Cooking With My Mama: Teddie’s Apple Cake
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Is it sick that shortly after dinner, often when I’m still full, I start looking forward to breakfast? It is a little, isn’t it? Well, this isn’t any old breakfast. It’s a little something called Teddie’s Apple Cake, a treat my mother introduced me to, one I know you’ll all also enjoy.
The recipe for Teddie’s Apple Cake first appeared in The New York Times in 1973, and Amanda Hesser republished the recipe in 2007. Who Teddie is remains a mystery, but that’s beside the point. Teddie made a damn good cake, and for that we should be thankful.
Made with oil not butter, this cake is super moist and seems to get better by the day (not unlike another favorite cake of mine). But what I love most about this cake is the crispy top crust, similar to that of a really good brownie.
I prefer this apple cake for breakfast — it’s such a treat with my coffee — but the recipe suggests serving it with vanilla ice cream, so it certainly could be served for dessert. Just know that whenever you serve it, it will be a hit, and don’t hesitate to make it a few days in advance if you’re planning on serving it for company — it stays moist and delectable days after it is baked.
I should note that the title of this post is a little misleading. I took no part in the preparation of this cake, only the eating. My mom came to town to meet Graham, her newest grandson, and to keep me well fed in the process. I could get used to this sort of thing. No cooking, no cleaning, just eating. Hmmmmmm.
PS: Balzano Apple Cake.
PPS: 9 Apple Recipes to Make this Fall
Mom in town to meet Graham, my newest bun out of the oven.
This cake gets better by the day. If you’re preparing it for a weekend brunch, don’t be afraid to make it a day or two in advance. It will be delectable and moist days after baking.
Teddie’s Apple Cake
- Total Time: 1 hours 30 minutes
- Yield: 8-10 servings
Description
Ingredients
- Butter for greasing pan
- 3 cups (384 grams) flour, plus more for dusting pan
- 1 1/2 cups (317 grams) vegetable oil
- 2 cups (400 grams) sugar
- 3 eggs
- 1 teaspoon kosher salt
- 1 teaspoon cinnamon
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 1 teaspoon vanilla
- 3 cups peeled, cored and thickly sliced apples, such as Honeycrisp or Granny Smith*
- 1 cup chopped walnuts (I omit)
- 1 cup raisins (I omit)
- Vanilla ice cream, for serving, optional
*I’ve used a mix of Fuji, York, and Cameo with success — use whatever you have on hand or whatever variety you prefer to bake with
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350ºF. Butter and flour a 9-inch tube pan. Beat the oil and sugar together in a mixer (fitted with a paddle attachment) while assembling the remaining ingredients. After about 5 minutes, add the eggs and beat until the mixture is creamy.
- Sift together 3 cups of flour, the salt, cinnamon and baking soda. Stir into the batter. Add the vanilla, apples, walnuts (if using) and raisins (if using) and stir until combined.
- Transfer the mixture to the prepared pan. Bake for 1 hour and 15 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Cool in the pan before turning out. Serve at room temperature with vanilla ice cream, if desired.
- Prep Time: 15 minutes
- Cook Time: 1 hours 15 minutes
- Category: Cake
- Method: Oven
- Cuisine: American
This post may contain affiliate links. Please read my disclosure policy.
128 Comments on “Cooking With My Mama: Teddie’s Apple Cake”
Hi I was wondering if you think this recipe would work in mini bread loaf pans, it looks amazing and I’ve been looking for a good apple cake/bread recipe.
Absolutely! Would be an amazing gift. Love this idea.
I made this three days ago and we just finished it off tonight…..delicious! This is definitely a keeper. Also, I used the full amount of walnuts and of raisins too, so it was a very very thick batter and it came out just fine. TY!
So happy to hear this, AnnE!
This really is the best cake- On one occasion, we had a guest who started eating it right off of the serving dish!!! This cake is sitting in my fridge right now, waiting to be served tomorrow. My mother’s recipe from a friend years ago and it’s the same as yours! -Except, we glaze it! When I glaze it, I usually omit one cup of sugar from the cake recipe, and for the glaze boil the following ingredients together for about 3 minutes: 6 T. butter, 1/2 cup brown sugar, 1/4 cup milk, and 1 t. vanilla. Happy Thanksgiving!
Hi Ali, Can I make this in advance and freeze it? Hadley and I are going to be doing some serious baking. xo
So fun!! And so, so sorry for the delay here Mrs. B!! Yes, definitely make it ahead and freeze it. This one is so forgiving. It gets better by the day. Hugs to you and Hads!!
