Red Truck Bakery Cookbook: Shenandoah Apple Cake with Maple Glaze

March 24, 2023

This recipe is the Shenandoah Apple Cake with Maple Glaze from The Red Truck Bakery Cookbook by Brian Noyes (unintentionally becoming a cook through the book series - see other posts here).

I will start out by saying that quite by accident, I obtained the very same apples from the very same orchard visited by Brian Noyes himself, which was specifically mentioned in the recipe preface. It chose this recipe thinking it would be a good one to use up all my leftover apples from apple picking, and was pleasantly surprised upon reading the preface.

First, prepare the apples, which will be time consuming.

Next, the dry ingredients must be mixed, then the wet. This recipe also requires doing the five step mixing process Noyes uses in a lot of the recipes in the cookbook, whereby the flour mixture is added three times, alternated with the wet mixture.

Then, add the apples very gently into the batter, before pouring into the pan and smoothing with a spatula.

This is also a recipe where I really recommend actually placing the Bundt pan over the baking sheet, as it has overflowed in my oven previously. This one also sometimes takes longer than the specified time in the oven. I'd recommend either using a convection oven, or plan for it to take a little longer by about ten to twenty minutes.

After it comes out of the oven, the syrup should be made, then brushed over the top and sides. Place something underneath to catch the extra syrup.

We love this cake. It is quite a treat. The syrup and sour cream ensures it stays moist with every bite. It has great apple flavor, warm spices, good apple distribution (if you don't cut the apple chunks too large), and is not too dense. The maple glaze is the perfect complement as well, but could be omitted based on preference. For presentation purposes, the glaze did look best the first couple of hours. The next day, the glaze wasn't quite as uniform, but still tasted great. To try this one out for yourself, go to page 136 of The Red Truck Bakery Cookbook by Brian Noyes.