Italian Grandmother's Apple Cake

Another apple cake?

I can see you rolling your eyes.

But I promise, this one is a beauty (I say that about all my children....I mean cakes).
I always make an apple dessert for my Thanksgiving dessert cart, don't you?

I guess they call it an "Italian" cake because it uses olive oil.

I used Greek olive oil, so that makes it a "Greek Grandmother's Cake". ;)

After 10 years here, you had better be baking cakes with olive oil by now.

So much easier than creaming butter into the batter, and the oil imparts a richness and earthiness to the cakes that I love.

This cake is pretty perfect.

If you google "Mediterranean Apple Cake", many recipes come up using olive oil and apples.......I think this one is pretty perfect.

Here's the recipe:

3 medium Gala, Empire or Granny Smith apples, peeled and cut into chunks
fresh lemon juice
3 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
1/2 tsp ground nutmeg
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
1 cup sugar
1 cup extra virgin olive oil (I use California Olive Ranch Everyday olive oil)
2 large eggs
2/3 cup gold raisins
confectioner’s sugar for dusting (optinional)

Preheat oven to 350F.

Place the chopped apples in a bowl and squeeze a lemon over them so they don't brown.

In a large mixing bowl sift together the flour, cinnamon, nutmeg, baking powder and baking soda.

In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with a whisk, add sugar and extra virgin olive oil. Mix on low for 2 minutes until well-combined
While mixer is on, add the eggs, one at a time, and continue to mix another 2 minutes until mixture increases in volume (it should be thicker but still runny). If you don't have a mixer, then use a food processor, it works just as well.

In the large bowl with the dry ingredients, make a well in the middle of the flour mixture. Add the wet mixture (the sugar and olive oil mixture) into the well. Using a wooden spoon, stir until just blended; it will be a thick batter.

Add the raisins and apples to the batter and mix with spoon until well-combined. Again, batter will be fairly thick.

Line a 9-inch cake pan with parchment paper. Spoon batter into the pan (I use a 9" springform pan).

Bake in 350 degrees F for 45 minutes. Let cool completely before unmolding the sides of the pan.

You can dust with powdered sugar, but I left my cake naked.

This cake stays fresh and moist for days, if it lasts that long.

Have a wonderful Thanksgiving! See you on instagram with my holiday posts.

xo