Apple Cake with Butter Pecan Glaze

This post should come with a long overdue apology to my sister…for laughing at her (hard) almost 30 years ago. Her first grade class put together a little “cookbook” comprised of their own made-up recipes. My sister’s contribution to this handwritten anthology was the concept of an apple cake.

“Bwahahahaha!! An apple cake!! Who ever heard of an apple cake?!” was my far more mature and worldly response. Everyone knew there were only three kinds of cake: chocolate, vanilla and chocolate chip. Apple cake…what a kid.

I am eating those words today. More importantly, I’m also eating a fabulous Apple Cake with Butter Pecan Glaze from the back of my last remaining package of White Lily flour (Southern friends, I’ll be calling on you to ship me some more!). It’s strange to say, but it almost reminded me of a carrot cake, but with a thick, rich caramel-like glaze on top instead of cream cheese frosting. It’s got a lot of sugar, a lot of oil and a lot of apples. I knew it would be super moist and, oh yeah, it was.

What can I say – my little sister was onto something good.

Apple Cake with Butter Pecan Glaze

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27 Comments

  1. Kathy this looks fantastic!

    Posted 9.12.11 Reply
  2. wow so pretty! Perfect for the Jewish holidays coming up when Apple Cake is a traditional dessert

    Posted 9.13.11 Reply
    • Wow, I never knew that Alison – that’s really interesting, thanks for letting me know!

      Posted 9.13.11 Reply
  3. Kalyn wrote:

    Gorgeous photo of the finished cake! I am drooling here.

    Posted 9.13.11 Reply
  4. Kristen wrote:

    Beautiful and delicious looking cake, Kathy! Perfect for fall.

    Posted 9.13.11 Reply
  5. I adore apple cakes, apple breads, and anything that’s baked with apples and not too sweet (as pies sometimes are). I live near a part of Rhode Island called Apple Valley, because it used to be all apple orchards. We still get pretty good apples around here, though many of the orchards are gone.

    Posted 9.13.11 Reply
    • New England and apples are definitely two things I love about fall. 🙂

      Posted 9.13.11 Reply
  6. This cake looks amazing and I’m sure it tastes as good as it looks!

    Posted 9.13.11 Reply
  7. Leana wrote:

    Can you freeze this cake?

    Looks so yummy.
    thanks
    Leana

    Posted 9.13.11 Reply
    • Maybe? The glaze probably won’t have the same sticky, caramel-like consistency but I imagine it would at least still taste good. Alternatively, you could try freezing it without the glaze and then make some glaze (or just eat it without) once you defrost it.

      Posted 9.13.11 Reply
      • Leana wrote:

        Freezing without the glaze and when ready to serve make glaze or if I don’t have time sprinkle with powder sugar.

        Posted 9.13.11 Reply
  8. Julie wrote:

    To my 6-year old mind, anything that could be a pie could also be a cake, and I much preferred cake! This looks delicious!

    Posted 9.13.11 Reply
  9. This cake gives me an urge to snuggle down on the couch, blanket wrapped around me and a plate with a piece of this cake in my hand.

    Posted 9.13.11 Reply
  10. Winnie wrote:

    Amazing looking cake!
    Definitely want to try it.
    As I’m not from the USA (and we don’t have this particular kind of flour), I was wondering if cake flour might to the job. I mean instead of using just 2.5 cups+2 tbs of flours, using 3 cups of cake flours

    Posted 9.14.11 Reply
    • Hi Winnie – it might be fun to experiment with cake flour. I’d be inclined to use slightly less than 3 cups of cake flour as I believe – would have to google to be sure – that White Lily is lighter than cake flour. Ideally, it would be great if all the brands printed how much a cup of their flour ways, then you could more easily make adjustments by weighing the ingredients with a scale (the best way, I think).

      Posted 9.14.11 Reply
  11. Leana wrote:

    Made two of these last night and the house smelled so good. I left out the pecans for both and accidental forgot the vanilla in one. Took the one with out vanilla to work and it was sooooooooo good sprinkled with powder sugar. The plate is all most empty had to put a few slice aside for my boss. I put the other in the freezer for a class this weekend.

    Posted 9.14.11 Reply
    • That’s terrific! So funny, I had to bake a batch of chocolate chip cookies with hardly any vanilla last weekend (bottle fell off the shelf and broke – ugh!). Those ended up fine too. Come to think, both recipes have a whole lot of brown sugar, which probably helps. 🙂

      Posted 9.14.11 Reply
  12. Your apple cake looks fantastic, and oh my, that glaze looks AMAZING!!!!!!!!!!!! I love how it’s oozing down the side.

    Posted 9.14.11 Reply
  13. I think I could eat that glaze just by itself :).

    Posted 9.15.11 Reply
  14. Amanda wrote:

    wow! this looks oh-so-good.

    Amanda
    softandstiffpeaks.blogspot.com

    Posted 9.27.11 Reply
  15. Rochelle wrote:

    This looks so delicious and the instructions are straightforward. I will get some becan from the farmer’s market this weekend and give it a try – thank you for the recipe.

    Posted 2.20.12 Reply
  16. Carol wrote:

    This truly is an excellent cake! I have used another recipe for years and wanted to try this one. Now, I won’t use any other. The caramel glaze is outstanding…something that was always inconsistent when I used my other recipe.

    Posted 9.15.13 Reply
    • I’m so glad you liked it, Carol! I really like this recipe too. 🙂

      Posted 9.15.13 Reply
  17. Felicia wrote:

    I cut this recipe off the back of a bag of white lily flour to try for a thanksgiving dessert. So glad you posted this, so I know it’ll be a hit! Have you tried their biscuit recipe by chance?

    Posted 10.30.13 Reply
  18. What kind of apples would be best to use to make this cake?

    Posted 10.25.14 Reply
    • Hi Agnes — You might try honeycrisp! ~ Kathy

      Posted 10.25.14 Reply