Mmmm!! Apple Cake

So The Con-Man has been going to Mother's Day Out two days a week for a few weeks now. It's nice because not only does it give me some free time to work on projects it's good for him to get out of the house, interact with other kids his age, have some structure in the day, ect. And you know, it's nice for me to...

(Gratuitous Picture of Cute Baby)

This past Thursday it was my turn to bring snacks for the Kiddos. I just assumed that all kids ate mountains of food like Con-Man so I bought a bag of apples, some cheese and sliced them all up. Little did I know that all kids don't inhale food in the quantities my son does so needless to say there were more than a few apple slices left for me to take home.

Hmmm, what to do with a bowl of sliced apples? Make cake! 

Source

I originally thought about making pie or tart but those all called for Granny Smith apples and all I had was Red Delicious. I found the recipe on Joy Of Baking. I choose it because not only did it look good,  had most of the init was easy to follow, didn't take long, and there's even a video to go along with it! It's the perfect fall dessert.

Ingredients:

3/4 Cup Chopped Walnuts or Pecans

1 pound apples (about 3 large)

1-2 tblsp lemon juice

1.5 cups flour

3/4 c sugar

1.5 tsp baking powder 

1 tsp cinnamon

1/4 tsp salt

6 tblsp unsalted butter melted and cooled to room temp

2 large eggs

1/2 tsp vanilla extract

2 tblsp mild

1/3 cup raisins (I didn't use raisins)

Glaze (optional)

1/3 cup apricot perserve or jam

Step 1.

Preheat the oven to 350 and place the rack in the center of the oven. Butter or spray non stick cooking spray on an 8 in square baking pan and line with parchment paper or wax paper

2. Place nuts on a baking sheet and bake for about 8-10 min or until lightly brown and fragrant. Remove from oven and cool on a wire rack then coarsely chop.

3. Peel, core, and chop the apples into bite size pieces. Toss with lemon juice.

4. In a bowl use a mixer to combine the flour, sugar, baking powder, ground cinnamon, and salt. Add the melted butter, eggs, vanilla extract, and milk and beat until fully incorporated. Fold in the chopped nuts, raisins, and apples.

5. Transfer the batter to the prepared pan and smooth out the top. Bake in preheated oven for about 35-45 minutes or until golden brown and a toothpick inserted into the middle of the cake comes out clean, Remove from oven and place on rack to cool.

6. While the cake is still warm, prepare the glaze. Place apricot jam in a small sauce pan and warm over medium heat until liquid. Remove form heat and strain the jam through a fine strainer to remove and fruit lumps. Or heat in the microwave. Use a pastry brush to spread the preserves over the cake.

7. Serve warm with whipped cream or vanilla ice cream. YUM!!

This cake turned out good and was pretty easy to make. Next time though I may not use as many apples as it calls for. Every bite was completely apple filled and I think I'd like less.

I hope you try this out and enjoy it as much as I did!

Have a fabulous weekend!