Can I substitute apple sauce for some of the oil? If so, how?
This is a keeper! Super moist and delicious. I cut the sugar back by 1/2 a cup and used craisins and pecans.
This is my Go-To recipe when we have guests here from out of town! A personal fav with coffee.
My mom made a similar cake when we were growing up! always a favorite. The raisins are good soaked in bourbon too!
Could I make this in a springform pan?
Today I made this cake for my family. I remember when my daughter was a baby, I bought an apple cake like this recipe (without milk and butter) for her dad’s birthday so she could eat it. A wonderful cake, everybody liked it. I saved this recipe in Pinterest (My favorite recipes)
So happy to hear this, Cecilia!
Made this today without raisins and 1 cup of sugar instead of two. Also substituted 1 cup Cup 4 Cup gluten free flour and 2 cups gluten free oat flour for the 3 cups regular flour. Just delicious! The moistness is divine, and the vanilla really comes through beautifully! This is a keeper for sure. Thanks so much, Alexandra. I don’t know what I’d do without your blog! 🙂
Forgot to rate it!
Wow, Hina, amazing!! So great to hear that a g-f version of this cake works so beautifully … people always want to know. Thanks for sharing! And thanks for the kind words 🙂 🙂 🙂
I love the taste but it is crumbly. Any thoughts on why this happened?
Hmmm … what kind of flour did you use?
All Purpose. Probably Gold Metal. The taste is soooo moist and good. It is not as crumbly now that it is a couple days old, just a little.
OK, great to hear! I’m wondering it it’s the flour … it’s possible you just used a bit of a heavier hand when measuring the flour.
Possible. I don’t use a scale. I do whisk the flour and lightly spoon into the measure cup. It makes sense that it is a flour issue. Thanks for the input.
This is a family holiday favorite, only no raisins for us! The original was in the Betty Crocker cookbook. I prefer to divide the sugar half white and half brown!
No raisins for me either 🙂 Thanks for writing and sharing your notes. Great to read all of this 💕
Cab’t wait to make this! Is there an alternative for the tube pan?
Hi Pattie! Do you have bundt pan? You could probably do loaf pans, too. I wouldn’t fill each loaf pan higher than 3/4 full with batter.
Great cake!
Great to hear, Linda!
Your newsletter with this recipe arrived at the perfect time! I had Gravenstein apples from my CSA to use up today. I followed the batter recipe as written, but made 20 regular sized muffins, baked for ~25 min at 350 in baking cups sprayed with baking spray. Came out so delicious, and each muffin has a little crinkly crispy top like the cake in the photos.
Oh yay! Grace, wonderful to hear this. I LOVE the idea of making these into muffins… thanks so much for writing and sharing your baking notes — so helpful for others!
Over the top great! We really enjoyed it! A trick my daughter-in-law taught me is to dust the thoroughly buttered cake pan with sugar instead of flour. This makes for a marvelously crunchy sweet exterior! And I think no nuts, no raisins is best! The apples are the stars!
Oh I love this, Jenny! I do that with some cakes and I don’t know why I don’t do it with ALL cakes. Sugar is so much better than flour. Can’t wait to try this next time around. And I’m with you: I’m a no-nut, no-raisin kind of gal!
This cake is delicious! My husband, who never likes fruit in his cakes, loved this one.
I baked it without the nuts or raisins and I didn’t have a stand mixer or paddle attachment, and baked it in a large loaf pan and it turned out great! I also had to leave it in a bit longer, checked every 5 mins until the tooth pick came out clean.
Oh yay! Great to hear all of this, Jenny! I love that a loaf pan worked, too. That’s so helpful for others. Thanks so much for writing!
This apple cake is sooooooo good. And it makes enough that I was able to share slices with friends who also loved this cake. Yummy. Thank you.
Oh yay, so nice to hear this, Judy 🙂 🙂 🙂 It’s a favorite!
What would you think about trying this cake without the stand mixer? I made your delicious pumpkin bread yesterday with just using the whisk and wondered how this cake would come out without dragging my stand mixer out?
So nice to hear this, Allison! I think it would turn out beautifully without the mixer… can’t believe I haven’t tried this yet!
Thanks for such a quick reply!!! I will try this and let you know how it turns out. 🙂
Excellent! I made it yesterday (with apples only) for 4 adults and one 8 y/o. It was gone right away. I’ll be making this often for weekend mornings! Thank you for the recipe!
