Apple Walnut Cake

Since Rosh Hashana’s tomorrow night I’m sharing a recipe for Apple Walnut Cake, which perfectly suits the holiday.
Rosh Hashana is when we celebrate the Jewish New Year and we have the custom of symbolically dipping an apple into honey for a sweet new year. It’s one of the things I look forward to every year (it’s basically like eating caramel apples!) and I usually make some sort of riff on apples and honey for dessert, whether that’s honey cake (another tradition) or apple pie.
This year, my dessert of choice is this Apple Walnut cake, which is moist, flavorful and utterly irresistible. I’ve made it countless times and never cease to tire of it- and neither does anyone else, judging by its always rapid consumption.
So whether you make this cake as a breakfast treat, fall dessert, or as a way to welcome in the new year, be sure to try it out. And save me a piece.
Happy new year!
Chaya

Yield: 1 cake

This recipe has been in my family since forever, and I rediscovered it on Smitten Kitchen!

Why I love this recipe: the cake itself is surprisingly moist and sturdy, with a mellow vanilla flavor, and a nice crunch from the walnuts. The cinnamon-sugar apple topping, which is incorporated into the batter twice, sinks slightly into the cake while baking, ensuring that no slice of cake is without a hefty portion of deliciously spiced apples. 

• 3 granny smith apples
• 3 red delicious apples
• 1 tablespoon cinnamon
• 5 tablespoons sugar
• 2 3/4 cups flour, sifted
• 1 tablespoon baking powder
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 cup vegetable oil
• 2 cups sugar
• 1/4 cup orange juice
• 2 1/2 teaspoons vanilla
• 4 eggs
• 1 cup walnuts, chopped, optional (some have the custom of omitting nuts on Rosh Hashana, in which case they can easily be left out) 

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease a tube pan. Peel, core and chop apples into chunks. Toss with cinnamon and sugar and set aside.
2. Stir together flour, baking powder and salt in a large mixing bowl. In a separate bowl, whisk together oil, orange juice, sugar and vanilla.
3. Mix wet ingredients into the dry ones, then add eggs, one at a time. Scrape down the bowl to ensure all ingredients are incorporated.
4. Add walnuts if using and mix to ensure that they are incorporated throughout the batter.
5. Pour half of batter into prepared pan. Spread half of apples over it. Pour the remaining batter over the apples and arrange the remaining apples on top.
6. Bake for about 1 1/2 hours, or until a tester comes out clean. Cool completely before running knife between cake and pan, and unmolding onto a platter.
7. Sprinkle with confectioner’s sugar.