Old Fashioned Apple Cake with Brown Sugar Frosting
This old fashioned apple cake is perfectly moist, chock full of fall spices and chopped apples, and topped with a fudgy brown sugar frosting!
I can’t even begin to tell you how good this old fashioned apple cake is! It is one of the best cakes I’ve ever made, and definitely my new favorite fall dessert.
The cake is perfectly spiced, incredibly moist, and full of chunks of apples. And the brown sugar frosting tastes just a little bit like brown sugar fudge!
The combination of the moist cake and rich frosting makes this cake a winner. It’s very sweet, which means you can cut small pieces and serve a crowd. It’s definitely my new go-to pot-luck dessert!
I made this old fashioned apple cake to take to pot-luck lunch at church, and it was a definite hit. I didn’t bring too many pieces home, and any cake that was left over was quickly gobbled up by family members later that night. I think that means it was a success. 🙂
Please try this cake – I have a feeling it will become one of your favorites as well. 🙂
Old Fashioned Ice Cream Cake with Brown Sugar Frosting
Yield: Serves 24
Ingredients:
For the cake:
- 2 1/3 cups All-Purpose Flour
- 1 2/3 cups granulated sugar
- 2 teaspoons baking soda
- 3/4 teaspoon salt
- 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- 1/4 teaspoon ground ginger
- 1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
- 2 large eggs
- 1/2 cup (8 tablespoons) unsalted butter, softened
- 4 cups peeled, cored, chopped apple
- 1 cup diced toasted walnuts or pecans, optional
For the frosting:
- 7 tablespoons unsalted butter
- 2/3 cup brown sugar
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 1/4 cup milk
- 2 1/4 cups confectioners' sugar
- 3/4 teaspoon vanilla extract
Directions:
Make the cake:
- Preheat the oven to 325°F. Grease and flour a 9" x 13" pan.
- Mix all of the ingredients except the apples and nuts in a large bowl.
- Beat until well combined; the mixture will be very stiff.
- Add the apples and nuts, and mix until the apples release some of their juice and the stiff mixture becomes a thick batter, somewhere between cookie dough and brownie batter in consistency.
- Spread the batter in the prepared pan, smoothing it with your wet fingers.
- Bake the cake for 45 minutes, or until a cake tester or toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean, or with just a few wet crumbs clinging to it.
- Remove the cake from the oven and place it on a rack to cool completely; don't remove the cake from the pan.
Make the frosting:
- Melt the butter in a small pan over medium heat. Stir in the brown sugar and salt and cook, stirring, until the sugar melts.
- Add the milk, bring to a boil, and pour into a mixing bowl to cool for 10 minutes.
- After 10 minutes, stir in the confectioners' sugar and vanilla. Beat well; if the mixture appears too thin, add more confectioners' sugar.
- Spread on the cake while frosting is still warm.