I was watching Ina’s Liquor Store Shortcuts and thought this apple cake looked so nummy. I love a heavy dense cake, so anything with fruit and nuts is going to be a winner in my book. It kind of breaks my rule about too many ingredients, but it’s hard to limit when you’re baking.
OK, let’s talk about my “too many ingredients rule”. By the time I chopped and roasted pecans, cubed 3 pounds of apples (and no, I did not peel them, you know how I feel about that), soaked my raisins in rum, I was pooped. My sous chef was at the dentist and I had to do it all by myself. Le sigh. I’m waiting for the cake to get out of the oven as I write this and all I can say is this had better be an incredible cake.
1 cup chopped pecans
1/2 cup dark rum
1 cup golden raisins
1 cup granulated sugar
1 cup dark brown sugar, lightly packed
3 extra-large eggs, at room temperature
3/4 cup vegetable oil
2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract (I didn’t use vanilla. I used the remaining rum. Hello!)
2 teaspoons grated orange zest (2 oranges)
2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
1/8 teaspoon ground cloves
1 1/2 pounds Granny Smith apples, peeled, cored, and 1/4-inch-diced (3 to 4 apples)
Vanilla ice cream
Caramel sauce, heated
- Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Grease and flour a 9-by-13-by-2-inch baking pan.
- Place the pecans on a sheet pan and toast them for 5 to 10 minutes, until lightly toasted. Set aside. Combine the rum and raisins in a small bowl, cover with plastic wrap, and microwave for 60 seconds. Set aside.
- In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, beat the granulated sugar, brown sugar, eggs, vegetable oil, vanilla, and orange zest on medium speed for 3 minutes. Sift the flour, baking powder, salt, cinnamon, nutmeg, ginger, and cloves into a medium bowl. With the mixer on low, slowly add the flour mixture to the wet mixture, just until combined. Drain the raisins, discarding the liquid. With a rubber spatula, fold the raisins, pecans, and apples into the batter. Spread into the prepared pan and smooth the top.
- Bake for 35 to 40 minutes, until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Set aside to cool, cut into squares, and serve warm or at room temperature with a scoop of vanilla ice cream and a drizzle of warm caramel sauce. I added 15 minutes to the bake time. It’s dense.
* From the Recipe Box:
This is the perfect time of year for an apple cake. It was a good, but not excellent cake, however it is improving with age.
and remember what Henry Ford said: Thinking is the hardest work there is; that’s probably why so few people engage in it. Big kiss, Lynn
From the Recipe Box 
This looks delicious; I adore apples and pecans together.
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