A quick and easy stovetop white cake with apple topping that you can whip up in less than 30 minutes… including the topping! Perfect size for two people.
Welcome everybody to the April edition of the Crazy Ingredient Challenge!
It’s the 20th and time for the Crazy Ingredient Challenge recipes are revealed. So much inspiration from all the chefs! This month, the two ingredients came together to whip up a stove top cake with apple topping that was tasty and included vegetables. Really, it did.
I love this challenge. Each month, we have two polls and each poll has four ingredients to vote on. The winner of each poll becomes the crazy ingredients for the month. These were the winners for April: Carrots & Graham Crackers.
Loved the combo this month. I wasn’t quite sure what to do with these two and before I knew it, it was the 19th and I had yet to make anything. Nothing like leaving it till the last minute.
These past few weeks have been a bit insane. My full time job has gotten very busy and stuff on the personal front took a lot of time. This was a last minute recipe. And when I say last minute, I mean I just made it last night.
Since I’m a fan of graham cracker crusts on cheese cakes and pies, I went the dessert route. I’ve made this recipe before, but this time I changed the topping to incorporate the graham crackers and brown sugar.
This cake with apple is made with a half box of White cake mix, 2 large eggs (fresh from my chickens), half a zucchini (shredded) and half a carrot (shredded). I also added a shot of vanilla bean paste to add just a little richness to the mix. The batter will be thick. If you are worried it would not be moist, the veggies took care of that during the cooking process.
I used my 3 quart platinum cookware sauce pan for this and gave it a spritz of cooking spray. After that, I poured in a 3/4 can of apple pie filling. Then, I poured the cake batter over the apples. I started it on medium heat and when the temp on the platinum dial reached 60, I turned it to low for another 15-20 minutes.
I know most of you do not use platinum cookware. That doesn’t mean you can’t whip this up yourself. Again spray the pan with cooking spray (sticking apples suck…. and it’s a bear to clean up), add the ingredients as above and cook over medium heat for the full 15 minutes. Check with a toothpick as you would when you bake and add time as needed.
For the topping, add the remaining apple pie filling mix. Then in a small bowl, combine 2 tablespoons melted butter, 3 table spoons brown sugar and 5-6 crushed graham cracker squares. Mix until crumbly, but moist. Sprinkle on the top of the cake then serve.
This cake was amazing and delicious. And moist, so the thick batter was not a problem at all. The veggies, especially the zucchini, have a lot of moisture and that helped keep the cake from getting dry. Note: not all stoves and cookware are created equal. You’ll have to adjust your cooking time and temp a bit to make sure it works for you.
To see past challenges and the ingenious recipes our Crazy Ingredient Chefs have come up with, follow my Pinterest board.
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If you make this cake, take a photo & share it to Instagram and tag me (@lorisculinarycreations) & use my hashtag #LorisCulinaryCreations. I want to see your creations!


Well it looks like this time procrastinating paid off…this looks scrumptious. Hope life calms down a bit for you Lori.
I made a stovetop cake using cake mix and a ton of vegetables and fruit (carrots, cabbage, zucchini, squash, apples…) in another type of (fancy) cookware. The first time I saw it done, I was surprised by how well it turned out. That said, I can vouch for how delicious your cake must taste with all the added apples and apple topping.
Kelster recently posted…Carrot Cake Truffles – Crazy Ingredient Challenge