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By Sarah Condley

Columnist

The photo of Grandmother’s Apple Cake, which appeared in the June 2021 issue of Kentucky Living magazine, looked like an old-fashioned cake. When I ran across the recipe in my stack of desserts to try, I pulled it out and sat it on the counter, intending to make it soon. After reading the recipe’s note, I realized it is indeed an old-fashioned cake. The recipe came from Tim Farmer’s wife, Nikki’s grandmother. Nikki’s grandparents owned The Statesman restaurant in Pennsylvania, and I assume it was on their menu. The recipe notes also stated this is one of Tim Farmer’s favorite recipes.

Since this is an old recipe, I had high expectations that it would be good. The recipe sat on the counter for a couple of weeks before I finally got around to making it when I had a few apples.

I started by peeling, coring, and slicing the apples. I was going to use the 9×13 inch baking dish and, for whatever reason, quartered the apples and then halved each quarter. 

The recipe is simple because you place everything in a bowl and stir. I opted to mix the batter and then added the apples. The batter was thick, and I had to spread it into the greased baking dish. It looked like too many apples in the batter, but I figured Nikki’s grandmother knew what she was talking about because she probably made this recipe hundreds of times.

The cake went into the oven and baked at 350 degrees for an hour, and when I removed it from the oven, it had a nice golden-brown color and, of course, smelled great.

After supper, I was anxious to try this cake. I totally forgot to sprinkle the top with powdered sugar and instead scooped some vanilla ice cream on top. Brad ate his plain.

This warm cake was delicious. The top was crunchy, and I liked that; however, the next day, I guess because of the moistness of the apples, the top was no longer crunchy. Despite that, the cake still had a great flavor, even at room temperature. Because I made the cake in a 9 x 13-inch pan, it was thin, and I liked that aspect.

We shared this cake with our daughter and son-in-law. They thought it was delicious and didn’t hesitate to keep a few slices for themselves.

This cake is simple and easy to put together; it is a “Nailed It” recipe. I look forward to making it again this fall when apples are at their peak.

Grandmother’s Apple Cake

Ingredients:

• 2 cups all-purpose flour

• 1 1/2 cups sugar

• 1 teaspoon cinnamon

• 1 1/2 teaspoon baking soda

• 1 teaspoon salt

• 4 apples, peeled and quartered

• 3/4 cup oil

• 2 eggs, beaten

• 1 teaspoon vanilla

Directions:

Mix together all ingredients until combined.  Pour into a greased baking dish (9×13 inch or 9×9 if you prefer a thicker cake) and bake for one hour at 350 degrees.  Let cool and serve topped with powdered sugar.  Will be very thick and dense.