Aunt Polly’s Fresh Apple Cake

Posted by on Thursday, September 15th, 2011

fresh-apple-cake

Aunt Polly was a true Southern Belle in her younger days. And she aged with grace and patience and class.  And she was a wonderful cook too.  I have her hand written recipe for Fresh Apple Cake safely tucked behind A in my recipe box.  Having a hand written recipe means a lot to me.  Although Aunt Polly was really my husband’s aunt, she made me feel like I was her very own niece.  Aunt Polly we miss you, but your Fresh Apple Cake is still a fall favorite at our house.

  • 2 cups sugar
  • 3 whole eggs
  • 2 teaspoons vanilla
  • juice of one fresh lemon
  • 3 cups plain cake flour
  • 1 teaspoon baking soda
  • 2 teaspoons cinnamon
  • 1/2 teaspoon cloves
  • 1/2 teaspoon nutmeg
  • 1 teaspoon salt
  • 1 1/2 cups vegetable oil
  • 3 cups fresh Granny Smith apples chopped fine
  • 1 cup chopped pecans or walnuts
  • 3/4 cup raisins

In a large mixing bowl, cream the sugar, eggs, lemon juice and vanilla.  Set aside.  In another large bowl add the flour, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, nutmeg, and cloves. Sift this mixture 2 times.  By hand, mix oil alternately with dry ingredients to creamed mixture, starting and ending with dry ingredients.  Fold in the chopped apples, nuts, and raisins.  Pour batter into a greased and floured bundt pan.  Place pan in a 325 degree preheated oven.  Bake for approximately 1 hour and 15 minutes. Remove cake from oven and pour caramel glaze over cake while cake is still hot.

In this picture of the cake, I poured some left over salted caramel fondue over the cake instead of the glaze.  I think I actually prefer the caramel glaze though.

For the glaze:

  • 1 cup sugar
  • 1/2 tablespoon Karo white syrup
  • 1/2 stick real butter
  • 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
  • 1/2 cup buttermilk
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla

Add the sugar, syrup, buttermilk, butter, and soda to a medium sauce pan.  Cook on medium heat stirring constantly until sauce reaches the soft ball stage (I use a candy thermometer), then add the vanilla.  Pour glaze over cake while the cake is still hot.

Filed in Uncategorized | 8 responses so far

8 Responses to “Aunt Polly’s Fresh Apple Cake”

  1. Carolinaheartstringson 15 Sep 2011 at 3:20 pm 1

    Tara this recipe looks so delicious and what a special one too!

  2. Maryon 22 Sep 2011 at 1:57 pm 2

    This sounds delicious. Only one thing, there’s no leavening mentioned – is this correct?

  3. Taraon 22 Sep 2011 at 3:16 pm 3

    Hi Mary. Some how the 1 teaspoon of soda didn’t show up in this post! Thanks for asking that question. I have made the correction.

  4. Carolon 08 Oct 2011 at 5:25 am 4

    Hi Tara, Made this wonderful cake yesterday and it is as good, even better than the picture. I think I will eliminate the glaze next time as it
    is very sweet and not necessary with all the wonderful ingredients.
    Thanks for sharing, it’s a keeper.

  5. Tinaon 12 Oct 2011 at 5:56 am 5

    That is almost the same recipe as my MIL fresh apple cake. She uses all purpose flour and a vanilla glaze. I love cake flour so I am going to try that next time. The glaze looks to die for.

  6. Taraon 18 Oct 2011 at 8:47 pm 6

    Thanks for stopping by Tina. Hope the cake is as good as your MIL’s!

  7. Taraon 18 Oct 2011 at 8:48 pm 7

    Glad the cake turned out well Carol. I agree, if you make that caramel fondue, it certainly wouldn’t need the glaze.

  8. Donna @ The Slow Roasted Italianon 23 Aug 2012 at 1:26 pm 8

    Oh my this looks so amazing!!! I am bookmarking this for fall! Thanks for sharing.