Apple Spice Cake

From All-New All-Purpose Joy of Cooking.
You need only one apple and no eggs for this lovely little cake, best the 2nd day.

1 Apple
1/2 cup unsalted butter or canola oil
1 cup brown sugar, packed
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 tsp. baking soda
1 tsp. cinnamon
1/2 tsp. ground cloves
1/2 tsp. ground nutmeg
1/2 tsp. salt
1 cup buttermilk
2 Tbls. brandy (optional)
1 tsp. vanilla

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Grease and flour an 8 x 8-inch pan. Do not peel, but core and finely chop one apple, this should yield 1 cup. Cream butter (or oil) and brown sugar together. Sift dry ingredients together. Stir vanilla and brandy into buttermilk. With mixer at low speed, add liquids alternately with sifted dry ingredients, until smooth. Scrape bowl and fold in apples and 1/2 cup chopped walnuts, if desired. Scrape batter into pan and spread evenly. Bake until cake tests done, 40 to 45 min. Allow to cool in pan 10 minutes, remove from pan and cool right side up on a wire rack.