Apple walnut cake

This beautiful Apple Walnut Cake was the "Recipe of the month" for January, 2013 as printed in one of my local magazines, The Navesink Area Journal. It sounded good and I am always game for another apple dessert, so I whipped it up this past weekend. It turned out pretty darn good: buttery, moist, with a good apple-spice flavor, and walnuts that give it richness and texture.

Ingredients:

1 cup white sugar
1 cup brown sugar
1/2 pound (2 sticks) butter, at room temperature
3 eggs, at room temperature
3 cups sifted all-purpose flour
1 1/2 tsps salt
1/2 tsp baking soda
1 tsp ground cinnamon
1/2 tsp ground nutmeg
1/8 tsp allspice
2 tsps vanilla extract
1 cup chopped walnuts
4 cups cubed/chopped Macintosh apples  

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350F. Butter and flour one 10inch tube pan.

 2. Cream together the butter and sugar. Add eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition. Set aside.

3. Sift together the flour, salt, baking soda, cinnamon, nutmeg, and allspice. Add to wet ingredients and mix well.

4. Stir in vanilla, walnuts, and apples. Mix well and pour into prepared pan.

5. Bake at 350F for approximately 1 hour to 1 hour, 15 minutes (depending on your oven), or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Set aside to cool. Slide knife along outer edges to release bottom of tube pan. Slide knife along bottom of tube pan and inner tube to release cake. Note: If using lesser amount of apples, add several tablespoons of milk, to moisten the batter.  

Glaze (optional)
1 1/4 cups confectioners' sugar
3 tbsps of milk
1/2 tsp vanilla extract

Makes approximately 1/2 cup of icing.

Stir milk into sugar. Add vanilla. Drizzle onto cake. May be thickened with confectioners' sugar or thinned with milk.