Mom’s Raw Apple Cake

by Anne Papina on August 12, 2012

Raw Apple Cake | Webicurean

Take two, they’re small.

What if I told you that you could be enjoying a warm piece of apple cake in less than an hour, right from your own oven? Would you believe me? More importantly, would you try it? I swear this cake is THAT easy. Heck, I’m willing to bet you have all the ingredients on hand too. OK maybe that’s stretching it, but then again, maybe not.

My mom has been making this cake for decades, and it’s always been a family favorite. She thinks perhaps it came from the local paper, so I did some digging. I love when there’s a story. I need to know the history. But alas, no such luck. I figure with a name like “raw apple cake” there must be a story behind it. Why call it raw? Right? After all, when baking with apples, don’t you always start with a raw one? Ah well, the cake requires such little fuss to prepare, I probably shouldn’t fuss over such details so much either.

When working with old recipes, I try to stay true to the original as much as possible. Personally, the recipe as written was a tad too sweet for me, so some adjustments were made. The recipe initially called for granulated sugar only, so I decided to go halfsies with brown.  Honestly, if you wanted to cut the sugar, either by subbing in some applesauce or simply cutting back, I’m sure the cake won’t suffer. In fact, one of the things I love about this cake is that it’s so forgiving–say, for example, your oven is a little too hot, and it gets slightly over done. The apples keep it so moist, this is one cake you shouldn’t slightly undercook as it could end up soggy the next day, assuming it lasts that long.

Google revealed quite a few variations of this cake which may be worth exploring some day. For me, the beauty of the Raw Apple Cake is its simplicity, so why create more work?  Although personally I prefer taking it straight, the cake could also be drizzled with a salted caramel sauce or sidled up against a scoop of homemade vanilla ice cream for a more dramatic presentation. Either way, it’s sure to please.

Ready? Let’s begin.
Raw Apple Cake ingredients

First, let’s gather up the ingredients. I used a Granny Smith apple, but Gravensteins work just as well. This cake is very sweet, so the apple should be tart for better balance.

Peeled Apple

The apple needs to be peeled and chopped. Let’s get that out of the way first, as the rest goes pretty quickly.

Raw Apple Cake ingredients

Next, toss the apple with the sugars and the egg. This will get the apple’s juices flowing, which helps make the batter moist.

Raw Apple Cake Ingredients

If you’re using nuts and/or raisins, which are totally optional, let’s toss them in now. The cinnamon, nutmeg, vanilla, and oil should be added at this point too. Give it a good stir.

raw apple cake ingredients

Now we can add the dry stuff. If you like to do things the “right” way, you can sift together the flour, salt & baking soda before adding. If you’re like me (ie, on the lazy side), those items go straight to the bowl, sans sifting, where you can give them a good tumble until no dry remnants remain.

raw apple cake

This all gets spread into an 8″ pan and popped into the oven. That’s it.

raw apple cake

Bake until golden brown. Then let it cool, if you can stand it. The house should smell heavenly at this point.

Mom's Raw Apple Cake | Webicurean

Go ahead. There’s still enough time for you to serve this tonight for dessert.

5.0 from 6 reviews
Mom's Raw Apple Cake
 
Prep time
Cook time
Total time
 
This apple cake is super easy to make and gets rave reviews every time.
Author:
Recipe type: Dessert
Cuisine: American
Ingredients
  • 2 cups chopped apple (1 - 2 large apples)
  • 1 egg, beaten
  • ½ cup sugar
  • ½ cup brown sugar
  • 1 tsp cinnamon
  • 1 tsp vanilla
  • ¼ tsp nutmeg
  • ¼ cup vegetable oil
  • ½ cup chopped walnuts (optional)
  • ½ cup raisins (optional)
  • 1 cup flour
  • 1 tsp baking soda
  • ¼ tsp salt
Instructions
  1. Preheat oven to 350F.
  2. Grease and flour an 8" square baking pan.
  3. Combine apple, egg and sugars. Mix well.
  4. Stir in spices, vanilla and oil, along with raisins and nuts, if using.
  5. Sift together flour, salt and baking soda, then add to apple mixture. Stir until dry ingredients are completely moistened.
  6. Spread evenly in pan and bake 40-45 minutes until done.
Notes
Best served warm.

