Tammy Reminiscences
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Apple Dapple Cake
By Tammy Sharp – Lawson
Some of you may remember a lady who lived on Paint Rock by the name of Liza Duncan. Her husband was Lonnie Duncan. They were two of the sweetest older people you’d ever want to meet. During the 1970’s /‘80’s Momma worked forty hours a week, in addition to helping Daddy at the store on Saturday. Momma once told me that I’d better not be doing anything that I didn’t want her to know about, because she knew everyone who lived in the county, and I believed her! That, and the fact that I was afraid of my Dad, made me be a pretty good girl! The fact that Momma worked all the time left her with little time to cook desserts on the weekend. She always cooked meals, but she didn’t always make her own desserts, so Miss Liza used to make her cakes. Mr. Lonnie would crack black walnuts for her to put into her wonderful cakes. We all loved her Apple Dapple Cake. It was always so sweet, so moist and so good. One Friday evening Miss Liza had a cake ready for Momma to pick up. Momma stopped and she knocked, but no one came to the door. Momma could see and smell smoke coming from the back of the house, so she ran around back, opened the door and ran inside. There was a kettle on the stove that was smoking everything up. So Momma grabbed some pot holders and carried that burning pot outside and sat it on the stump out back where Mr. Lonnie cracked his walnuts. She went back inside and got her cake off the table and left the money for Miss Liza. When she and Mr. Lonnie returned from the store, she immediately knew who saved her house from burning down. Bless her heart, she never did get Momma paid for saving her house!
I have been thinking about this wonderful cake for sometime, and have wished that I had the recipe. I even asked her granddaughter, but I couldn’t seem to find anyone who had it. One Saturday not long ago, I walked up to the Murley Cabin in Norma to visit with my brother Joe, Janetta, Johnny and Bonnie. They always have good things to eat. Janetta asked me if I’d like a piece of cake, and since I’m weak when it comes to sweets, I said yes. As soon as I took a bite, that taste was all too familiar, so I said, “this cake tastes like Miss Liza Duncan’s Apple Dapple cake!” Janetta said, “it is!” Well, Hallelujah! I had found someone with the recipe! So Janetta Murley gave me Miss Liza’s recipe. This is the most wonderful apple cake you will ever put on your tongue! Please bake it, enjoy it and think of Miss Liza while you are eating it. She was a wonderful person and she was an inspiration to everyone who knew her!
Apple Dapple Cake
3 cups self-rising flour
2 cups sugar
1/4 tsp. salt
1 tsp. soda
1 1/2 tsp. cinnamon
3 beaten eggs
2 tsp. pure vanilla
1 1/4 cups oil
3 cups chopped apples
1 1/2 cups black walnuts (add 1 tablespoon flour to nuts to prevent them from going to the bottom of the pan when baking)
Preheat oven to 350° grease and flour a tube pan.
In a mixing bowl add flour, salt, soda and cinnamon, set aside. In another mixing bowl, add sugar, oil, eggs, vanilla, beat well. Add dry ingredients and mix until combined. Fold in apples and floured walnuts. Pour into Prepared pan and bake for 1.5 hrs. Cool 5 minutes, remove from pan to cake plate.
Glaze
1 cup sugar
1/2 tsp. soda
1 tsp. vanilla
1/2 cup buttermilk
4 tbs. light corn syrup
Bring ingredients to a boil and cook 3 minutes, stirring constantly. Pour over cake.
Note: you can bake this cake in a 9”x13” pan, or a Bundt pan. Poke holes in cake while hot and pour glaze over top allowing it to soak into cake.