Fresh Apple Cake

No Pie! Only Cake! You Must Like Cake!

Ever want to make a cake from scratch? No boxes of Duncan Hines or Betty Crocker, just stuff from your pantry. Well, assuming you stock the usual kitchen staples in your pantry. Once upon a time my pantry consisted largely of ramen, canned soup and tunafish.

My mom used to make this cake fairly frequently when I was a kid. I'm gonna see if I can't return the favor and turn out a decent cake for the parents next weekend. Mom always served it plain, but I'm thinking a nice tart sour cream icing would go really well with this! Alas, I have no recipe for a non-chocolate sour cream icing, so I'm gonna go with a caramel icing. It's pretty easy to do, just not as easy as the cake.

You'll Need:

1 cup vegetable oil
2 eggs
2 cups sugar
1 tsp vanilla
3/4 tsp salt
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp cinnamon
2 cups all-purpose flour (or cake flour, if you've got it)
3 cups peeled and diced tart apples (Winesap, Mcintosh, Rome, Granny Smith, Gala)

Mix the wet ingredients together in a big bowl. Put all the dry ingredients through a sifter, then dump in the bowl. Mix well, then add the apples and mix some more. When it's blended well, pour into a greased and floured pan, and bake at 325F. for 1 hour. Let cool on a rack before icing.

If you just gotta get fancy, substitute 1/2 cup chopped walnuts or pecans for 1/2 cup of the apples. You can also add nutmeg or cardamom, but I like the simple mix of cinnamon and apples.

Caramel Icing:
1 cup brown sugar
1/3 cup butter
1/3 cup milk
1 cup icing (confectioners') sugar

Caramel Icing:
Mix the brown sugar, butter and milk in a saucepan. Bring it to a boil. Stir constantly while boiling for 3 minutes. Don't spill any on yourself and for goshsakes don't lick the hot spoon! Cool until it's just sorta warm, then stir in the confectioner's sugar. Continue stirring until it looks like it'll be easy to spread, then ice the cake!

Mucho gusto, mi amigos!!