Southern Living has the best recipe for Chunky Apple Cake that I have ever tried! A good friend, Suzanne, served this at our church's deacon meeting one Sunday afternoon. She had iced it with brown sugar icing (cream cheese added). It was so fruity with thick slices of apple and had just a hint of Cinnamon. Another foodie friend, Laurie, had also made this recipe and encouraged me to try it. She said she always tops it with warm caramel sauce. I'm so bad about trying new recipes and was thrilled to have a double recommendation. They were right..this was a ' melt in your mouth..can't stop eating it' kind of dessert!
Due to the fact that Rebekah's birthday, was the FOURTH one our family had celebrated in October, I had mentioned that I wanted to make a new dessert as the whole family was very tired of birthday cake: this recipe was a HUGE hit! We all thought it was one of the yummiest desserts we had tried in a long time. We served it warm..and it came out of the oven smelling like heaven. (I gained a pound or two after that weekend..sigh... a little sliver here...another sliver there. Oops!)
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The last week of October was our week for guests, I guess. :o) We also had my daughter-in-law's sister and husband from Germany over for dinner while there were here in the country. Knowing how much the Germans love cake and pastry, I was pretty certain they would enjoy this. In fact, Anna and Mattias..and Ebeth and Andrew each had second helpings! Of course, I was careful to offer whipped cream for a topping and served it warm. While we were in Germany, we discovered that whipped cream is a favorite accompaniment to any dessert.
This is my new 'stand-by' for visitors and I plan to make this and tweak it often this holiday season. It's really pretty simple. The only tedious step is peeling the four granny smith apples. and stirring long enough to get the apple slices coated with the 'dough'. I added six apples because mine seemed small. We wanted more fruit.
As I've told you before, I'm a 'no-nonsense' cook. I don't like 'playing in the kitchen'. I want to make great dishes..that are quick to put together but come out of the oven tasting delicious. So I was very pleased with this recipe. It was really incredibly simple to make. First you peel the apples. I cut mine into slices with an apple corer AFTER peeling--not before! (Yes, I did it the wrong way first.) My friends said to slice them into at LEAST 1/4" thick slices.
If you aren't allergic to nuts..then chops those and measure out the rest of your ingredients.
Now melt your butter in the microwave.
Next put the two eggs, butter, vanilla and a cup of sugar into a bowl....
and stir until you have a smooth, creamy paste.
Measure out your dry ingredients: cinnamon, flour, baking soda, and salt.
Stir them together with a fork to blend thoroughly.
Now stir the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients to make a smooth paste.
Finally, you can add the apple slices and the nuts. You will need to stir a lot to get the slices coated.
Just keep stirring until all the apple slices are as coated as you can get them. My friends all agreed this was the more tedious step.
It really doesn't matter if some of the apple slices aren't covered. Just spread it all, as evenly as you can in a GREASED 9 x 13 casserole dish. I had the fun task of scraping out my dough..washing the dish, and THEN spraying it with Pan on one of my days of cooking this dish. Yucky!
Ingredients
- 1/2 cup butter, melted
- 2 cups sugar
- 2 large eggs
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 2 cups all-purpose flour
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
- 4 Granny Smith apples, peeled and sliced
- 1 cup chopped walnuts, toasted
- Cream Cheese Frosting
- Chopped walnuts, toasted (optional)
Preparation
Stir together first 4 ingredients in a large bowl until blended.
Combine flour and next 3 ingredients; add to butter mixture, stirring until blended. Stir in apple slices and 1 cup walnuts. Spread into a greased 13- x 9-inch pan.
Bake at 350° for 45 minutes or until a wooden pick inserted in center comes out clean. Cool completely in pan on a wire rack. Spread with Cream Cheese Frosting; sprinkle with walnuts, if desired.
Southern Living, SEPTEMBER 2001
MMmmm!!! Doesn't it smell great?! Now, if you want to save time..serve it warm and top it with vanilla icecream or whipped cream. (We all agreed the caramel topping was too sweet.) But this cake tastes fabulous cooled and topped with cream cheese icing. This is a great dish to take to get togethers this holiday season!
What's your favorite holiday dessert recipe? I'm sure we would all love to try yours. :o) Just enter your link here...
Happy Homemaking!
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