Preheat your oven to 350°F (175°C). Grease and line a standard loaf pan with parchment paper because no one likes scrubbing baked-on sugar cement.

In a mixing bowl, cream together the butter and sugar until light and fluffy. This is the part where you pretend you’re on a baking show and ignore the fact that your mixer sounds like it’s on its last legs.

Add in the eggs one at a time, then the vanilla. Mix until combined.

In another bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, and cinnamon. (Yes, it’s annoying to dirty another bowl. No, you can’t skip it.)

Gradually add the dry ingredients into the wet, alternating with sour cream. Stir until just combined. Don’t overmix unless you enjoy cakes with the texture of a hockey puck.

Fold in the chopped apples. At this point, you will feel very smug about your fruit intake. Lean into it.

Pour the batter into your prepared loaf pan and smooth the top. Bake for 50–60 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.

Let it cool for about 15 minutes in the pan before transferring to a wire rack. If you try to glaze it while it’s still molten, you’ll have a cinnamon-sugar puddle instead of a glaze. Not that I’m speaking from experience (I totally am).

For the glaze: whisk together powdered sugar, cinnamon, milk, and vanilla until smooth. Drizzle generously over the cooled loaf.

Slice. Serve. Pretend you’ll only eat one piece. Immediately eat three pieces.