Pork is a natural pairing for anything apple. More like a slightly sweet bread than a dessert, Big Mama’s Apple Nut Cake is perfect with any pork main course, although it can also be served to end the meal. It can be made either in a loaf pan or in a traditional tube pan, depending on how you plan to serve it. The spiced fruit aroma this cake emits made it one of Big Mama’s favorites. With six kids and Big Bob to look after, she was entitled to a little aromatherapy. Because it was not overly sweet, the kids were allowed to snack on it during the day. After viewing this recipe I asked Ruth, the youngest daughter of the Gibson clan, what kind of nuts should be used. She said the nut of choice was either hicka nuts or scaly barks, two varieties you are unlikely to find at your local grocer. “Hicka nuts” is turn-of-the-century Southern country slang for hickory nuts, and “scaly barks” are the nut from the shagbark hickory tree. Hickory nuts are tough to crack, and getting the meat out is very difficult, but they must be superior in flavor because Big Mama would walk past three pecan trees to get to the scaly barks. You can substitute whatever nut you prefer.
Recipe information
Yield
serves 8 to 10
Ingredients
Preparation
Preheat the oven to 300°F. Grease a 10 x 5-inch loaf pan or a 10-cup tube pan. In a medium bowl, combine the flour, sugar, cinnamon, and baking soda and mix well. Stir together the eggs and oil and then add to the dry ingredients. Stir in the apples, nuts, and vanilla extract. Pour the mixture into the prepared pan. Bake for 1 hour and 15 minutes before testing the cake for doneness. Remove it from the oven when the cake tester comes out clean. Let the cake cool slightly before removing it from the pan.