 

Stop by next Sunday for some homemade limoncello. Enjoy!

 

{ 28 comments… read them below or add one }

Gabriela August 12, 2012 at 10:37 am

Hello, The cake looks wonderful; it reminds me of a cake that I used to make in high school, but I used to bake it directly in a round tin cake box.

I am interested in trying to make this cake, but I have a few questions. 1) Is it OK to substitute olive oil for the vegetable oil as I do not usually have vegetable oil on hand? 2) Must you add raisins to keep it moist or are the apples enough? 3) If you use a pyrex cake pan, do you need to change the temperature or the baking time?

Thanks.
Best,
Gabriela

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Anne Papina August 12, 2012 at 11:10 am

Thanks! It may be the same cake–others have mentioned remembering this cake from long ago! Olive oil should be fine–it may change the flavor slightly, but I think the spices will prevent it from overpowering the cake. The apples are enough to keep it moist–I only add raisins when I have them on hand. You could always add a little extra apple in their place if you want. You should lower the oven temp by 25 degrees for the Pyrex pan, and check on it a few minutes earlier. Hope you enjoy it! Let me know how it turns out 🙂

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Maureen | Orgasmic Chef August 12, 2012 at 11:16 pm

I love your mother’s apple cake. I have a similar recipe that calls it fresh apple cake but whatever the name, it’s delicious!

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Anne Papina August 13, 2012 at 8:02 am

Thanks! I noticed on some sites with variations, commenters were complaining about the “misleading” name, which is silly! You’re right, whatever you call it, it’s delicious!

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Jasper October 22, 2020 at 1:24 pm

I think the term “raw” denotes fresh fruit, vs precooked or canned apple pie mix. I don’t think precooking the fruit is so common, however I do have an incredible blueberry pie recipe that cooks the berries first, which creates a dance on your tongue that will disgrace any Old World cotillion.

Back to your recipe, don’t the spices tend to clump when added with liquids? I always add them at least with sugar, but usually sifting them with the flour for a more thorough mixing. I was taught this from Mom, her Dad who had a bakery & restaurant, his wife- my Grandma – who baked with a fistfull of this, a dash of that, and a cup was a coffee cup, and everything was incredible. Her mother baked the same way; I was still hearing stories about her amazing pies and cakes 84 years later from my 96 year old aunt.

I also have a “fresh” apple cake recipe which is very similar to this one (though in true family tradition, I alter it in my own style). That recipe is only two steps and does mix the spices with the flour, and it doesn’t need to cool for the flavor win over Daniel’s daughter.
Try mixing the dry spices with the flour; that will mix them through the cake from the get-go and they will bake into the flour. If you want to spice the apples and have a plainer cake, mix the spices with the sugars.

Your photo of the finished cake looks just like my fresh apple cake, so they are obviously ‘from the same family.’ That recipe is roughly twice the ingredients, but a Tablespoon of cinnamon & a cup oil, though I reduce the oil to 3/4, or else it’s sort of a glob the next day – if it lasts. Like your Mom, I bake it in a 13 x 9 pan, but at 325 for 40 minutes.
I agree with you, serve it straight, at most a dollop of whipped cream.

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Anne Papina November 26, 2020 at 8:50 am

You are correct about how the spices should be incorporated, although I have not had any problems doing it my lazy way! Either way, it’s a yummy cake. Seems that many families have something similar in their collections!

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Gabriela August 13, 2012 at 6:16 pm

I made the cake yesterday and it turned out beautifully and was a big hit!

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Anne Papina August 13, 2012 at 7:20 pm

That’s awesome–thanks for the follow up!

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Kim Bee August 18, 2012 at 12:43 pm

Okay seriously this looks so good. It’s making me wish fall would hurry up. I rarely turn on my oven in the summer. But I must try this. And soon.

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Anne Papina August 18, 2012 at 1:08 pm

I know what you mean–thankfully fall’s just around the corner! (only my favorite time of year!)

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Adriana August 27, 2012 at 9:20 am

Anne,

I made your cake the other night, it was Die-licous. A big hit with mom and Tony.

