German Apple Cake

I made my own brown sugar for this by mixing full-flavoured molasses into cane sugar because I wanted a stronger flavour. If you haven't tried doing this before, add the molasses slowly until you get the strength you are comfortable with. We really like strong molasses, so over-doing it would take considerable effort. I used butter instead of the shortening called for in the recipe and I used coconut instead of chopped nuts for the topping.

The recipe comes from Amish and Mennonite Kitchens, by Pellman and Good


You Will Need:

1/2 cup butter
1 cup granulated sugar
1/2 cup brown sugar
2 eggs
2 1/4 cups AP flour
2 teaspoons cinnamon
2 teaspoons baking soda
1 cup buttermilk
2 cups raw apples peeled and diced

Topping:

1/2 cup brown sugar
1/4 cup white sugar
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 cup flaked coconut

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Grease a 9x13 pan

Beat the butter until it is smooth. Add the sugars and beat until light. beat in the eggs. Mix the flour and cinnamon together and mix the baking soda into the buttermilk. Add the ingredients alternating until well combined. Fold in the chopped apples.

Pour into pan and sprinkle with topping. Bake 45-50 minutes or until it tests done. It gets quite dark, so don't be fooled into thinking it is burnt-test it with a toothpick.

Cool in pan.