Union Pacific's Hurry-Up! Apple Cake

An easy apple cake recipe, fresh out of the oven in 1925.

This great little apple cake recipe was found in a cookbook produced by the Agricultural Department of the Union Pacific railroad. Its yummy recipes were intended to lure settlers, and apple growers, to Washington state. See the recipe below.

Special Bonus: Ride the Rails...take a railroad journey from St. Louis, Missouri to Tacoma, Washington.

HURRY-UP! APPLE CAKE

The recipe as it originally appeared: Line a pan with sliced apples. Sprinkle apples with sugar, cinnamon, and butter. Make a batter of one cup of flour, one egg, one-half cup sugar, one tablespoon butter, one-half cup milk, one teaspoon baking powder. Pour mixture over the apples. Bake half an hour. Turn it over and serve with whipped cream or sweet sauce.

The original recipe with a few more helpful details...

APPLE LAYER

1 large tart apple, peeled then sliced or chopped

Sprinkling of brown sugar

Sprinkling of cinnamon

1 teaspoon butter cut into bits

Spread the apples in a round cake pan or 10x10 inch square pan. Sprinkle the apples with brown sugar, cinnamon, and butter bits.

CAKE LAYER

Mix together:

1/2 cup sugar

1 tablespoon butter

1 egg

1/2 cup milk

Add:

1 cup flour

1 teaspoon baking powder

Spread the batter over the apples and bake for 30 minutes at 350 degrees. When finished baking, loosen the edges with a rounded knife, then turn the pan over to remove the cake. The apples will be on top. Serve with whipped cream or ice cream. Yum!

Note: Hurry-Up Apple Cake is only about 3/4 inch thick.

Start peeling those apples now!

Washington State Historical Society