Adriana 🙂

I’m going to make the Kale pesto sauce tonight, freeze it and enjoy it while camping. Woohooo!!!!

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Anne Papina August 27, 2012 at 10:32 am

That’s so awesome–I’m glad everyone enjoyed it! Thanks for coming back to tell me!

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Julie Chambers November 26, 2012 at 8:38 am

Your raw apple cake looks delicious. I recently made this with an old recipe of my mothers and it was unique and delicious..not to mention easy! I posted about it on my families blog: http://www.honeybuttergranola.com. Here is the link
http://honeybuttergranola.com/raw-apple-cake/
Thanks for sharing:) Julie

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Anne Papina November 26, 2012 at 8:48 am

Thanks! My mom has me making this all the time for her–it’s amazing how easy and good it is. BTW I love your blog name–it sounds like a really tasty recipe itself!

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Daniel September 13, 2013 at 10:04 am

I woke up in the middle of the night and ate all the brownies my girlfriend made. She was not thrilled the next day without anything to munch on so I decided to try your recipe!!

note: I was short on ingredients so I had to omit the raisins, nuts, nutmeg and vanilla 🙁

I tried a piece as soon as it came out of the oven and was a little disappointed as it was bland/flour like… But then almost magically, after letting it cool for a few hours, I had another piece and it tasted so good that even my six year old daughter (who gags at and refuses to eat anything but commercially processed food) thought it was delicious.

Giving it some time to cool brought out the sweetness and cinnamon flavor I was hoping for.

Thank you so much. Had to share as I’m sure I’m not the only person out there with a sweet tooth and a lack of ingredients!!

p.s. I had no baking pan so used an 8×8 Pyrex. Baked at 320 F. in a conventional oven for 53 minutes.

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Anne Papina December 19, 2013 at 9:56 am

Somehow I missed your post–I’m so glad you enjoyed this! It’s one of our favorite treats here!

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Corina December 19, 2013 at 9:11 am

I have made Raw Apple Cake for years. My great grandmother had always made it when I was younger.

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Anne Papina December 19, 2013 at 9:55 am

It’s one of those things that’s so simple yet so delicious!

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Liz January 16, 2014 at 4:00 pm

Nice cake recipe. Thank you and Happy Thursday.

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Anne Papina January 17, 2014 at 9:16 am

You’re welcome! Have a great weekend!

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mert December 5, 2014 at 12:25 pm

hi i am trying this idid a double amount and put it in a bunt pan like my mom did i timed it for 50 min it looked done but after i found parts were done and parts were not so i put it back in an hope i didnt mess it up an so excited to try this ty for posting it

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mert December 5, 2014 at 3:13 pm

OMG well i cooked it 20 min more and its awesome what agreat recipe tyty

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Anne Papina December 5, 2014 at 7:08 pm

Hi Mert! I’m glad it all worked out, and you were able to enjoy it! I was just looking over my mom’s notes, and she recommended baking an hour for a double recipe–however, when she doubled it, she cooked it in a 13×9 inch baking dish, which is probably why it required a little less time. Good to know with a few more minutes it can work in a bundt pan too. Thanks for letting me know! I love easy recipes like this.

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Pam Kelly November 5, 2017 at 7:44 pm

Made this today and love it, I used 2 different kinds of apples.

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Anne Papina November 6, 2017 at 9:38 am

Glad you enjoyed it! It’s so simple–it’s really an any time cake!

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Kat Iglesias July 12, 2020 at 1:16 am

My sister forwarded this recipe to me n my other Beautiful sisters. Easy to make, already had ingredients on hand, but Iused red apples n coconut sugar. The taste is/was quite explosive. I forwarded the recipe to other family n friends. Thank you so much!

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Kat Iglesias July 12, 2020 at 1:25 am

Just made this morning. So tasty! I used red apples as it was already available. I used coconut sugar instead of brown sugar. I cut regular sugar by half. Amazingly delicious. My beautiful Sister shared with me n my other 3 beautiful sisters. I in turned shared it with other family n friends. Thank you so much.

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Anne Papina November 26, 2020 at 8:51 am

So glad you enjoyed! It’s a pretty flexible recipe!

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