spiced apple cake

Ingredients

apple mixture

About 6 medium apples (total weight between 2 and 2.5 pounds)

1 tablespoon ground cinnamon

1/8 teaspoon ground nutmeg

1/4 teaspoon ground cardamom

2 tablespoons brown sugar

2 tablespoons maple syrup

cake mixture

4 large eggs

1/2 cup (100 grams) brown sugar (increase to 3/4 cup if using tart apples)

1 cup vegetable oil

1/4 cup (2 ounces) fresh orange juice

3/4 cup (6 ounces) unsweetened apple sauce

2 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract

1 tablespoon baking powder

1/2 teaspoon ground ginger

1/2 teaspoon cinnamon

1 teaspoon salt

2 3/4 cups (345 grams) flour

Instructions

1. Heat oven to 350° F. Grease a 9" springform pan.

2. Peel, core and chop apples into chunks (about 1/2 inch across, but slightly smaller or larger is okay) and place in a medium mixing bowl.

3. Pour spices, brown sugar, and maple syrup on top of apples and mix well to combine. Set apples aside.

4. In a large mixing bowl, beat together eggs, brown sugar, oil, orange juice, apple sauce, and vanilla.

5. Sprinkle baking powder, ginger, cinnamon, and salt over the mixture and mix together until well combined.

6. Add flour, and mix in slowly until just combined.

7. Pour half of batter into pan.

8. Spread approximately 2/3 of apples over it.

9. Pour the remaining batter over the apples and arrange the remaining apples on top.

10. Bake for about 90 minutes, until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. The more apples you use and the juicier your apples, the longer it will take to bake! I recommend beginning to check for doneness one hour into baking time.

11. Cool before serving.

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About this recipe

This recipe is an adaptation of a Smitten Kitchen recipe that I first made in fall 2020. I loved it so much I've probably made this cake four or five times in the past year, but I've tweaked it a bit each time until I arrived at my perfect version. I upped the number of apples, added apple sauce, threw in more spices, slashed the amount of sugar and swapped white sugar for brown sugar. The final result is an incredibly moist celebration of apples that you'll enjoy for dessert but won't feel guilty eating for breakfast.

This recipe was updated in October 2022 to clarify some ingredients and simplify the instructions!