Grandma D's apple cake

I mentioned yesterday that it felt like Fall in the morning. And, as part of that, apple season appears to be coming in full force - or so says the grocery store where they have apples pretty much everywhere. I fell victim to their marketing tactics and bought a bag of apples (Paula Reds, I think...)

So, I used some in the sauteed apples I made yesterday with my pork chops. That took 2. And because I had a whole bag (minus 2) I needed to find a way to use the rest... so I pulled out the church cookbook for some inspiration -- and found it in Grandma Diersen's entry for "Roman Apple Cake". 

The recipe had all of the ingredients listed out, but was missing a few minor details: temperate at which it should be baked and for how long. Uh oh. Keith was the one by the cookbook, so he looked up some other recipes for cakes, and they all bake at 350 for about 30 minutes, so we went with that. I guess Grandma just knew what she was doing. :)

Some of you have had Grandma's apple cake, and I remember eating it growing up, too. Even though we had a little improvisation figuring out the baking logistics, the rest of it was all hers and it's so totally worth it. When we tried it last night Keith said: "Mmm... this is good. Grandma really knew her cakes!"  Indeed she did...

It's one of the moistest (is that a word? most moist?) cakes I've had and it doesn't hurt to add a scoop of ice cream. So, if you find yourself with an apple surplus sometime this fall - try this. It's amazing.

Grandma D's Roman Apple Cake
1 c. shortening
1 c. white sugar
2 eggs
2 c. chopped apples
1 c. sour milk (or buttermilk)
2 1/2 c. flour
1 tsp. baking powder
1 tsp. baking soda
1 tsp. cinnamon
1 tsp. salt

Topping:
1/2 c. white sugar
1 tsp. cinnamon
1/2 c. nuts (chopped)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

In a bowl, cream the shortening and sugar together. Mix in the eggs, then the apples and milk. Sift together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon, and salt - mix into the batter. In a separate bowl, mix the topping. Spread into a 9x13 pan, and sprinkle the topping ... well, on top. :) 

Bake for 30-35 minutes. Use the "toothpick test" to make sure it's done.

See? It's easy. Here are my notes:

• Shortening: used Crisco -- 1/3 c. butter flavored to use up what I had left, and 2/3 c. plain for the rest.
• Sour milk: the recipe called for sour milk, but I used buttermilk - I think it's pretty much the same thing. 
• Nuts: used pecans - but I bet it would be good with walnuts, too.
• We baked for 35 minutes, but we had something else in the oven for about 10 minutes at the beginning, so we kept opening it - which I'm sure wasn't helpful. I bet 30 minutes without doing that is fine.

What are your favorite apple recipes? Dessert or otherwise.