Spiced Apple Cake

Goodness, summer has flown by. I can't believe September is next week already! In two short weeks my little Walnut will be getting on the big yellow school bus and going to preschool. When did he turn 5 years old? What happened to ages 3 and 4? I must have blinked at some moment and life fast forwarded on me by about 3 years.

The breeze has started to change already and the first indications of fall are already in the air. The humid depressive days of summer are turning into cool, refreshing breezes and chilly, serene mornings with beautiful sun rises.

I couldn't be more excited for fall to come this year. Walnut starting preschool, growing into a strong independant little man.

Apples are also one of the wonders of fall in Minnesota. One tradition we always have in our house is to go to the apple orchard and take the tractor ride though the hundreds of apple trees...enjoying the breeze and sunshine on our faces. Here is a favorite recipe of mine when I bring my bags full of fresh apples home.

Spiced Apple Cake

2 cups plus 2 Tbsp all purpose flour
2 tsp baking powder
2 tsp ground cinnamon
1/8 tsp nutmeg
1/8 tsp cloves
1/2 cup butter
1 cup packed brown sugar
1 cup sugar
2 eggs
1 Tbsp vanilla extract
1-2 large apples, cored and sliced
1 teaspoon cinnamon and 2 tablespoons sugar mixed for sprinkling

Preheat oven to 350 degrees and spay a 9×13 baking pan with an oil and flour baking spray.
In medium bowl, combine flour, baking powder, cloves, cinnamon and nutmeg. Whisk to combine well and set aside.

In bowl of stand mixer, combine sugars and butter and beat until light and fluffy, about 1 minute. Add eggs, one at a time, beating well to combine. Add vanilla extract and beat to combine.

Turn mixer on slow and fold in flour mixture a little at a time until just combined.
Spread mixture evenly into prepared pan. Layer top with apple slices so they all face the same way, and sprinkle top generously with cinnamon and sugar.

Place in oven and bake until cooked through, when top slightly bounces back to the touch, about 40 minutes, you may need an extra 5 minutes if it looks too soft.

Remove from oven and let cool completely before removing from pan, cutting and serving. Serve while warm from the over with a scoop of ice cream!

Enjoy!

Lemon and Blueberry Cake

So, after a full 9 hour day at work followed by a 4 mile run and grocery shopping I finally arrived home last night at 7:30 pm. And I still had to make dinner. We had sausage, rice and brocolli. Not much effort put in there.


Back to the point...I pulled into the garage last night and swung open the door where I had tossed the groceries in a hurry to get out of the rain and guess what happened...the eggs came crashing down onto the hard concrete floor of my garage. OF COURSE that had to be the one bag to hit the floor. Not that eggs are all that expensive, it just the principle that out of my own ignorance and stupidity that the eggs hit the floor. Its just kind of how my week is going.


So I managed to salvage 4 eggs out of a dozen, but they were broken so they had to be used. Luckily I also had a lemon on my counter and sour cream in my fridge that need to be used also. I've had the intentions of making this recipe for about 2 weeks now after I found it on My Baking Addition, but everyone I know seems to be on some sort of carbohydrate free diet so I haven't had anyone to share my sweets with.

Before I give you the recipe let me tell you a few things about my picture above here. Remember it was 7:30 pm when I broke the eggs? And I still had to cook dinner? Well, it was 9:45 before I pulled it out of the oven...and it didn't quite bake completely. It probably could have used an additional 10 minutes, but I still had to put the kids to bed and take a shower so I pulled it out and said poo on it. Also, when I was young and just starting my kitchen collection, the silicone bakeware was the in thing. So, I bought a silicone bundt pan and have never replaced it with a real pan. Well, the batter for this cake is rather heavy, and resulted in a very flat top on my bundt cake. Please use a metal bundt pan...and if you could buy me one too! And last of all, there is an icing that goes with this cake but it was way to late to pull that together. And once I tasted the cake with powdered sugar sprinkled on the top I decided it was sweet enough to forgo the icing. But the recipe is listed below just in case you'd like to use it!

Blueberry-Lemon Bundt Cake
Adapted by My Baking Addiction from Everyday Foods

For the Cake:
2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour, plus 1 teaspoon for blueberries and zest
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, room temperature
1 cup packed light-brown sugar
1 cup granulated sugar
4 large eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 cup sour cream
2 cups blueberries
2 tablespoons grated lemon zest
juice of one lemon
Nonstick cooking spray, for pan (I used Baker's Joy and it worked great)

For the Cream Cheese Glaze:
1 (4 ounce) package cream cheese, softened
1 tablespoon butter, softened
2 cups confectioners’ sugar
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 tablespoon milk

Directions for the Cake:
*For best results, coat the inside of the Bundt pan with cooking spray just before filling it with the batter to prevent it from pooling in the bottom.
1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. In a bowl, whisk 2 1/2 cups flour with baking powder and salt; set aside.
2. In a mixing bowl, cream butter and sugars on high speed until light and fluffy. Add eggs, one at a time, beating until incorporated. Beat in vanilla and lemon juice. Reduce speed to low; add flour mixture in three additions, alternating with two additions of sour cream.
3. In a bowl, toss blueberries and zest with remaining teaspoon flour; gently fold into batter. Coat a 12-cup nonstick Bundt pan with cooking spray. Spread batter in prepared pan.
4. Bake cake on bottom rack of oven until a toothpick inserted into center of cake comes out clean, 60 to 70 minutes. Cool in pan 20 minutes. Invert onto a rack; cool completely, top side up. Dust with confectioners’ sugar before serving or drizzle with the cream cheese glaze.

Directions for the Cream Cheese Glaze:
Mix the cream cheese with the butter, confectioners’ sugar, vanilla extract, and milk in a bowl. Heat in a microwave oven for 10-15 seconds. Drizzle spoonfuls over the cooled cake.