I am glad I read the reviews first tho. The batter is very thick. I added 1/4 cup apple cider. I also doubled the frosting recipe. Delicious.

I followed this recipe to the ""T"" and when I was done mixing everything together, I had a big clump of goo......so I looked over the ingredients AGAIN to make sure I hadn't left anything out.....Well, I finally decided to add about a 1/2 cup of water to the mixture and it all smoothed out.....in the end the cake was wonderful....I will definately make it again....

I love this cake. My husband and 3 boys love this cake. Heck, even my mother-on-law loves this cake! I'm back here at the site because I gave the recipe to my not-quite-hip-to-the-internet mother (because she loved the one I baked for her), she made the cake for folks at her church (of course they loved it, too), she promised to share the recipe with everyone at church, but now she's lost her copy of the recipe. So, consider yourself lucky - here you are, ready to enjoy a coveted recipe that others are holding the breath for!

I made two batches. The first one following the recipe to the letter. The reviews below hit the nail on the head for the most part. The dough is like sugar cookie dough and a bit stiff to put the apples and nuts in last. With a little work it was fine. I also found for the cake baking, I slid a toothpick in the sides and it came out clean about 45-50 mins in, the middle needed 55-60 minutes total to cook. It could be my 20+ year old oven too though :). The second batch I added the nuts and apple pieces in before adding the flour mixture and it was much easier to mix overall. Instead of doing a cake this time, I did big muffins and after 30 minutes they were definitely ready to come out of the oven. The cake tastes great as is. The frosting I used an 8oz brick with all said ingredients and it turned out sweet enough for us. The next morning, the muffin with frosting, allowed to sit over night, is fabulous with coffee. I've also received rave reviews from all the neighbors I delivered cake to over the holidays. Enjoy!

Okay, I was concerned when mixed in everything before the apples! I had to enlist the help of my husband to mix the apples and walnuts because the consistency of the batter reminded me of sugar cookie dough. After he mixed away, the batter looked well mixed, but it was REALLY thick! I actually had to press the mixture into my pan! 42 minutes later....PERFECTION! The smell was great, too! I mixed up the frosting the last 3 or 4 minutes before the cake was done, so after it cooled for about 10 minutes, I was ready to frost! The end result was a sweet, moist, flavorful cake! The next time I make this cake, I'll use a tad less sugar in my frosting. I did use the larger cream cheese and granny smith apples for this recipe.

Shirl's Apple Cake was so moist and delicious we made the cake twice. Once for Thanksgiving and then for Chrismas. Our whole famly enjoyed the apple flavor and the cream cheese icing was just the thing to bring out all the flavors of the cake.One thing I would add, would be to little more than double the recipe for the icing . I used 8oz cream cheese instead of only 3oz to the icing.

I agree with the first review on this cake: the batter is very thick and it takes a bit of stirring to get all of the apples and nuts mixed in but it's worth the effort. It looks like there is too little batter and too many apples. I had to pat the batter into the cake pan, it is too thick to pour. I baked the cake as per the temperature and time. It came out great. Lots of apples and lots of flavor. It tastes great without the cream cheese frosting but tastes even better with it.

Sorry to say that this cake was a complete disaster. The batter for this cake was hardly spreadable as it was so thick; I thought when I added the apples that it would thin out, therefore I have to wonder if there is a missing ingredient such as another liquid or if the amount of vegetable oil is incorrect. I let this cake cook for an extra 15 minutes before a toothpick inserted appeared to be dry. When I cut this cake the next morning I found the bottom part very wet almost as if the cake was still raw. The one thing I did enjoy was the aroma that filled part of the house while it was baking.