First things first:  I had skipped this recipe on my first pass through my grandmother’s recipes because it has nuts in it, and nuts in cake are bullshit.  However, I needed more pictures for the family cookbook so I broke down and made this one. 

A caveat before we get started:  I used Granny Smith apples because I figured they would offer more apple flavor, but it turns out that you can’t taste the apples at all, so use whatever you want.

Here’s what you’ll need:

1 Cup Butter, softened

2 Cups Sugar

3 Eggs

1 Tbsp. Vanilla

½ Cup Water

2 ½ Cups Flour

2 Tbsp. Cocoa

1 tsp. Baking Soda

1 tsp. Cinnamon

1 tsp. Allspice

1 Cup Nuts, chopped

½ Cup Chocolate Chips

2 Apples, cored and grated, or finely chopped

Cream together butter and sugar, adding sugar in a steady stream.  Add eggs, one at a time, vanilla and water and beat until fluffy. 

Sift together dry ingredients.  Add to creamed mixture and mix well. 

Fold in nuts, chocolate chips, and apples. 

Pour into a greased 10” springform pan.

Bake in a 325-degree oven for 60-70 minutes.

There isn’t a particular frosting suggested with this recipe so I slapped together a makeshift ganache and poured that over the cake after it had cooled a bit. Then I put it in the fridge to cool completely.

This cake is pretty good, all things considered.  It has an interesting flavor—transparent apples aside.  This also came out a little dry so if I make it again, I would start with the 60-minute time frame and see how that goes.  I think my grandmother is now trolling me from the grave.