Old-Fashioned Apple Cake With Brown Sugar Frosting from KAF

This came from a King Arthur Flour site and says: "This cake is an old, old favorite of ours. It's a cake where the whole is definitely more than the sum of the parts. The moist, semi-chunky cake, spread with the frosting equivalent of brown sugar fudge, is perfect served with a cup of coffee or, better still, a glass of ice-cold milk." Not the prettiest cake I've made, but OMG - the flavor is all over it, pretty sure to make my families favorite list

• Ready In: 1 hr
• Serves: 24
• Yields: 1 cake

Ingredients

• Cake

• 2 1⁄3 cups unbleached all-purpose flour or 2 1⁄3 cups  king arthur white whole wheat flour
• 1 2⁄3 cups granulated sugar
• 2  teaspoons baking soda
• 3⁄4 teaspoon salt
• 1 1⁄2 teaspoons apple pie spice or 1  teaspoon  ground cinnamon 1/4 teaspoon each ground ginger and ground nutmeg
• 2  large eggs
• 1⁄2 cup unsalted butter, softened
• 4  cups  peeled peeled cored chopped apple, about 1 1/3 pounds whole apples
• 1  cup  diced toasted walnuts or 1  cup pecans

• Frosting

• 7  tablespoons unsalted butter
• 2⁄3 cup brown sugar
• 1⁄4 teaspoon salt
• 1⁄4 cup milk
• 2 1⁄4 cups confectioners' sugar
• 3⁄4 teaspoon vanilla extract

Directions

1. Preheat the oven to 325°F Grease and flour a 9" x 13" pan.
2. 2) To make the cake: Mix all of the ingredients except the apples and nuts in a large bowl.
3. 3) Beat until well combined; the mixture will be very stiff, and may even be crumbly.
4. 4) Add the apples and nuts, and mix until the apples release some of their juice and the stiff mixture becomes a thick batter, somewhere between cookie dough and brownie batter in consistency.
5. 5) Spread the batter in the prepared pan, smoothing it with your wet fingers.
6. 6) Bake the cake for 45 minutes, or until a cake tester or toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean, or with just a few wet crumbs clinging to it.
7. 7) Remove the cake from the oven and place it on a rack to cool completely; don't remove the cake from the pan.
8. 8) To make the frosting: Melt the butter in a small pan over medium heat. Stir in the brown sugar and salt and cook, stirring, until the sugar melts.
9. 9) Add the milk, bring to a boil, and pour into a mixing bowl to cool for 10 minutes.
10. 10) After 10 minutes, stir in the confectioners' sugar and vanilla. Beat well; if the mixture appears too thin, add more confectioners' sugar. Spread on the cake while frosting is still warm.