Don’t be misled by the recipe’s name. It might not be the most beautiful cake you’ve ever seen, but it is definitely the tastiest! This is what I’ve prepared for a brunch, tea party, office luncheon, and dessert. Always popular, it. Delicious when accompanied by vanilla ice cream.
| Prep Time: | 20 mins |
| Cook Time: | 1 hr 30 mins |
| Total Time: | 1 hr 50 mins |
| Servings: | 12 |
| Yield: | 12 servings |
Ingredients
- 2 cups white sugar
- 3 cups all-purpose flour
- 2 teaspoons baking soda
- 2 teaspoons salt
- 2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
- 1 ⅓ cups vegetable oil
- 2 eggs
- 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
- ½ cup raisins
- 4 cups chopped, peeled apple
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 325 degrees F (165 degrees C). Grease a 9×13 inch pan.
- In a large bowl, stir together the sugar, flour, baking soda, salt, and cinnamon. Make a well in the center, and pour in the oil, eggs and vanilla. Mix until well blended. Fold in the raisins and apples. Spread evenly in the prepared pan.
- Bake for 1 1/2 hours in the preheated oven, until firm and lightly browned.
Nutrition Facts
| Calories | 514 kcal |
| Carbohydrate | 69 g |
| Cholesterol | 31 mg |
| Dietary Fiber | 2 g |
| Protein | 5 g |
| Saturated Fat | 4 g |
| Sodium | 611 mg |
| Sugars | 42 g |
| Fat | 26 g |
| Unsaturated Fat | 0 g |
Reviews
Made this for company with red delicious apples I needed to get rid of it. I served it warm with fresh whipped cream and everyone raved about it. Only change I made was reducing the oil (part vegetable and part canola as that’s all I had) to 1 cup and added 1/3 cup milk to make up for rest of liquid. I also added just a little more cinnamon and I only baked 1 hour at 325 degrees. It was a strange texture before baking, almost like a gooey play dough, but the end result was awesome! Very moist and flavorful! My family thinks it’s definitely a keeper.
Updating my review. Wrote plum and not apples. Had a problem with a loads of fruit trees giving us way too much at the same time. So in error wrote the wrong fruit on this review. Hope there was a laugh from some and some understanding from others. Enjoy the day and this cake.
I’ve been making and modifying this recipe since I first discovered it about 15 years ago. Everyone loves it with Powdered Sugar Frosting or Cream Cheese Frosting. Of course, the Cream Cheese Frosting is the favorite of most.
This is a good recipe that produces a nice moist dense cake. the only reason I cannot rate it 5 stars is the bake time. PLEASE CHECK YOUR CAKE AFTER ONE HOUR! I noticed the bake time of 1.5 hrs seemed really off even though it is baked at 325(usually cakes are baked at 350). Glad I decided to check it after 1 hr. It was plenty done. The only sub was replace 1 cup of oil w/applesauce, and only 1/3 c. oil. I upped the spices just out of personal preference. Used Ginger Gold and Macintosh apples. I did use a bigger dice which is nice to get a nice bite of flavorful apple. added some nuts with the raisins. This cake is not ugly. It was delicious and moist iced with a browned butter icing. Only thing is to remember to check the cake 55 min-1 hr just to be sure it does not get too done.
It was a hit at school. Added 1/2 tsp cloves, would add a bit more and maybe nutmeg. Really great…looks dry when you put it in pan, don’t be fooled, it bakes beautifully and has a nice crunchy top so no frosting needed.
The only reason I gave it 5 stars, is I figured out how to make it more amazing….add 1/2 cup of applesauce in addition to all the ingredients. This is a very good cake. You don’t need to add milk like I’ve seen in some of the reviews, trust me 1/2 -3/4 of applesauce will do the trick, its one of the moistest cakes and very tasty!!!! And for those the reason your not tasting apples is perhaps the choice of apple you used! I used honeycrisp and it addefd a wonderful taste!
I’ve made this cake several times, sometimes as half a recipe. The only change I make is that I use less cinnamon due to personal preference. Not only it is very tasty and moist, it makes the house smell great :). The dough is quite dense and can be difficult for someone frail or with arthritis.
I followed the recipe exactly as written and it was finished after 1 hour in oven instead of 1 1/2 hours, so be careful in your baking time. Even though it was enjoyable warm with ice cream and then again with coffee in the morning I can’t say it is a favorite and I will most likely look for another recipe for the next patch of apples I want to turn into dessert.
Good flavor, but much too oily. I followed the recipe exactly. Will make again, but next time will cut the oil at least by half.
We enjoyed this very much and ate every last bit of it, but decided we like my orignal apple cake recipe from my good old Better Homes and Gardens cookbook. Gonna have to stick with that recipe…..
REALLY GOOD! The only difference to the actual recipe that I made was that I used 1 1/2 cups of sugar instead of 2 and I used corn oil instead of vegetable oil. I also poured the batter into a tube pan instead of a 9×13 dish, and baked it for 1 hour 15 min. Other than that, I left it just the same and will definitely make it again, hopefully soon 🙂
This cake is delicious. I cut down on the oil to 1 C. and only baked it 1 hour and it was done. I was surprised that none of the reviews mentioned how long it was to be in the oven. I served it, dusted with powdered sugar, to my book group and everyone loved it. It was very moist and flavorful. Tonight I baked it again using those same changes and I also used Craisins as I was out of raisins. I’m sure that will taste great also.
We make this cake as the recipe states and we love it! Have taken it to family events and it always goes over well!
Very average, nobody could really taste the apple, just a generic somewhat fruity sweetness.. It was also very dense, probably because of all the oil? maybe i should have substituted some of the oil with applesauce. The only change i did was to cut down some sugar, to about 140g and the sweetness was just nice. This tastes better when chilled though, and goes well with a cream cheese frosting, to give it a slightly more complex flavour.
It was good, but not exceptional. I won’t be making it again.
Wonderful cake! I substituted butter for oil. Perfect. It looks dry and crumbly as your mixing the ingredients, but don’t fret…it comes out light and perfect.
Excellent, I didn’t change anything, the suggested milk isn’t really necessary in my opinion, since the apples do give a lot of moisture while baking. I sprinkled around half a cup of sliced almonds on top before baking, made the ugly cake into a prettier cake. Had 4 granny apples in the fridge which weren’t all that fresh anymore. The people loved this cake.
I make this cake often, exactly as it is here. It is delicious. I get tons of compliments, so thanks whoever posted this! The apples have so much water in them that it cooks out into the batter and makes something I can only describe as an apple spice cake with the moisture of a brownie. My friend HATES cake but he loves this.
OH MY GOODNESS!I love this recipe.So easy and everyone loves it!Didn’t change a thing except added a little milk so the batter was alittle better, not so thick.Great recipe!Thanks!
I woke up on Christmas morning after having been ill for a few days and was regretting not having made something special for breakfast. Apple Ugly Cake to the rescue!!! Just super! I made it exactly as written and was thrilled with the result. I luckily had a bag of Macoun apples I had bought to make pies and I do think that they helped perfect the cake. But, I am sure a mix of Grannies and Macs would be just fine, also. THANK YOU for posting this, MTWOMAN!
This makes a great breakfast/coffee cake. I subbed 1/2 wheat flour as well as 1/2 a cup of applesauce for some of the oil to make it a bit healthier. I baked it in a bundt pan and after unmolding it, I drizzled a little powered sugar glaze for appearance (which took care of the “ugly” part :-). It was very moist and tasted great!