Amazing Apple Cake!!!

Fall is my favorite time of year.  And this year in ND, we actually had a long fall, an actual season.  It seems like most years our seasons are more like winter, winter, winter, and summer.  Not this year.  This year has been wonderful.

I feel like fall is the most communal time of year.  Winter, we all huddle in and hibernate.  The only run in with the neighbors is when the guy with the bobcat clears my driveway for me.  Spring, yes we start to move around outside, but it is wet and muddy and there is work to do!  Summer, most of my neighbors are out at the lake with their campers.  I can jump on the trampoline and see into their backyards, but that's hardly relationship building.  Then there is fall....

Fall is when their leaves blow into my yard and I rake them into the giant spider bag to decorate my front yard.  Fall is when I give away my tomatoes in exchange for your cucumbers.  And fall is when my kid climbs the fence to help you pick your apples.  Fall is when it is appropriate to knock on your neighbors door and have a two minute conversation, face to face, and from then I can wave at you because we've met.  I am a huge pro-door-to-door trick or treating for that reason: I get to meet my neighbors!

Back to Apple Cake -- Poor Pinteresters, having to read my rambling before I get to the recipe!!  It has a point, my kid who climbs the fence to help... our neighbor over our south fence blesses us with apples every year and this fall they have had an abundant harvest!  I have made every apple crisp I can find, dehydrated, froze, and dumpled apples for over a month now.  And I still have three more apple boxes full! 

Here is my creation, a recipe to share with your neighbor:

Layered Apple Cake to Share

• 6-12 apples depending on size and preference

Batter Ingredients:

• 1 cup brown sugar
• 3 teaspoons cinnamon
• Mix these and set aside
• 1 1/4 cup white sugar
• 1 cup softened butter (go ahead and use butter people!!)
• Cream these with mixer - then add:
• 4 eggs
• 4 tsp vanilla
• 3 cup flour + 3 teaspoons baking powder
• This will be stiff.  Add milk until "thick" pancake batter consistency ~ no more than 1 cup.

• Grease two round cake pans.  (This is what I used.  You can do a 9x13 or muffin pans or loaf pans, etc.) 

• Add enough batter to cover the bottom of the pan.

• Cut up apples as shown here - first peel (I only half peel, keeping some of the skin for the nutritional value). Then core.  Then cut into "c" shape.  Apples from the tree vary is size so much, I use either 6 larger apples or 12 smaller apples.  I really like the apples, though.  If you are more into cake than apples, you know, you can adjust.   

 

 

1. Add two layers of apples.  I took a picture of layer one -shown here:

 

 

 

• After you have the double layer of apples to both cakes, pat the apples into the batter.

 

• Then sprinkle your brown sugar and cinnamon on top of apples. 

 

 

 

 

 

Then repeat the layers!

 

• Use a spoon to plop the rest of the batter on top of the sugar/cinnamon layer.  Spread with spatula.  It will get mixed with sugar/cinnamon, but that's just fine!
• Add one-two layers of apples.  Pat them down!
• Top with cinnamon and sugar!

 

 

Bake at 350 for 45-50 minutes, or until the toothpick comes out clean.   While still warm, top with frosting:

 

• 2 tablespoons softened butter
• 3-4 tablespoons softened cream cheese
• 1 tsp vanilla
• 2 cups powdered sugar
• 1/4 cup (to start, may add more depending on consistency) of milk, I use skim because that's what I have on hand.  Whole or Half and Half would be a lot better (tasting.)

Now, the best part of this cake is that you can SHARE!!  Take that other cake pan to a neighbor this fall, just because!!

 

Or.... you can also freeze the unfrosted cake for 1-2 months, take out and frost at a later date. 

 

Or.... I suppose if you doubled the frosting, you could make a giant layer cake out of the two round pans.  That'd be a super impressive potluck dessert!

 

Hope you enjoy!  I should add, this cake also makes your house smell delicious while baking! 

 

Of course the family didn't wait for me to take a decent blog picture before cutting into it!!  I think that's probably a good sign!