Deb’s Mom’s Apple Cake

Have you been over to Smitten Kitchen? It’s a seriously drool-inducing food blog that I love. She makes the most amazing things and has some great photographs. And, what makes her even more perfectly hate-inducing is that she has the worlds smallest kitchen. Man, I feel like I have nothing to complain about after seeing her tiny tiny kitchen.

Hopefully I didn’t lose all of you to browse Deb’s blog for hours on end… Back to what I was talking about: Deb’s mom’s Apple Cake. I saw this and knew instantly that it would be a perfect fall cake. And then I found the perfect opportunity to make it. Our cooking club chose cinnamon as the theme this month. I came up with a list of about 8 recipes I wanted to try that highlight cinnamon and then I let Hubby chose which one I should make. He didn’t even have to think about it once he saw this cake.

I wish they had invented a way to share smells through a computer. Maybe some day. All I can tell you is that this cake smells amazing while it’s baking. I ended up baking the cake for 1 hour and 20 minutes. I had a hard time telling when it was done. I stuck a knife in it and there was still some gooeyness but I didn’t want to overbake the cake…

(Deb’s) Mom’s Apple Cake – from Smitten Kitchen
Printable Recipe
6 apples, Mom uses McIntosh apples, peeled, cored, and chopped – I used 3 McIntosh and 3 Golden Delicious
1 tablespoon cinnamon
5 tablespoons sugar

2 3/4 cups flour, sifted
1 tablespoon baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
1 cup vegetable oil
2 cups sugar
1/4 cup orange juice
2 1/2 teaspoons vanilla
4 eggs
1 cup walnuts, chopped (optional) – I omitted

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease a tube pan. Peel, core and chop apples into chunks. Toss with cinnamon and sugar and set aside.

Stir together flour, baking powder and salt in a large mixing bowl. In a separate bowl, whisk together oil, orange juice, sugar and vanilla. Mix wet ingredients into the dry ones, then add eggs, one at a time. Scrape down the bowl to ensure all ingredients are incorporated.

Pour half of batter into prepared pan. Spread half of apples over it. Pour the remaining batter over the apples and arrange the remaining apples on top. Bake for about 1 1/2 hours, or until a tester comes out clean.

By the way, I don’t think a tester would ever come clean from this cake. Do you see that gooey goodness on the top there. That’s half baked dough and it’s amazing. Seriously, the best part of this cake. I checked my cake at an hour, then every 10 minutes. It baked for 1 hour, 20 minutes and it was a little over done on the bottom. I think next time I’ll do it for an hour and ten minutes. I’ll also make three layers of batter and apples. And don’t you worry, I’ll definitely be making this again soon!

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16 Responses to “Strawberry Champagne Layer Cake”

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    1
    Sabina — December 20, 2013 at 1:34 pm

    it looks delicious!

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    Tracy | Pale Yellow — December 21, 2013 at 4:48 pm

    Beautiful cake! I can’t get over the ending either, too soon!

    • beantownbaker — December 26th, 2013 @ 10:56 am

      Right! It happens every year, but I feel like this year flew by especially quickly.

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    Megan {Country Cleaver} — December 22, 2013 at 7:06 pm

    Wow – super gorgeous!! I’m so glad you love this cake as much as I do! Happy Christmas and almost New Years, doll!!

    • beantownbaker — December 26th, 2013 @ 10:58 am

      Happy Holidays to you too!

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    Nutmeg Nanny — December 23, 2013 at 10:13 pm

    This cake looks so beautiful and I bet it tastes divine 🙂 can’t wait to try it!

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    Shannon — December 27, 2013 at 3:11 pm

    definitely perfect for new years! i can’t believe this year is almost over, either- crazy!

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    Jennifer Essad — December 30, 2013 at 3:12 pm

    this is perfect for our holiday-the Florida strawberries have been so sweet – thank you

    • beantownbaker — January 2nd, 2014 @ 1:31 pm

      I wish I lived somewhere where the strawberry season was longer than a few weeks…

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    Jennifer Essad — December 30, 2013 at 3:16 pm

    I was just thinking, what if we made this w/pink champagne?

    • beantownbaker — January 2nd, 2014 @ 1:30 pm

      I think it would be great with pink champagne!

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    Jennifer Essad — January 2, 2014 at 1:40 pm

    I know what you mean we grew up and lived in Michigan all our lives. When our kids were little I would take them to the farms to pick blueberries, raspberries and apples. The strawberry season was always short or not at all due to the wet springs we so often had. But we did get farm fresh ones at our local farm market. I now live in Central Florida where I’m learning so much about fresh grown foods. We live a few blocks from Oviedo where DUDA farms are. They are known especially for their celery but so many other fresh veggies. We have a few local farms where you can pick strawberries and blueberries. The gulf coast really has a lot of strawberry farms. On Tuesday our local Publix store had Florida fresh strawberries on sale. I just cleaned them last night (I think my husband took about 1/2 of them to work) We are fortunate, but I still miss Michigan and all the farming communities in our area.

    • beantownbaker — January 4th, 2014 @ 10:38 am

      Wow – I bet things in FL are very different than Michigan! We can usually get strawberries at the farmers market as well. But again, it’s SUCH a short season. Last year we missed it completely. I’m still adjusting to the different seasonal timing in Ohio vs what it was in Boston. We always make a point to pick strawberries, blueberries, peaches, and apples. Peaches and strawberries are two of my favorite summertime fruits.

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    sell my car bristol — January 29, 2014 at 1:21 am

    Woah, thanks a bunch for sharing!

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    Jason — April 2, 2016 at 10:21 pm

    I made this cake for my girlfriend’s surprise birthday party, and it was freaking delicious. Granted this was my first cake I have ever baked, but there wasn’t enough frosting to cover the whole thing and keep part of the actual cake from showing through. I don’t even like cake, and this was bomb!

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    Breda Fuller — December 27, 2016 at 4:58 pm

    This CAKE IS THE BOMB!!!!, I found this online in 2014. I showed it to my twin sister, I said, I won’t this for our B-Day, but we didn’t have it until September 2015, and again this year. So delicious, my son Loves it as well, we’re making it tomorrow December 28th 2015 for his birthday. Yummmmy!

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