Fannie Petersheim's Amish Apple-Walnut Cake

Once late summer arrives on Amish farmsteads in the midwestern USA, that is when "apple season" begins. I didn't even know there was an "apple season" when I was growing up. Apples are generally available year-round for spoiled supermarket shoppers. The supermarkets have, for the most part, blurred the lines of when something is "seasonal" and when it is not. I mean, you can pretty much buy a watermelon any time of year, but true "watermelon season" in my part of the world is late summer. So, to bring this back to apples...

Wow, this is some amazing cake. When my mother asked me for a good Amish recipe to use up some apples and walnuts that she had, I looked through my archives and sent her several. When she chose Fannie Petersheim's Amish Apple-Walnut Cake I was just "meh."  It just didn't seem that great-sounding.  But, oh, it is! 

And I am quirky (according to my wife), I like my desserts cold. So to make this cake even better stick it in the fridge.  But if you are a room-temperature cake kind of person, it is amazing like that too.

Make sure you use fresh walnuts and fresh apples and wait until the cake is cool to cut it, otherwise it'll be crumbly.

You know, you can really use any type of apple ( I know, the purists would disagree)... My favorite is honeycrisp for this type of a bread, but you can use gala or even granny smith. Amish apple growers cultivate a variety of apples, but honeycrisp are growing in popularity.

And, SIGH, I enjoyed the cake so much that I forgot to take a photo of a slice that was cut.  But it's so good, you won't regret making this!

This recipe comes to us from Fannie Petersheim an Amish woman in Waholding, Ohio, an Amish settlement outside of Columbus.  The name Petersheim is a fairly common surname in some Amish communities.  Waholding, by the way, is a very progressive Amish settlement in terms of technology.

Okay, check out this amazing apple cake!

🍎 Fannie Petersheim's Amish Apple-Walnut Cake

• 1 ¼ cups oil
• 2 cups granulated sugar
• 3 eggs
• 3 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon cinnamon
• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
• 3 cups cubed, peeled apples
• 1 cup chopped nuts
• Topping:
• ½ cup (1 stick) butter
• ¼ cup evaporated milk
• 1 cup brown sugar, firmly packed

📋 Instructions

1. Directions
2. Mix together well oil, sugar and eggs. Add remaining cake ingredients and mix well again.
3. Pour into greased 13 x 9-inch pan and bake at 350° for 45 to 55 minutes, starting in a cold oven.
4. Mix together topping ingredients in a saucepan and bring to a boil.
5. Pour on cake while still cake is still warm.

🍎 More Amish Apple Recipes

Old-Fashioned Apple Cookies - Amazingly good!

Amish Apple Dumplings - Wow!

Baked Apple Pudding - I love this one!

Apple Grunt - grunt your approval!

🖨️ Full Recipe