Cinnamony, sweet (but not too), cozy Apple Cake

Chunks of apples dot this simple, rustic apple cake. Recipe below.

THE STREETS KEEP FILLING UP WITH SNOW. And while our neighbors are really great about clearing their walks, there still is plenty of scary ice out there, and plenty of mounds and ramparts of snow at all the corners, and more snow is coming down as I write this, and the deep freeze is definitely here. Two days ago, we only went outside to finish excavating the car. (And yes, when we drove it out, we set out dibs to save our spot. We do live in Chicago.) Yesterday and today I didn’t go outside at all, except when a pal brought over our Girl Scout Cookie delivery (thanks again, Al!).

So turning on the oven for something that will warm up the house is definitely the thing. This apple cake comes together quickly, smells divine, and is great as a homey dessert, or for breakfast or a mid-day snack along with a cup of coffee or a nice hot cup of Earl Grey tea (or, if you are me, with a nice glass of cold buttermilk).

When I was working on this, I looked at a couple of dozen apple cakes online. Our version has a lot less sugar than most, although to my taste it is still definitely sweet. And the volume of apple is right—not too scant, not too soggy. Try it. The recipe makes a 9×13-inch cake. And yes, you can cut this in half—see the Kitchen Notes for a bit more advice about that.

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Apple Cake

Chunks of apples dot this simple, rustic apple cake.

Course Dessert

Cuisine American

Equipment

• A 9x13-inch baking pan

Ingredients

For the apples:

• 4 cups of apples, peeled, cored and diced (see Kitchen Notes)
• 1/3 cup sugar
• 1 tablespoon cinnamon
• 1 tablespoon lemon juice

For the batter:

• 3 cups unbleached white flour
• 1 scant cup white sugar
• 1 loose packed cup brown sugar
• 1 teaspoon cinnamon
• 1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 tablespoon baking powder
• 1 tablespoon vanilla extract
• 4 large eggs
• 1/3 cup buttermilk
• 1/2 cup neutral cooking oil
• 1/2 cup melted butter (see Kitchen Notes)

Instructions

• Prepare the apples. Peel, core and chop them and put them in a bowl. Toss with the sugar, cinnamon and lemon juice, and set aside.
• Generously grease the baking pan with oil and preheat the oven to 350ºF.
• Prepare the batter. Mix together the dry ingredients in a large bowl. If using butter, melt it and let cool a bit—you want just barely melted, not sizzling hot. Crack the eggs into another bowl and whisk them, then add the vanilla and buttermilk, oil and butter, and mix together.
• Make a well in the center of the dry ingredients. Add the wet ingredients all at once. Fold and mix everything together until everything is just combined. Add the apples and lightly mix. Pour everything into the baking pan and put it in the center of the oven.
• Bake about 45 minutes for a metal pan, 55-60 minutes for a glass pan. It is done when the top is lightly golden, the cake just barely begins to pull away from the sides and a tester inserted in the center comes out clean.
• Serve warm or at room temperature. If you are feeling lavish, add whipped cream or a scoop of vanilla ice cream. But to me, this is fine on its own.

Kitchen Notes

The size. Yes, you can cut it in half—in that case, bake it in an 8x8-inch pan and check at 25/30 minutes.

Oil? Butter? You may use all butter, or all of a neutral cooking oil like grapeseed oil, or melted plant butter, or a mix of these. I like this with half oil, half butter.

Which apples? A cooking apple that holds its shape well is ideal. For this, I used a combination of Jazz and Rome apples, because that is what we have this week. Jonathans, Johnagolds, Braeburns, Honeycrisp, Golden Delicious and McIntosh are all excellent choices. If you happen to have Granny Smiths, which are very tart, you will want to add more sugar to the chopped apple mixture and reduce the lemon juice. Overall, avoid Red Delicious apples, which is a good all-around life tip anyway since they are awful for both cooking and eating out of hand.