“In Heaven, it is always Autumn".”
~ John Donne
This is my most favorite of our crazy cake creations yet! The brown sugar sinks a bit to the bottom giving the cake a "layered" caramel apple taste of fall! And what better way to use up those mealy apples than in a seasonal surprise for your family! It is easy to make in 7 steps -- and don't forget that it is frugal, egg-free, butter-free, milk-free and can even be gluten-free (meaning you will most likely have all the ingredients in your basic pantry!).
Dry Ingredients:
- 1
1/2 c. + 2 tbsp. flour (all purpose or gluten-free flour blend)
- 3/4
c. white sugar
- 1/4
c. brown sugar
- 1
tsp. cinnamon
- 1
tsp. baking soda (use 1 1/2 tsp. is using gluten-free flour blend)
- 1/2
tsp. salt
Wet
Ingredients:
- 5
tbsp. vegetable oil (we use sunflower)
- 1
tsp. white vinegar (use apple cider vinegar for gluten-free version)
- 1
tsp. vanilla extract
- 1
c. water
- 1
1/2 c. shredded apples
Preheat
oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit. Grease an 8 by 8 inch square baking pan.
Measure
out and mix all the dry ingredients together in your prepared baking pan. Make
three wells in the baking pan (making sure one is large enough to contain the
oil). Pour the oil into the largest well and the vinegar and vanilla separately
into the other impressions. Pour water over all the contents, add the shredded apples
and carefully mix your ingredients until combined and smooth.
Bake
for 35 - 40 minutes (it is finished when a toothpick inserted inside the center
comes out clean). Cool on wire rack. Once it is completely cooled, you may
frost it. Recipe can be doubled – just use a 9 by 13 inch baking pan.
You will find your free printable recipe HERE! Happy homemaking!
For other recipes featuring PANTRY ONLY ingredients, you may also be interested in our Zucchini Crazy Cake, Chocolate Banana Crazy Cake, Banana Crazy Cake, Carrot Crazy Cake, Old Fashioned Pie Crust and for more inspiration -- Frugal Homemaking Lessons from the Great Depression.
That cake looks so delicious. I must try it. Thanks for sharing and thanks for hosting a pre blog party. Happy Autumn.
ReplyDeleteA good morning to you, sweet friend! I have not made an apple cake in ages! This one looks simply wonderful!
ReplyDeleteIt was so good to sop by for a visit. I hope you've had a nice summer and I trust you are enjoying your time away with family right now.
Hugs to you, dear JES!
This cake looks delicious. I've been hungry for something with fresh apples. This just might be it!
ReplyDeleteThank you so much for sharing! I love making wacky cakes and we make them into lemon and orange cakes as well. Now we can make them with apples. Yum! We just got fresh orchard apples at the grocery store, so perhaps it's the perfect time to make one!
ReplyDeleteSo nice to see other flavors of Wacky Cake! My mom always made the chocolate version when I was a child and I don't like it.
ReplyDeleteSaving this to my recipe file :-)
Davette B.
https://www.facebook.com/DavetteB.HEALTHyCHOICEs/
Yum! Saw this on the Homestead Hop. Thanks for sharing.
ReplyDeleteThis looks easy to make,I'll try it out.It looks healthier and I like the frugal bit.Thanks
ReplyDeleteThank you for this! :) I'm going to print it out and give it a try one day soon! :)
ReplyDeleteYUM!!
ReplyDeleteThis looks really good. I'd like to try it sometime with apples from my orchard. Pinning for later when I deserve a treat.
ReplyDeleteJES wanted to let you know I made this cake when my house filled with family evacuees from Hurricane Irma. I used some ripe pears I had on hand in place of the apple, ginger instead of cinnamon and the cake drew raves. Adults all had second pieces (I doubled the recipe) and children ate all of their pieces. The double recipe easily fed 10 folks two meals of desserts plus the extras the adults had as a snack the first evening.
ReplyDeleteSo glad to hear that!!! Your substitions sound wonderful! I so appreciate you sharing the feedback! Have a lovely week :)
DeleteThank you for posting this! I made it and it was excellent! I think the recipe is foolproof, because I mixed up the wet ingredients in a bowl and added the apples, took a break, then came back and stirred in the dry ingredients.
ReplyDeleteThis may be a silly question, but how do you shred the apples? Could you use apple sauce or would that mess with the consistency of the cake?
ReplyDeleteHi there! I used a cheese grater to shred them. Using applesauce would probably add in too much liquid into the cake which may affect positive results... I hope this helps! ~ JES :)
DeleteThank you!
ReplyDeleteThank you for the cake recipe. x
ReplyDeleteLooks really moist and delicious. I think I may need to make some this weekend!
ReplyDeleteHi JES! :)
ReplyDeleteWow this looks yummy! What kind of frosting is on the cake?
Jennifer
This was a traditional cream cheese frosting -- completely taking away the dairy-free on the cake ;) but it sure was good!!!
DeleteAny chance you could provide a printable recipe version that doesn't include the apple image at the top? While pretty, I prefer not using the extra ink. :)
ReplyDeleteHi there! I certainly don't blame you! Unfortunately I don't have the fancy system to alter the pictures each time. The best idea I have is for you to copy and paste the recipe into a document and then you can print it out in black and white. Or, handwriting a recipe is always lovely and quite free :)
DeleteTo save ink, you could print using Black and white only and draft mode in the PDF settings. HTH
DeleteDavetteB
We made the gf version using Cup4Cup, but it came out dense and the flour tasted "raw". So we went for the gluten version and had a one time cheat. I used the traditional bowl method instead, replaced the water w apple cider, and tripled the cinnamon, added ground ginger, clove, and a little fresh grated nutmeg. Before spooning the batter into the pans (doubled the recipe), I spooned in the last 1/4 cup of liquid which was ginger syrup. The result was delicious. I'll keep working on the gf version so we can have it more often. Thanks for an east vegan cake recipe.
ReplyDeleteGlad it worked out in the end! ❤️ It is all about the flours when it comes to GF baking....
DeleteAll pictures show icing but it is not included in the recipe? Why is that?
ReplyDeleteGood question! First off, I didn't even think of it ;) but also, if it isn't a recipe of mine personally I don't feel right sharing it. This frosting was the Betty Crocker Cream Cheese Frosting recipe which they share online. In the future, I will try to include the frosting/icing recipes that are my own. Thanks for pointing that out ❤️
DeleteI made this for one of our Thanksgiving desserts, and it was amazing! I didn’t want the frosting, so I made a light glaze, but I think I would even like it with no frosting. It was wonderful with coffee the next morning! I’m going to tr6 to make mini muffins for our neighborhood holiday baked goods exchange - any suggestions on timing.temperature?
ReplyDeleteHi, I did do the lemon crazy cake into cupcakes and did the following which you might want to try for the apple: Bake for 15 to 20 minutes, until toothpick comes out clean. Recipe will yield 12 cupcakes.
DeleteI'm trying the recipe now.. thanks for providing the easy ingredients.:)
ReplyDeleteI made the gf version of this cake, it was simple, mess free and was delicious. I wish there was a frosting recipe with the cake recipe but that’s an easy thing to google. I will definitely be making this again.
ReplyDelete