Apple Walnut Cake is a moist snack cake with apples and walnuts in every bite. It’s one of the best apple recipes to make during the apple picking season! This cake is so full of flavor that no frosting is needed. A simple dusting powdered sugar will do!
Apple Walnut Cake
Have you ever tried to grow your own apples?
My mom and dad have had apple trees for years. I’ve gotten to enjoy their applesauce, pies and cobblers over the years. I knew I wanted apple trees when I got my own house.
Fast forward 16 years later and guess what? I have my own apple trees! Unfortunately they are very small. Last year was the first year they produced fruit and we got about 18 apples. This year our trees were full of blossoms. I could picture myself using those perfectly round McIntosh in a few pies and apple danishes of my very own.
Something happened to those gorgeous blossoms, though. We ended up with a whopping 3 apples this year. No pies for us, but you can bet I’m going to enjoy those 3 apples for an afternoon snack sometime soon!
Although we had to use store-bought apples, I still love the simplicity of this little Apple Walnut Cake. Apples take center stage. Cinnamon and walnuts pair perfectly with those apples.
Every bite you take will be filled with apple-cinnamon, nutty loveliness.
Apple Walnut Cake Recipe Notes
The longest part of the recipe preparation will be peeling and coring the apples. Even that will be a breeze if you have a hand-crank apple peeler/corer/slicer
.
Just as we told you when we made the Amish Apple Goodie a few weeks ago, those hand-crank peelers are a life-saver if you do much baking with apples at all. In about 3 minutes you’ll have the 5 apples that are needed for this recipe completely ready.
I wanted to keep the apple walnut cake basic, so I put an effortless dusting of powdered sugar on top. It makes the cake look pretty and gives just a touch of extra sweetness to the cake.
This apple walnut cake is my idea of a great start to a morning. Along with a cup of Russian tea or coffee, of course. And it’s the perfect ending to a long day. Enjoy!
Apple Walnut Cake
Ingredients
- 3 large eggs
- 1 3/4 cup sugar
- 1 cup canola oil
- 1 teaspoon vanilla
- 2 cups all-purpose flour 267 grams
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 1 teaspoon cinnamon
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 5 apples peeled, cored and chopped (about 5 cups)
- 1 cup chopped walnuts
- 1/4 cup powdered sugar optional
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit.
- In a medium-size bowl, blend together the eggs, sugar, oil and vanilla.
- In a separate bowl, sift together the flour, baking soda, cinnamon and salt.
- Add the flour mixture to the egg mixture mix just until blended.
- Fold in the apples and nuts.
- Spray a 9x13 pan with cooking spray.
- Pour the batter into a 9x13 pan and spread evenly.
- Bake at 350 degrees for 35-38 minutes.
- Allow the cake to cool and then sprinkle the top with powdered sugar.
Kate says
I only have 2 eggs is that okay?
Julie Clark says
I’m not sure! I’ve only made it as the recipe shows.
Alice says
To answer the above questions about applesauce:
I made this cake last night in a kind of bread style fashion. I subbed in the oil for 2oz of coconut oil and made up the rest with applesauce. I did everything else as stated but made the apple chunks a little larger (because I was too lazy to cut them up small). I also roasted the walnuts first as I love the nutty taste that this brings out.
I put it in a loaf pan, covered the top with tin foil and cooked it at 350 for about an hour. I then took the tin foil off and cooked it for a further 20 minutes until it was completely set on top. It was moist and crumbly and amazing. Definitely didn’t need any more oil.
I’ve fed it to around 8 people today and have received compliments from each and every one. Definitely putting this on the keeper recipe list! Amazing cake. Thanks so much.
Shamika says
If you don’t have canola oil can you use vegetable oil
Julie Clark says
Yes!
Anonymous says
Yes! i love to substitute with coconut oil, but any oil will be fine.
Meg says
I cut the recipe in half and used an 8×8 square pan. Used organic whole wheat flour, real butter, very large apple chunks, and half white half light brown sugar. Amazing!! Your recipe is like, fool-proof. I even forgot about it while it was in the oven, cooked longer than I planned, and it’s a little dark, but, tastes amazing. Moist, fresh apple walnut taste. Thank you for sharing your recipe;)
Lynn says
Just made this and it is DELICIOUS! A really nice recipe that uses quite a few apples!
Anonymous says
Can I substitute coconut oil for the canola oil? I only have coconut oil and olive oil in the house. 🙂
Julie Clark says
Yes!! Great idea!
Olesia says
We love it !!!
Gina says
I made this cake today substituted with almond flour and coconut sugar also added a dash of fresh grated nutmeg with honey crisp apples that I chopped pretty fine but did not peel. It turned out amazing – everyone loved it!
Vicki says
This was so easy and so good! Delicious with ice cream or without. I didn’t peel the apples which saved time and added a little nutrition. Great recipe.
Meredith says
Made with underripe mangoes as I live in West Africa where we are awash in them this time of year. A great recipe I’ll make again.
Julie Clark says
Wonderful! We’ll try that too!
Mani says
An excellent recipe ,my first time baking an apple cake and my whole family loved it😊
L Francis says
350° C or F?
Please specify
Julie Clark says
Fahrenheit. Thanks!
Sandra says
Do I have to refrigerate overnight or can I leave it out ?
Julie Clark says
We leave ours out overnight
Vivian Hoff says
Can you bake it in a Bundt pan? If yes how long do you suggest.
Julie Clark says
Hmmmm I’ve not tried that, but I’d say it would take at least 50 minutes.
Vivian Hoff says
Also you don’t say what kind of Apple. What do you use or doesn’t it matter. Is that golden delicious or Granny Smith in picture?
Julie Clark says
We often use granny smith for baking.
SUSAN RILEY says
What a delicious cake! Thank you for this recipe! Used Granny Smith.
Jody says
This recipe is almost exactly the recipe that my grandmother made in her kitchen and I committed to memory as a young cook, having made it so often. The only differences are 1 cup more flour, 1/4 cup more sugar and 1/4 tsp more salt in mine. The batter is very thick. I just made it this evening for the first time in a long while and used this recipe for comparison. I’ll be interested to see if mine turned out as ” perfect ” as everyone describes this one. I haven’t rated it yet because I’m still experimenting to find the best recipe, but this one will definitely be tried if the results are not exactly as I hope. Thanks, Julie!
Zee says
This cake is an absolute winner!! I have made it twice in the past week as it gets devoured by anyone walking past the kitchen. There was literally a conversation between my husband and I about how we need to avoid taking a bite till after dinner otherwise we’ll eat it all up!
My daughters school is having a little Christmas feast for her age group and I was thinking to do this recipe in cupcake molds instead. Please let me know if you have attempted that. I guess I would need to decrease the baking time…? Any tips will help as I’m not at all an experienced baker! Thanks x
Julie Clark says
I haven’t tried that, but it would work! Definitely less baking time. I’m glad you enjoyed them!