German Apple Cake

Busy season has gotten the best of me and I haven't been able to post much at all this past month even though I wanted to. Hopefully next month I will be able to post more, I'm even thinking of challenging myself to do a post every day, gee, I wonder if I could make that happen? I was able to do a little baking though and made this wonderful German Apple Cake for My Kitchen My World -- Germany. I found this recipe online here at allrecipes and baked it in my Wilton Queen of Hearts pan. This is probably my favorite bundt pan of the little bunch that I own. It was my first bundt pan (after baking in my mom's bundt pan for years) and I got it when my husband and I got married almost seven years ago.



German Apple Cake

2 eggs
1 cup vegetable oil -- I used Mazola corn oil
2 cups white sugar
2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
4 cups apples - peeled, cored and diced -- I used Honey Crisp apples from a recent family trip to the apple orchard

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Grease and flour one 9x13 inch cake pan. I used a bundt pan and sprayed with cooking spray with flour -- Baker's Joy or Crisco with Pillsbury Flour are my favorite baking sprays.

In a mixing bowl; beat oil and eggs with an electric mixer until creamy. Add the sugar and vanilla and beat well.

Combine the flour salt, baking soda, and ground cinnamon together in a bowl. Slowly add this mixture to the egg mixture and mix until combined. The batter will be very thick. Fold in the apples by hand using a wooden spoon. Spread batter into the prepared pan.


Bake at 350 degrees F for 45 minutes or until cake tests done. I baked this for an hour in the bundt pan and it was perfectly done. Remember to let cool in pan for 10 minutes before inverting to serving platter. Once cake is cool serve with a dusting of confectioners' sugar.


Although this wasn't the prettiest cake, it was absolutely delicious! It was so moist and full of apples, you can see in the before baking photo that it is almost more apples than cake batter. My picky husband and kids all loved this one so it's going into the "make again" category for sure. It almost reminded me of a steamed pudding and I think it would be wonderful served with some warm vanilla sauce. My husband said it was like an apple pie/coffee cake hybrid :)

Allspice Crumb Muffins -- Tuesdays with Dorie

Thanks to Kayte of Grandma’s Kitchen Table who picked these delicious Allspice Crumb Muffins for our Tuesdays with Dorie treat of the week. You can find the recipe here at her site.

While reading through the comments on the TWD site about this recipe I noted a few problems with the crumb topping and thought I would remedy it by adding some more flour, then not thinking it looked right, I added a couple of teaspoons of water to the crumb. I thought I would have nice big crumb tops but I messed up the topping, it was way too heavy and most of it sunk down into my poor muffins. I did end up with one presentable muffin. Hey, one is better than none, right? Ah well, serves me right for messing with Dorie's recipe before I even tried it out as written.

I baked them in a jumbo muffin pan...above and below are the before and after baking shots.

The muffin part was delicious, very tender and flavorful, the topping tasted great too, just too heavy. We are big muffin fans here and I will make these again for sure -- as written :) Thank you Kayte, for a wonderful pick!

Cheddar Corn Chowder -- Barefoot Bloggers

It's time for Barefoot Bloggers. The first Ina recipe for October is Cheddar Corn Chowder, picked for us to try by Jill of My Next Life, thank you Jill!

I made a few modifications to the original recipe, mainly leaving out the bacon and swapping chicken stock out for vegetable stock to make a meat-free version of the soup. Also after the potatoes had cooked I used a potato masher and smooshed down into the soup pot a few times to add some thickness to the soup. Everything turned out perfectly and was a great dinner that even my picky husband enjoyed -- although he really missed the bacon! This was such a creamy and delicious chowder, just perfect for a chilly fall night.