Apple Cake

Happy Fall!! Well, it isn't technically the autumn yet, but it sure feels like it today in southern Ontario. The perfect day to go for a chilly morning walk all bundled up with a coffee, and then come home and make this cake.  This cake is literally chock a block full of apple-y goodness.  This is one of our beloved fall recipes....we talk about it the rest of the year, waiting for fall so we can make it again. My husband, who rarely bakes, used to make this for himself all the time when I was living in England one year. This cake is easy to make, but don't say I didn't warn you - it's addictive.

Apple Cake

2 eggs
1 1/4 cup granulated sugar
1 tsp vanilla
1/2 cup oil (I use vegetable)
3 tbsp orange juice (optional)
1 cup flour
1 tsp baking powder
pinch of salt
8 apples
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/4 cup icing sugar (for topping)

Combine flour, baking powder and salt in a bowl.
Beat eggs with granulated sugar and vanilla in a separate bowl.
Add the oil and orange juice to the egg mixture, mix well.

Peel and slice the apples into the baking dish - I use a deep oval casserole dish, but have also used a 9x13 glass dish. The recipe calls for 8 apples, I usually find 6 good sized apples to be enough, but the more the merrier!  I use Granny Smith apples, but a combination of grannies and another kind should work well, any kind you would normally use in pie will work just fine.

Once the apples are sliced and ready in the dish, combine the egg mixture with flour mixture.  It will be thick. Slowly pour the mixture over top the apples.  Make sure that the apples are mostly covered by the thick mixture, as best you can.  It will look like there couldn't possibly be enough cake batter - but it's going to be OK - the cake will bake up around the apples....mmmm.

Top the batter with a mixture of cinnamon and icing sugar, and bake in a 350F oven for approximately 60 minutes.  If your dish is shallow, check closer to 50 minutes.  Today, mine took 63 minutes until the cake tester came out clean.

Enjoy the apple baking season while it's here!