Apple Cake

Apple Cake

At the Market these days are apples, apples, apples! Apples galore! This past Saturday, from Loretta Sandoval of Zulu’s Petals, I bought some of the best winesaps I’ve ever had – tart-sweet and crisp and juicy! One of my favorite ways to eat an apple is simply to cut it into slices and eat them with slices of very sharp raw cheddar cheese, which I promptly did as soon as I got home.

A couple of days after that, this recipe for apple cake from Lisa Fain’s Homesick Texan appeared by email on my screen, and it looks so tasty and seems easy enough for a non-baker like me, that it’s next on my list for enjoying apples from the Market.

The Recipe

Ingredients

• 1 cup vegetable oil
• 4 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted
• 2 large eggs, beaten
• 2 cups granulated sugar
• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
• 1/2 pound about 3 baking apples, such as Braeburn, Granny Smith, or McIntosh, peeled, cored, and cut into 1/4” dice
• 1 cup chopped pecans
• 3 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon kosher salt
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

PREPARATION

1. Preheat the oven to 350°F and lightly grease a 9×13 pan or a 12-inch cast-iron skillet.
2. In a large bowl, stir by hand the oil, melted butter, eggs, sugar, and vanilla. Stir in the apple and pecans. Add the flour, salt, baking soda, and cinnamon to the bowl, and then stir until combined. Please note that this is a very thick batter, in fact it’s more like a cookie batter. And while it may seem like it’s unable to contain the apples, don’t worry, it will be fine.
3. Spoon the batter into the baking pan or skillet, patting down the top so it’s even. Bake for 40-45 minutes until the top is lightly browned and an inserted knife comes out clean.

Note

This recipe can easily be halved. If you choose to do so, bake in an 8×8 pan or an 8-inch cast-iron skillet, and reduce the baking time by 5 minutes.

This locally inspired recipe is brought to you by Pam Walker. Pam is an avid home cook, writer, and local farm and food activist who is also a board member of the Santa Fe Farmers’ Market Institute. Thank you, Pam, for helping inspire us to use locally sourced ingredients!