This is a recipe my mom used to make occasionally, and I asked her for the recipe last year upon remembering how much I liked it. Not sure where she got it, but it’s super easy and really tasty. Since, as I’ve said, I’m not much of a pumpkin person, it’s nice to have an alternative fall baking option using apples (which I love). I’m not a huge fan of baked/cooked fruit—I much prefer it raw, crisp, and crunchy. However, in this cake, the apple is grated and becomes an almost seamless part of the cake.
.
The recipe wasn’t too bad to begin with, healthwise—after all, the batter is about 65% fresh apple, so how bad could it be? It does use some oil, which I prefer not to use in baking (or at least use as little of it as I can). I substituted most of the oil with unsweetened applesauce, which is a fine substitute in any recipe, but it works especially well here considering it’s apple cake. I’ve also made this before with white whole wheat flour, but it does affect the taste and appearance a bit, so I opted for all-purpose this time. I cut down the sugar because when you’re working with sweet apples, you don’t really need mass amounts of added sugar. If you’re using a more tart apple, you might want to add a bit more sugar.
.
Speaking of apples, there are lots of things to consider when picking baking apples. In this case, I went with Macintosh apples. They’re fairly soft, sweet, and juicy. If you can avoid it, don’t use a really crisp, tart apple for this. You want something that will integrate smoothly with the batter, and you certainly don’t want a crunchy cake. Choose your apples wisely!
