Apple Cake

Will has turned into quite the baker. This morning, he helped me make pancakes for breakfast, and this evening, he helped me bake a cake from my great-grandmother's recipe.

My parents went on vacation through New England, and on the way back through Virginia, they stopped at an apple orchard. We have more apples than we'll eat, so I dug through my recipe box, found this old recipe my mom had written down for me, and we got to work. My mom hasn't even made this cake before, so chances are, this was the first time in fifty years or so anyone has made it.

I didn't get any pictures of the prep because I was too busy keeping Will's fingers away from my knife, but here is the finished result:

Lovely chunks of apple throughout





Will's first tentative taste


Hey, Mikey - he likes it!



A thumbs up from the master baker


For those of you interested, here's the recipe

Grandma Gill's Fresh Apple Cake

4 c. chopped, peeled cooking apples (I used Golden Delicious)
2 c. sugar
Mix in a large bowl and let stand.

After 15 minutes, add

1 c. oil
2 beaten eggs
1 tsp. vanilla
3 c. flour
1/2 tsp. cinnamon
1/2 tsp. nutmeg
1/2 tsp. salt
2 tsp. baking soda
1 1/2 c. pecans, if desired (we omitted these)

Bake in a greased and floured tube pan at 350 degrees from 1 hr, 15 minutes (I think it could have come out 5 minutes earlier and been fine)

Good recipe, although as we sampled it, we started trying to think of variations on it - brown sugar vs. white, caramelized apples, adding other fruit (cherries, maybe?), etc.