Since when does a cake observe a religion?

I acquired this recipe from my grandmother and although I ate her cake hundreds of times never did I ask her why this was named "Jewish Apple Cake" or if she got the recipe from someone who was Jewish. Regardless, it's an incredibly dense, moist and flavorful cake. Tons of apples and cinnamon and a crusty sugary outside.

I had forgotten about this recipe until someone sent me a link to a great site (I had bookmarked and used some of the recipes in the past) called Mrs. Claus' Cookbook. Tons of recipe and fun kid stuff to do as well. So as I was going through the list of cakes again...and I saw it. Jewish Apple Cake. Wow, so my grandmother didn't make this name up....and it was pretty much the same recipe (less O.J and added water).


Here is my Me-mom's version:

Jewish Apple Cake

4 large apples, peeled and cut into thick chunks or slices (coat with 1 T. of cinnamon and 5 T. of sugar)
3 cups flour
1/2 t. salt
2 -1/2 cups sugar
1 T. baking powder
4 eggs
1 cup vegetable oil
2-1/2 tsp. vanilla
1/3 cup orange juice
a few pecans on top for garnish -optional

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease and flour a angel food cake pan and line bottom with parchment paper.

In an electric mixer, put flour, salt, sugar and baking powder. Start slowly to mix dry ingredients and one at a time add your 4 eggs. Pour in oil, then OJ and lastly the vanilla. The batter will be super thick.

In the greased pan* put half of batter, layer with half of cinnamon/sugar coated apples. Put remaining batter on apples and finish with remaining apples on top.

Bake @ 350 for 1-1/2 hours. Check for doneness with a toothpick. This cake is a heavy one! Let stand in pan until warm to touch before removing. Sprinkle with powdered sugar when serving.

*after I greased the pan, I lined it with coffee filters. One (with a hole cut) for the bottom of the angel food pan and several half circles around the sides.

This is great warm from the oven with ice cream or a dollop of whipped cream. Store in refrigerator if you don't think you can eat it all within a day or two. We also ate some slices for breakfast as well!

Enjoy!