One Bowl Apple Cake

Alright, here it goes. The one bowl apple cake. The last apple related post for a while. I pray that that's true. The search for apple inspiration brought me back to one of my first cookbooks, my dear favorite, the Baker's Companion. The first recipe in its cake section is this one bowl apple cake. This cake should really be called Chunky Apple Cake because the recipe itself calls for a ton of apples, nuts and dried fruit. I decided to omit the nuts and dried fruit, and as it turned out, the full amount of apples was wayyy too much. The batter was hardly a batter and it barely held together with all the apples. At this point, I started to get nervous but figured things would take care of themselves in the oven. And they did. I could see where the juices from the apples seeped into the cake for a nice touch and the cake itself turned out to be a big hit, with a nice, moist, almost juicy interior due to the hefty amount of brown sugar. The recipe says that this could be frosted with caramel frosting and although I was too lazy to whip it up, I will admit that I think for this served-from-the-pan, rustic cake it would be gilding the lily. Frosting is just too fancy for this down-home apple cake. Do make it soon.

One Bowl Apple Cake
slightly adapted from KAF Baker's Companion

1 cup whole wheat flour
1 1/3 cups all purpose flour
1 cup sugar
1 cup dark brown sugar
2 tsp baking soda
3/4 tsp salt
1 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp allspice
8 tbsp softened butter or margarine
4 cups cored, chopped unpeeled apples
2 large eggs

Preheat the oven to 350. Grease a 9x13 inch pan.
In a large mixing bowl, whisk together the flours, sugars, baking soda, salt and spices.
Cut the margarine into chunks and add it along with the apples and eggs to the dry ingredients. Beat on medium speed until blended. Turn the "batter" into the greased pan and spread evenly. Bake the cake for 45 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Remove from the oven and cool completely on a wire rack.