Wonderful to hear this, David! Thanks so much for writing. Great to hear it was a success all around. And great to hear red delicious apples worked well. I love this one this time of year.
I made this on Sunday, as I felt the need to bake overcome me before the work week started.
All the ingredients were available and I just used the apples that had accumulated on the counter and in the fridge, cutting away the bad parts. I skipped the raisins as I was out (bran muffins from here!) and the walnuts as I didn’t want to bother digging them out from the freezer.
I like “plain” cakes without the fuss of layering or glazing or frosting. My mother, however, usually feels the need to add something on top of them – whipped cream, ice cream, jam, sour cream. She says that that the cakes are good, but taste better with something on them.
Last night, I gave her a piece (still hot from the oven) and handed her a bottle of whipped cream. Today, she chose to have a piece (or two) without the benefit of anything extra. It just wasn’t needed.
This goes in my file as the perfect apple cake. I do admittedly particularly like that you don’t have to chop apples in small pieces.
So nice to hear all of this, Debby 🙂 🙂 🙂 How sweet that your mom approved of the cake without the whipped cream — success! I do love that this cake stays moist for days and doesn’t really need much else to go along with it. I always skip the raisins and walnuts, too. Thanks so much for writing and sharing this sweet story 🍎🍏🍎🍏🍎🍏🍎
FABULOUS, Fast, and EASY! I cut the apples into “chunky dices”, and sprinkled some cinnamon sugar on the top before baking. Perfect recipe to make your house smell like the Fall.
So great to hear this, Mikki! Wish I could have been there with all of you. Thanks so much for writing and sharing your notes. Love the sound of that topping!
Thank you. Fun to try your “family” recipe. (Sans nuts or raisins) Crowd pleaser!
Great to hear, Bern! Thanks for writing. I always make sans nuts and raisins, too.
Hi Ali! Seasons Greetings! Making Teddies Apple Cake and wondering are you calling for kosher salt or table/fine sea salt? And is there one type that you always use in your recipes?
Thank you so much!!💖🌟☃️
Hi Dawn! I would probably use fine sea salt here, but kosher salt is fine too. I always use Diamond Crystal kosher salt for savory recipes, and I sometimes use it for baking but I have to be honest, I don’t have a consistent system with baked recipes. Sometimes I use my Baleine Fine Sea Salt; sometimes I use kosher. Happy holidays!!
A friend made this cake for me – in muffin form… Absolutely delicious!!! I asked her for the recipe and she sent me here. I can’t wait to make it myself now! Thank you!!
Follow up – I halfed the recipe and baked it in a loaf pan – I used coconut oil because I didn’t have veg oil, and I used namaste GF flour. It turned out just as good as the regular version. Thanks for an amazing recipe!
Great to hear, Emily! Thanks so much for reporting back.
Oh yum!!! I love this idea so much. Thanks for writing and sharing.
Always a favourite with everyone and yes, it does get better after a few days! Thank you
Great to hear, Courtney 🙂 🙂 🙂
Great apple cake. Could I beg you to use weight measurements? So much easier and more accurate? Thank you !!
Eesh… I almost always do! So sorry. Just added some measurements based on other recipes on my blog. Hope that helps.
This recipe reminds me of an apple cake recipe that was shared by libraries around the country, via entries in their card catalogs and online catalogs starting in1974. The fact that it was in the NYTimes in 1973 may just be the mysterious beginnings of that recipe! It can still be found in some library catalogs. I worked at the RPI library back then and we always kept it in the catalog. I’m sure it’s gone now. A bit of fun, like “Easter eggs” found in other computer software programs. The story behind this is written up here: https://blog.oclc.org/next/the-legendary-apple-cake-record-story/
Now I want cake!
So interesting Polly-Alida! Thanks for sending the link to the article. Going to read it now 🙂
Could you add fresh cranberries to this cake? (My family has a thing for cranberries this time of year!) If so, what quantity would you suggest? I can’t wait to try it – with or without cranberries! Your recipes have become some of my all time favorites.
I think cranberries would be delicious! I would say 2 cups would be a good starting point? I’ve never tried so I can’t say sore sure, but I made a cranberry loaf cake recently, and 1.5 cups of cranberries wasn’t enough! So potentially you could use even more, but I’d say 2 cups is a good starting point especially if you are using the apples, too.
This cake is fantastic! So moist and flavorful. Everyone likes it. Thanks for sharing the recipe!
Great to hear, Jane! Thanks so much for writing 🙂 🙂 🙂