Aunt Sylvia's Apple Cake
This past week, Evan and I took in the cool, crisp fall weather with some apple-picking at a local orchard. My autumnal tradition of ending up with far more apples than I can possibly use continues! In the past, I've used extra apples to make apple butter, applesauce, and (obviously) some form of apple pie, but this year I thought I'd try something new. New to me, at least. My Aunt Sylvia gave me her Apple Cake recipe for my wedding, and it was about time I made it!
My dad's Aunt Sylvia (whom I also call Aunt Sylvia, to keep things simple) is my Memaw's sister. She is very much like my grandmother, who we lost about a year ago, and when I see her it's like seeing a piece of my Memaw again. Aunt Sylvia is a gift all her own, though – it's hard to imagine anyone sweeter or more kind. To top it all off, like a true Italian, she also happens to be a wonderful cook and baker! I'm so glad to be able to share one of her recipes here.
There are a couple elements of this recipe that, at least in my millennial opinion, give it a little bit of a vintage feel. First, the recipe calls for baking the cake in a tube pan – it's actually the first recipe I've followed that called for a tube pan! (I used a bundt instead, but that's beside the point.) Plus, the ingredient list includes Karo syrup, which I know is still used in modern recipes, but it's been around for a long time (1902, in fact).
Between these little vintage components of the recipe, and the Dean Martin vinyl record I was playing while preparing the cake, I got that feeling. It's my favorite thing about making well-loved family recipes – when you're stirring, measuring, moving around the kitchen, and you can feel other generations making those same motions. You feel like you're a reflection of the past brought to life in your own kitchen. It's kitchen magic. And so is this cake!
AUNT SYLVIA'S APPLE CAKE
Prep Time: 30 minutes (not including glazing)
Bake Time: 60-70 minutes
Serves 10-12
Ingredients
Cake
2 eggs, beaten
2 cups sugar
1 cup vegetable oil
3 cups fine-chopped apples
Gala or Golden Delicious is recommended
2 t vanilla
½ cup chopped walnuts
2 cups flour
1 t baking soda
½ t salt
1 T cinnamon
Glaze
6 T butter
1 T milk
6 T Karo syrup (*I used dark syrup)
Directions
Preheat the oven to 350 F. Prepare a tube pan (*I'm using a bundt pan instead) by greasing and flouring.
In a large bowl, mix together the eggs, sugar, and vegetable oil. Then add the chopped apples, vanilla, and walnuts, and mix well.
In a medium bowl, combine the flour, baking soda, salt, and cinnamon. Gradually add these dry ingredients into the large bowl with the wet ingredients, stirring as you go, until your dough looks uniform. It will be thick. Pour the dough into the prepared tube pan, and bake for 60-70 minutes, or until a cake tester comes out clean. When it's out of the oven, let the cake cool in the pan for at least 60 minutes before removing it.
Once the cake has completely cooled, prepare the glaze. Add all the glaze ingredients (butter, milk, and karo syrup) in a small saucepan, and bring to a boil. Let the mixture boil for about 3 minutes, or until thickened, stirring occasionally. Drizzle on top of the cake.
Happy Eating,
Natalie