Apple Cake

I bake when I’m stressed. And these days just reading the news about my beloved Visayas region in the Philippines makes me go whip up something in the kitchen to drive the stress and frustrations away. But let’s not get into that now or I wont be able to finish this post.

When it’s fall, it means one thing – apples! We get plenty of them every year since the summer house is surrounded with apple trees. So now I put them in almost everything I make. I’ve also come up with my own apple cake recipe that my kids at school love to bake and eat. Here it is:

Ingredients:

150 ml milk
4 medium size apples (it doesn’t really matter what kind but I mostly use Idared, Red delicious or Gala)
50 g melted butter
2 eggs
150 g all-purpose flour
50 g sugar
1 tsp vanilla
1 tsp baking powder
almonds and condensed milk for topping

Directions:

1. Peel and cube apples. Soak in milk and leave refrigerated for at least 2 hours. Sometimes I leave it in the fridge overnight for the apples to be really soft but it isn’t necessary.

2. Beat eggs and sugar together. Add melted butter. Mix well.

3. Stir in the milk and apples to the batter.

4. Add flour, baking powder and vanilla. Stir well.

5. Pour batter into a greased and floured 22 x 22 cm baking pan. Bake in a pre-heated 180°C oven. Bake until skewer inserted comes out clean.

6. Take out from the oven and decorate with condensed milk or chocolate topping and almonds. Put back in the oven for about 5 minutes or until almonds turn a bit brown.

7. Let cool. Serve with your favorite drink.

I like to eat cakes the next day after baking because then the flavors are already well mixed. I also like to eat the edges and don’t care much about the middle. I know, I must have been a terribly weird child but that’s how it is. Another fixation is to decorate my plate. Most often than not, it ends up a mess. Exhibit A below.