Teddie's Apple Cake Recipe (2024)

I am SO OLD, I have this recipe snipped from the original 1973 NYTimes pasted onto a recipe card! Bar none - the BEST apple cake you'll ever make!

And reduce the sugar to at least 1 1/2 cups. Way to much sugar, like many American cakes.

This is the second time I have made it.... Delicious, but even tastier with the addition of the grated rind of one lemon. I also soaked my raisins in a bit of rum for one hour for flavour and also to plump them up. Both adjustments were tasty.

I've been making this cake for years and actually won a blue ribbon at a county fair with this recipe. I do make it in loaf pans or bundt, whichever I feel like at the time, but my oven is finicky and the baking time is not always correct. Always test, even if it looks done on the top. Finally, I've found that the recipe is made better by dusting the greased pan with sugar rather than flour. The sugar gives it the most delicious little crackle when fresh. Also, I omit the raisins.

I cut the sugar by 1/2 cup, use pecans instead of walnuts and use craisins instead of raisins. Use more apples and slice them smaller. It's the best cake, I have served it on thanksgiving, Christmas, rosh hashanah, brunch, breakfast. It's always a huge hit.

Try soaking the raisins in dark rum. Everything is better soaked in dark rum.

This cake may be more difficult than usual to remove, but in general, to remove a cake from a Bundt pan, use the steamy towel method (described e.g. here https://www.craftybaking.com/learn/baked-goods/cakes/types/bundt-cakes. Basically, put a towel in the sink and pour boiling water over it, just before you remove the cake from the oven. Sit the pan on this steamy towel for 10 seconds, then carefully invert onto a cooling rack.

Made this today.
I recommend reducing the sugar by half a cup. Way too sweet other wise. Also, cube apples rather than slice as it will bake more evenly.

I have been making this cake since 1973! I have sometimes cooked the apple slices briefly in advance in some of the oil to soften them slightly. I substituted 1/4 cup walnut oil for part of the vegetable oil and it adds a nice nuance of flavor. Everybody loves this cake.

I soaked the craisins in bourbon, and added ginger and cardamom to the cinnamon. It was quite flavorful! I also used half white sugar, half brown sugar.

Ms. Hesser likes Honeycrisp & Granny Smith for this recipe. The different varieties of apples seems limitless, so I, perhaps lazily, use Fuji almost always.
Readers, is the type of apple used very important? We who leave notes on serious
food sites usually have little compunction about tweaking recipes, even before they try it once. I probably do this to excess. But really: Do you buy buttermilk to use 2 Tbs. when you have plain yogurt on hand?
Convenience and cost almost always matter to me.

This is the best apple cake I have ever made. I like when I can SEE the apples and you sure can in this one. I used thin skinned Ginger Golds and made 4 mini-loaves, baking for 35 minutes. Great gifts for friends to enjoy at one sitting. I love nutmeg, so used half cinnamon/half nutmeg and craisins because that is what I had. Make sure the middle is baked, not doughy, and don't be worried about crispy edges. They are DIVINE when the cake is cool. I plan on making this again and again.

use up to 1/2 whole wheat flour. Replace apples with pears, up to half as many. Switch the nuts to other kinds, and the raisins to other dried fruit or just skip and add some pear. Smaller dice of apple makes a more refined cake, chunkier more like a breakfast cake.

Use 1/2 tsp of cinnamon. Can use extra apple.

Usd one cup granulated sugar plus 1/2 cup brown sugar. Used one cup whole wheat and two cups unbleached flour. Used two teaspoons cinnamon. Chopped apples fairly small. In Bundt pan, cooked perfectly in one hour. This is a terric cake. Going back for another slice now.

Fabulous, but enormous! Very oily, caused the paper doily on the serving plate to disintegrate within 2 hours. Will downsize recipe and substitute some applesauce at 1:1 for some of the oil. Dusting the pan with sugar does add an element of additional delight. Truly delicious!

This is an excellent cake that feels on the healthier side. I made it for a meeting recently and everyone loved it.

Great recipe. Not sure why so many people complain about the sugar. It's a cake... A can of co*ke contains about a quarter of the sugar in this entire recipe. Just consume in moderation, enjoy, and if feeling this guilty, go for a run.

This cake is always a crowd pleaser - easy to make and perfect for a casual party or to bring to a potluck

I cut the oil to one cup and add 1/4 cup rum.

This is such a forgiving recipe! I only had two heirloom apples to which I added a few (3-4) tbsp of brandied mixed dried fruit and peel that I had made last Christmas. I did not use any raisins or nuts because one of my guests was allergic. I reduced the sugar to 1.5 c and (finally) substituted 1-to-1 Bob’s Red Mill gluten free flour mix. Baked it in a 10in Bundt pan. It was wonderful!!

Fits perfectly in two 8 x 4" loaf pans. Really good!

This is an amazingly forgiving recipe! I baked it by mistake at 400 degrees and it still came out well.

Now a go to cake and always to rave review. Using real butter for the pan preparation renders the cake slightly crunch on the outside. Usually reduce sugar a bit. Serve with homemade ice cream or whipped cream.

Used a little over half the sugar and baked it as a quick break using two 8x4 loaf pans. My daughter said, and I quote: "This is the best thing I ever ate."

One of the most delicious things I have ever made! The apple chunks kept it nice and moist and the fall flavors really packed a punch. I made this in a Bundt pan and it turned out great, and reduced the sugar to 1.5 cups.

This is truly a very delicious apple cake. For those who prefer metric units, I've converted the recipe:360g flour350ml vegetable oil300g sugar (the recipe actually calls for 400g)3 eggs1 teaspoon salt (very important to break the bitterness of the walnuts)1 teaspoon cinnamon1 teaspoon baking soda1 teaspoon vanilla360g diced apples125g chopped walnuts (I lightly toasted them beforehand)150g raisins (plain or soaked in rum is even better)Part 1/2

Too dry. Bake 65 min.