Apple Cake with Brown Sugar Icing

Cookbook Category: Cakes

Yes, it is possible to make an apple cake without cinnamon. This cake is high and light, moist and tender, and tastes wonderful. The brown sugar icing is really more like a caramel sauce. It really completes this cake.

For the Cake:

3 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1-1/2 cups canola oil
3 eggs
2-1/4 cups sugar
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
2 cups chopped pecans
3 cups finely chopped apples (peeled) OR one 20-ounce can of Comstock sliced apples (not Apple Pie Filling), drained and diced

For the Brown Sugar Icing:

1/2 cup butter
1/2 cup brown sugar, packed
1/4 cup milk

Preheat oven to 350°F. Grease and flour a 10-inch tube pan. (Do not mistake a 10-inch tube pan for a Bundt pan; this recipe will overflow a Bundt pan.)

Combine flour, baking soda and salt. Stir well, and set aside.

Combine oil, eggs, sugar and vanilla. Beat at medium speed for 3 minutes. Add dry ingredients at low speed. Batter will be thick. Add pecans and apples at low speed.

Pour batter into prepared tube pan, and bake at 350°F for 1 hour and 30 minutes, or until cake tester comes out clean when inserted in center of cake. Cool in pan for 10 minutes, then invert on serving plate and remove pan. Drizzle Brown Sugar Icing over warm cake.

Brown Sugar Icing:

Combine butter, brown sugar and milk in a heavy saucepan. Over medium-high heat, bring mixture to a full boil. Cook, stirring constantly, for 3 minutes. Let cool to lukewarm.

Makes one 10-inch cake.

Prep time: 30 minutes; Cooking time: 1 hour 30 minutes; Total time: 2 hours