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Grandma Ethel’s Apple Cake

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Grandma Ethel was amazing and her apple cake like pie is too.

If you knew Grandma Ethel (or her grandchildren), you’d want to adopt her. I did. She was my wonderful friend Marcia’s grandmother, admirer, and baking mentor.

Grandma Ethel’s apple cake is the stuff from which “Grandma Legends” are made. The crust is almost that of a pie, but it ends up more like a cake. The ingredients are simple, yet the final result is melt-in-your-mouth good. The cake entails a few steps, but none are complicated or intimidating once you get underway. Although different from my Rosh Hashanah Apple Cake, both come from the great tradition of Jewish apple cakes, perfect for holidays, Shabbat, and even an everyday treat no matter what you celebrate – or don’t. 

 While she did oblige when Marcia asked her for the recipe, Grandma Ethel’s instructions were best understood if you were standing next to her as she made the cake. A little of this, not too much of that, mix together unspecified amounts of cinnamon and sugar – you get the picture. (At least she didn’t respond the way the Lovin Spoon chef did, i.e. omitting an ingredient or two, so that the recipe couldn’t be duplicated without a lot of guesswork.) Marcia dutifully took down the recipe as dictated by Grandma Ethel, then coaxed out enough more information and answers to turn it into a recipe that she (and the rest of us) can follow.

There is one part of the recipe that Marcia didn’t write down. Like her grandmother, she knew it so well that she probably didn’t realize others might not – add love as you mix and roll, serve it to people you care deeply about, and enjoy the cake with them. 

Grandma Ethel’s Apple Cake

 

Piece of Grandma Ethel's Apple Cake like pie
5 from 1 vote
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Grandma Ethel's Apple Cake Like Pie

This apple cake like pie is the best of both worlds. Great filling and a crust that is more cakey than a pie, while providing a nice balance to the filling. An altogether wonderful comfort food snack or dessert. 

Course Dessert
Cuisine American, Jewish
Prep Time 30 minutes
Cook Time 40 minutes
Total Time 1 hour 10 minutes
Servings 12 servings
Author Laura

Ingredients

Crust

  • 2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour + extra for pan and flouring mat/paper
  • 1/2 cup sugar
  • 2 teaspoons baking powder
  • 8 tablespoons unsalted butter, softened (Grandma Ethel used Crisco or margarine) and cut into 8-10 chunks I/4 pound or 1 stick
  • 2 eggs, well beaten
  • 2 tablespoons orange juice + slightly more if required

Filling

  • 4 pounds apples, Macintosh or similar Macintosh or other soft variety, not the typical pie apples, which are harder and retain their shape during cooking.
  • 1/2 cup sugar (or more, to taste)
  • 1 teaspoon cinnamon

Topping

  • Additional cinnamon and sugar for sprinkling on the top

Instructions

Crust

  1. Sift or whisk together the flour, baking powder, and sugar in a medium bowl. 

    whisking dry ingredients together for dough
  2. Add the butter, eggs, and orange juice. Mix the ingredients, first with a fork, then with your lightly floured hands, just until they come together as dough. If they are too dry to hold together, add another tablespoon or so of juice. If the dough is too soft, add a bit of flour.
    adding butter and eggs to dough
  3. Divide the dough in half, form each half into a disk, wrap them in plastic wrap, and refrigerate the disks while you make the filling.
  4. Pre-heat the oven to 350 degrees F. Dust the pan with flour (don’t grease it with butter or oil) and set aside.

Filling

  1. Mix the sugar and cinnamon in the small bowl. Peel, core, and slice the apples. 
  2. Put the apple slices in the large bowl, add the cinnamon and sugar, and mix them until all the slices are covered. 
    apple slices for filling

Putting cake together

  1. Take one dough disk out of the refrigerator once it is chilled (45 minutes to an hour chilling time is sufficient) and roll it on a lightly floured mat or piece of waxed paper into a rectangle slightly larger than the 9 x 13-inch pan, about 10 x 14-inches. Gently lift the dough into the pan with the ends coming up the sides of the pan. Folding the dough about in half works, as long as you are gentle when moving it. 
    putting first half of dough into pan
  2. Add the apple slices on top of the dough.
    Adding apple slices to dough-lined pan

  3. Take out the second dough disk and roll it out to just over 9 x 13-inches. Place it over the apples, tuck in the sides, and poke a few air holes with the knife. The top will be bumpy and the sides don't have to be pretty. As I said, like the best grandmas, this is a forgiving cake. Sprinkle cinnamon and sugar on the top. 

    putting dough on top of cake

  4. After I took the middle photo, I decided that my topping didn't have enough cinnamon, so I added more cinnamon (with less sugar this time) on top. Again, this is not an exacting process. Bake for 50 - 60 minutes, until the top is golden and the juices are bubbling.

    adding more cinnamon to the top of the cake before baking
  5. Cool the apple cake on a wire rack to barely warm or cool before cutting pieces in the pan.
    cooling the cake before cutting

Recipe Notes

I love my apple corer – it’s sturdy and does the job so quickly (even when I slice the thick slices in half or thirds) but you can easily cut the apple slices for the filling with just a peeler and knife.

apple being sliced

The apple slices bake into a soft, golden compote-like filling inside the cake, so there is no need to sprinkle lemon juice as a precaution to prevent them browning.

 

Comments

  3. Gail Wides says

    Having been lucky enough to inhale this (and be allowed to take an extra slice home!), I can attest to its absolute deliciousness!

    Reply

  8. Joanie @ ZagLeft says

    I love recipes handed down from family members. This reminds me so much of the Polish recipes I would make with my husband’s grandmother when she visited. She rarely used measurements, just a pinch of this or that. This recipe sounds absolutely delicious. I love a good apple cake and I’m going to have to make this one very soon.

    Reply

  9. susan // the wimpy vegetarian says

    Some of my favorite recipes are those from my great-grandmother, who was famous in the family for being an amazing cook and baker. I’m lucky that she in was in life until I was an adult. She would have loved this recipe, and so will I.

    Reply

    • motherwouldknow says

      Alice, I had to laugh when my friend Marcia described how she "translated" the recipe. When she first asked for it, she spoke by phone to her grandmother and she could barely get any useful information except for the ingredients and a couple of general instructions. But she was determined and I think she had also seen Grandma Ethel make the cake, so eventually it worked out.

      Reply

  11. Laura Tabacca says

    That looks SO GOOD. I love that it is a grandma recipe, but honestly I would be pinning it no matter what. Holy wow. Thank you for sharing–it is also different from anything I have seen before really!

    Reply

    • motherwouldknow says

      Laura – So glad you like it. Grandma Ethel was a force of nature and her son, my friend’s Dad is still going strong at 92, so I think this apple cake (and her other recipes) must have a secret ingredient for longevity.

      Reply

    • Laura says

      Jeff, Wow, so the grandmas were all making this? Wonder if there is some original source that we don’t know about?

      Reply

  14. Linda says

    So glad to have found this. My mother was a holocaust survivor from Poland and she baked this pie often. She was too busy to teach me how to cook so I never got the recipe. This is exactly like her apple pie. I have been looking for quite a long time.

    Reply

    • Laura says

      Glad to have brought this recipe to you & to have connected you to such lovely memories of your mom. I am sure she’d be happy to know how much you enjoyed her version.

      Reply

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