Mother's Old Faithful Fresh Apple Cake

For as long as I can remember Mother always made Fresh Apple Cakes from a stack of recipes she collected over the years. I'm not really sure why she collected so many of them because it seemed she always tweaked each recipe so much that it always ended up looking like and tasting like her old faithful apple cake. giggle~  (Recipe at bottom)

Every Month she baked a cake 

You would think this apple cake was just a holiday cake but Mother made it all throughout the year. This cake is the moistest cake you will ever put in your mouth. It all because of the oil that's in the recipe. Lots and lots of oil! A whole cup of it too! Wow! Oh and the icing.... well it's a simple brown sugar icing that's just brown sugar, milk and butter that's cooked.

Mother tossed this cake together without measuring. 

Sometimes she used a whole cup of oil and sometimes she used a cup 1/4. Sometimes she added a cup of pecans and sometimes she used a cup & 1/2. It always amazed me how she just pored it all from the bottle or bag and said..... that looks ah-bout-right. LOL! When she made this cake she always grated the apples instead of chopping or dicing. She said it tastes better if you do. In my photos I wanted the readers to be able to see the apples so I just chopped them. That was a mistake. Mother was right. It tastes better with grated apples to me. I even held back on the oil with this cake but I will never do that again either. ha ha ha!

I loved to eat this cake for breakfast: 

When ever Mother knew I was coming for a visit, there would always be a fresh apple cake waiting on me. As soon as I walked in the door I knew immediately she baked it. The smell of apples, nutmeg and cinnamon would slap me in the face. Mother had a habit of hiding the cake so she could surprise me with it for breakfast the next morning. This cake was ALWAYS better the second day. I would ask "did you bake an apple cake Mother?" Noooo she would say. I would bust out laughing and go searching through the house. She would always say "I didn't bake one this time." My Mother was never good at lying. ha ha! She just couldn't do it. I would keep looking until I found it because my nose told me different. I remember one year I found it hidden in the piano stool. HA HA HA! Anyway.... I could never wait until breakfast to cut into it. I would come walking back to the kitchen with it in my arms as I watched my Mother reaching into the drawer for a knife- grinning ear to ear. Yep a Mother knows when her daughter can't wait till morning. :)

Today I wanted to share her recipe.
You will need a bunt pan for this cake. I don't have any idea why, all I know she always told me to cook it in a bunt pan.

Mix together 
2 eggs (2 large eggs or 3 small eggs)
2 cups sugar
1 1/4 cup of veg. oil (adjust to your liking - 1 cup)
1 tsp vanilla

Sift
3 cups flour (plain)
1 1/2 tsp soda
1 tsp. nutmeg & cinnamon
1/2 tsp salt
Add to 1st mixture

Add
3 cups fresh raw apples (chopped or grated)
mix well.
Add 1 cup of nuts (pecans)
Mix with hands only.

Bake 1 hour at 375 degrees.

Simple Brown Sugar Icing:
1 cup brown sugar
1/4 cup milk
3/4 cup margarine (butter)
Cook 3 minutes
Pour as much as you like over cake :)

Tips: 
I like my apples pealed but when leaving the pealing on, it helps to hold the cake up. Once you make this cake you'll know what I mean.

This cake is great even without icing.
You can adjust the oil. Less means dryer cake.
The longer the cake sets the better it tastes.