Old Fashioned Apple Cake with Brown Sugar Frosting

It’s Thanksgiving in Canada this weekend.  Unlike the American Thanksgiving, the Canadian Thanksgiving is always held on the second Monday in October.

So my Canadian readers….Do you have your menu ready? How about your desserts?  If your friends and family are not fans of pumpkin desserts then try this apple cake!  This apple cake would be a delicious addition to your Thanksgiving meal.  Super moist, lots of cinnamon flavor, apples, roasted nuts and the most incredible brown sugar frosting that you can eat it by the spoonful….believe me, I did! and I would again!!! Your kids will love licking the beaters on this one!  Give it a try and your friends and family will thank you!

And if it’s not Thanksgiving where you live, make it anyways and be thankful for a delicious dessert!

Old Fashioned Apple Cake with Brown Sugar Frosting

• 2 1/3 cups all purpose flour
• 1 cup sugar
• 2 tsp baking soda
• ¾ tsp salt
• 1 tsp ground cinnamon
• ¼ tsp ground ginger
• ¼ tsp ground nutmeg
• 2 large eggs
• ½ cup unsalted butter, softened
• 4 cups peeled, cored and diced apples
• 1 cup toasted walnuts or pecans, diced (to toast nuts, bake 350F oven for 6 – 9 minutes and they smell toasty and are golden brown)

NOTE:  if using salted butter, delete 3/4 tsp salt from recipe.

Frosting

• 1/2 cup butter, softened
• 1 cup brown sugar, packed
• ¼ tsp salt
• 1/4 cup milk (I used canned milk)
• 1 cup icing sugar

Cake Preparation

Preheat oven to 325F. Grease a 9 x 13 pan.

Beat sugar and butter until smooth and fluffy. Add eggs and beat until well combined.

Sift together, in separate bowl, flour, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, ginger, and nutmeg. Stir to combine well.

Add dry ingredients to wet ingredients and mix to combine. Mixture will be very thick and crumbly. Add diced apples and toasted nuts and mix until apples release some of their moisture and it becomes a thick batter.

Spread batter into prepared pan, smoothing it with a spoon.

Bake for 30 – 45 minutes, depending on your oven, or until a cake tester comes out clean or with a couple crumbs attached to it. Remove from oven and cool completely. Do not remove cake from pan.

Frosting Preparation

Melt butter in small saucepan over medium heat. Stir in brown sugar and salt and cook 4-5 minutes, stirring, until sugar melts and sugar and butter are incorporated.

Add milk, bring to boil, then remove from heat and pour into a mixing bowl to cool for 10 minutes.

After mix mixture cools, beat in icing sugar and vanilla. Spread on cake while frosting is still warm.

Enjoy and Happy Thanksgiving! Give thanks for what’s good in our lives, celebrate nature’s bounty, and enjoy a big meal with family and friends.

Makes about 20 squares

DD

Recipe adapted from King Author Flour