Over my years of baking sweet stuff (’cause let’s face it, I could eat dessert for breakfast, lunch and dinner) I’ve come to find that, as a general rule, women love anything made of chocolate, and while men have a not-so-sweet tooth, almost all of them love apple pie. I fit into this rule, I adore chocolate in any of its presentations, I even eat the stuff I use for baking in chunks when the craving hits and there’s nothing else. And in the apple pie department, I like it, but I rarely order it off a menu. This cake, on the other hand, is guaranteed to be loved (read: devoured) by both boys and girls – Proof enough of this is that after I baked two and took one to an afternoon of coffee with three of my previously mentioned very thin and permanently on a diet girlfriends, none of it remained. Yup, three girls ate a whole cake, because as one of them accurately put it – “You shouldn’t have made this. This is an orgasm in my mouth” – of which you clearly cannot get enough of.

The recipe is a slight adaptation from the wonderful Deb at Smitten Kitchen, with a few minor adjustments, basically the shape and layering.

Read more for the recipe

Deb’s Mom’s Apple Cake – Aka Dangerous Apple Cake
Adapted from Smitten Kitchen

Yield: Two rectangular 10.5 in X 5 in pans

6 apples (I used granny smith)
1 tablespoon cinnamon
5 tablespoons sugar
1 1/2 tbsp. lemon juice

2 3/4 cups flour, sifted
1 tablespoon baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup vegetable oil
1/2 cup butter
2 cups sugar
1/4 cup orange juice
2 1/2 teaspoons vanilla
4 eggs

Extra sugar and cinnamon for sprinkling.

Directions

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line two rectangular pans with parchment paper. Peel, core and chop apples into rough chunks. Toss with cinnamon, lemon juice and sugar and set aside.

Stir together flour, baking powder and salt in a large mixing bowl. In a separate bowl, whisk together the oil, orange juice, sugar and vanilla. Mix wet ingredients into the dry ones, then add eggs, one at a time. Scrape down the bowl to ensure all ingredients are incorporated.

Pour the batter into the prepared pans. Arrange the apples on an even layer on top, leaving as much of their juices as you can in the bowl. Sprinkle with sugar and cinnamon. Bake for about 1 1/2 hours, or until a tester comes out clean. Let cool for about 10 minutes in the pan, and then transfer to a wire rack. Optional: If you’ve got a cooking torch, sprinkle the top with sugar and then proceed to caramelizing for an even glossier look and crunch.