Weekend Cooking: Legacy Apple Cake with Brown Sugar Frosting

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In the United States, Labor Day weekend is the traditional end to summer. By next week, kids will be in school, families will be unpacked from vacation, and everyone will be hard at work. In honor of the upcoming change in season and because it's a holiday, I decided baking was in order. And what better way to welcome fall than with an apple cake.

I've shared my easy apple cake recipe with you before. It's the one we take camping or to the shore or for a casual get together with friends. I wanted something a little bit different this week, so I turned to King Arthur.

In March 2010 I wrote a post about one of my favorite baking sources, King Arthur Flour. As I've mentioned many times, I own their cookbooks, I often subscribe to their baking newsletter, I use their flour, and I mail order from them several times a year. I was sure they'd have the perfect apple recipe, and I was right.

I usually bake with tart apples, but we had a quarter peck of Paula Reds in the house, so I used them for my cake. We don't usually go for frosting, but I figured it was a holiday and a little indulgence was called for. Plus the recipe gets rave reviews in the book and on the King Arthur website.

I made a couple of changes in the recipe, but the results were wonderful. First, I didn't have any cider or apple juice, so I substituted buttermilk. Second, I didn't peel the apples; we don't mind the skins at all. And finally, I used sliced almonds instead of chopped walnuts because I was feeling lazy.

If you clicked through to the King Arthur website, you'll notice the ingredients are slightly different. That's because I used their whole grain version instead of the white flour recipe.

We loved the moist, rich cake, and I wouldn't hesitate to serve this to guests. Enjoy!

Legacy Apple Cake with Brown Sugar Frosting
One 9 × 13-inch cake

Cake

• 2½ cups whole wheat flour
• ½ teaspoon baking soda
• ½ teaspoon baking powder
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• ½ teaspoon ground nutmeg
• ½ teaspoon ground allspice
• 1 cup (2 sticks), unsalted butter
• 1 cup packed light or dark brown sugar
• 1 cup granulated sugar
• 3 large eggs
• ¼ cup boiled cider or apple juice concentrate
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 4 cups peeled, chopped apples
• 1 cup chopped walnuts

Brown Sugar Frosting

• 5 tablespoons unsalted butter
• ½ cup packed light or dark brown sugar
• ¼ teaspoon salt
• 3 tablespoons milk
• 1½ cups confectioners' sugar
• ½ teaspoon vanilla extract

Preheat the oven to 325°F. Grease and flour a 9 × 13-inch cake pan.

Make the Cake. Whisk together the flour baking soda, baking powder, salt and spices in a medium bowl; set aside. Cream together the butter and sugars in a large mixing bowl until light and fluffy. Beat in the eggs, one at a time, stopping in between to scrape the sides and bottom of the bowl. Mix in the cider and vanilla. Mix in the dry ingredients, stirring until evenly moistened. Fold in the apples and walnuts.

Transfer the batter to the prepared pan. Bake until a tester inserted in the center comes out clean, 45 minutes. Remove the cake to a wire rake and cool completely.

Make the Frosting. Melt the butter in a small pan over medium heat. Stir in the brown sugar and salt and cook, stirring, until the sugar melts. Add the milk, bring to a boil and pour into a mixing bowl to cool for 10 minutes.

After 10 minutes, stir in the confectioners' sugar and vanilla. Beat well; if the mixture appears too thin, add more confectioners' sugar. Spread on the cake while the frosting is still warm; it will firm up and be more difficult to spread once it cools.