Fresh Apple Cake with Brown Sugar Glaze

My mother made this cake each autumn, because we loved it and because it is the ultimate good traveler. Baked in a 13-by-9-inch pan, it yields a big, dense, and delicious rectangle of apples, nuts, and caramel-kissed glaze, one which won’t budge from its foil-covered pan until you are good and ready to cut it. It’s perfect for school lunches, leaf-viewing hikes, tailgate picnics, and potluck supper