Mountain Apple Cake
This recipe is one my grandmother gave me with a special story behind it. I have no idea who to credit for it except some sweet lil mountain woman.
Ramona, my fairly famous grandmother, lived a few weeks shy of her 96th birthday and was quite the cook. I credit her for my passion. Later in life she developed macular degeneration that left her legally blind. Just like everything she did, she faced this change in her life with amazing grace. She made adjustments in her kitchen so that she could continue to cook. She volunteered for various organizations that supported the blind. An even wrote a large print cookbook, so that she could not only see but also share her favorite recipes.
On top of all her other activities she joined a prison ministry group at the church. On a regular basis they went to visit with inmates that did not get visitors. Now this was obviously a low security prison for minor offenses if they were letting my 85ish grandmother go, so it wasn’t dangerous. We often laughed and teased her about flirting with the prisoners and wooing them with her baking. She did develop a maternal bond with one of the inmates from the mountains of North Carolina and she spent most of her time there with him.
During one of her visits, she asked what he missed the most about the mountains and he responded his grandmother’s mountain apple cake. He explained to her how his grandmother would go out and pick the apples and make the most amazing moist apple cake. It was his favorite childhood treat and my grandmother reminded him of that with the goodies she brought to the prison weekly.
Ramona asked the inmate if he could get the recipe for the cake to share with her. He did and she made the cake and took it to him. This is the recipe and it is the most moist cake I have ever had. Maybe it’s the cup and half of oil and the stick of butter! Just saying take your cholesterol meds! But that’s how mountain women cooked and it is damn good.
My grandmother never told me or I don’t recall the name of that prisoner, nor do I know what happened to him. I would assume he served his time and was released. Well at least that’s what I’d like to think. But this guy touched my grandmother’s heart and her his. I can only hope that her ministry did some good in him.
You really don’t have to use mountain apples. I used golden delicious apples from my local farm which has apple trees on property. Gala or McIntosh would work nicely as well.
Notice that my picture is of a springform pan and not a tube pan. I could not locate my tube pan when I did this one and it turned out really good except a lot of the hot topping pooled in the middle. It was too wet and didn’t cut pretty. Other than that it was the same great cake. If you have a tube or bundt pan use it.
This is a super moist and delicious cake and you will see why my grandmother’s “prisoner friend” loved it so much. There is loving kindness everywhere and especially in this cake!
Mountain Apple Cake
Equipment
- 8 inch tube pan
Ingredients
- 3 eggs
- 1½ cups oil
- 2 cups sugar
- 3 cups flour
- 1 tsp salt
- 1 tsp baking soda
- 2 tsp cinnamon
- 2 tsp vanilla
- 1½ cup chopped pecans
- 3 cups chopped apples
Hot Topping
- 1 cup brown sugar
- ½ cup milk
- ½ cup butter (1 stick)
Instructions
- Heat oven to 350 °F
- Mix eggs, oil, and sugar in a large bowl. Mix dry ingredients in another bowl.
- Add the sugar mixture and vanilla to the dry ingredients.
- Stir in the apples and nuts.
- Pour into the tube pan and bake for 1 hour.
Hot Topping
- Melt butter in a small saucepan. Add sugar, vanilla and milk and stir.
- Bring to a slow boil until slightly thickened.
- Poke small holes in the cake with a toothpick and slowly pour topping over cake.
- Let cake cool completely before serving.
- Add whipped cream or ice cream or dust with powdered sugar to serve.