups sugar
• 1 tablespoon baking powder
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 cup vegetable oil
• 1/4 cup orange juice
• 2 1/2 teaspoons vanilla
• 4 eggs
• 1 cup walnuts, chopped (optional)

Preparation

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease a 9″ tube pan or 13″x9″ baking dish.
2. Peel, core and cut apples into chunks (about 1/2″). Toss with cinnamon and sugar and set aside.
3. Stir together flour, sugar, baking powder and salt in a large mixing bowl. Add oil, orange juice and vanilla, stirring well. Add eggs, one at a time. Scrape down the bowl to ensure all ingredients are incorporated. Fold in walnuts, if using.
4. Pour half of batter into prepared pan. Spread half of apples over it. Pour the remaining batter over the apples and arrange the remaining apples on top. Bake until a tester comes out clean (about 1 1/2 hours for tube pan; 55-60 minutes for 13″x9″ pan). If using a tube pan, cool completely before running knife between cake and pan, and unmolding onto a platter. Dust with powdered sugar if you like before serving.

Notes

• When peeling apples, I find it easiest to remove a circle of peel around the top and bottom of the apple. Then it’s easy to peel strips from the top circle to the bottom one.
• This is a moist cake that keeps well at room temperature for a couple of days. After that it should be refrigerated.
• Any neutral-tasting oil will work well here. Costco in California carries avocado oil, which I really love for its high smoking point, neutral taste and monounsaturated fats, but it’s not a widely available option.
• Low-fat version: I’ve used 1/2 cup applesauce in place of 1/2 the oil, which works well.

Here’s a link back to the post and pictures.