One Bowl Apple Cake - Birthday Cake

Delicious Fall Apple Cake 

I love the fall and the smell of apples cooking in the oven.

I wanted to make an apple cake for my family who is visiting to celebrate my birthday
and my daughter-in-law's dad's birthday.
This all makes sense to me...
We are celebrating my birthday and Tom's.
We both have the same birth date, just not the same year!

I found this recipe earlier in the fall, and saved it for a special occasion.
(I found it on facebook shared with Jean Dodd.)
This was it!

Ingredients:

• 2 eggs
• 1 3/4 cups sugar
• 2 heaping tsps. cinnamon
• 1/2 cup oil
• 6 medium Gala or Fuji or Honey crisp apples
• 2 cups flour
• 2 tsps. baking powder

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Ina large bowl mix the eggs, sugar, cinnamon, and oil

Peel and slice the apples and add to mixture in bowl, coating as you go to keep the apples from turning brown.

Mix together the baking powder and flour and add to the  ingredients in the bowl.

Mix well until all of the flour is absorbed by the wet ingredients.

Pour mixture into greased two 9" round pans.

Bake for approximately 55 minutes.

Printable Recipe: One Bowl Apple Cake

 The ingredients are simple, but when combined and baked,
 are packed with flavor.
This cake is moist and rich and perfect for fall baking when apples
are just harvested.

In a large mixing bowl add eggs, sugar, cinnamon, and oil.

 Mix together.

 Peel and slice the apples.

 Add apples to mixture in bowl as you go
 to keep apples from turning brown.

 Mix together baking powder and flour and add to bowl.
Mix thoroughly until all the flour is absorbed.

Pour mixture into greased 2- 9" round baking pans.

 Bake at 350 degrees for about 55 minutes.

 I added a delicious frosting.
I added 1 tsp. of cinnamon to a ready made can of vanilla frosting.
I warmed it up for a few seconds in the microwave and
then drizzled it over the cooled cake.

 Ready to serve!

How Do You Like them Apples?

• Apples are a member of the rose family of plants, along with pears, peaches, plums and cherries. 
• Apples come in all shades of red, green and yellow. 
• Most apples are still picked by hand. 
• Americans eat more apples per capita than any other fruit (fresh and processed combined). In 2012-13, Americans ate an average of 15.9 pounds of fresh apples, and 28.4 pounds of processed apples (juice, cider, sauce, etc.), for a combined total of 44.3 pounds. (Source: USDA Economic Research Service)
•  The world’s largest apple peel was created by Kathy Wafler Madison on October 16, 1976, in Rochester, N.Y. It was 172 feet 4 inches long. (She was 16 years old at the time, and grew up to be a sales manager for an apple tree nursery.) (Source: Guinness World Records)
• A medium-sized apple has about 80 calories. Apples are fat-free, sodium-free and cholesterol-free.  And they taste great, too! Apples are an excellent source of fiber; one medium apple contains 5 grams of fiber, including the soluble fiber pectin. 
• Pilgrims planted the first U.S. apple trees in the Massachusetts Bay Colony. 
• A standard-size apple tree starts bearing fruit 8-10 years after it is planted.

Fun Facts

 This is our family celebrating at Texas Roadhouse for lunch.

After lunch, I took my grandsons to the mall to ride the bear.

So much fun!

Fall Pumpkin Cupcakes

Pumpkin Cupcakes!

My Bible study discussion leader brought some delicious

  Pumpkin Cupcakes

 to our group last Wednesday.  They were a huge hit.

And surprisingly simple to make.

Barb hesitated to share the recipe.

Two ingredients is what she said.

The original recipe called for a yellow or white cake mix and a can of pumpkin.

How simple is that?

She customized the recipe by using a spice cake mix because it had more seasonings.

They were fluffy, moist, and pumpkiny!?

The basic two ingredient recipe calls for a cake mix

(I used spice cake mix.)

 and a 15 oz. can of pumpkin.

That's it!

I added 1/2 tsp. of Pumpkin Pie Spice.

Pumpkin Pie spice includes cinnamon, ginger, allspice, and nutmeg.

Mix on medium speed until all is blended together

and there are no patches of dry cake mix.

The mixture is thick.

I also added 1/2 cup of mini morsel chocolate chips.

Line a cupcake pan with papers.

I used an ice cream scoop to spoon the batter into the liners.

It makes 12 cupcakes.

The cupcakes don't rise as much as a regular cupcake

because the pumpkin is thicker than adding eggs and oil for a regular cake.

Bake at 350 degrees for 23 minutes.

Place them on a rack to cool.

I purchased cream cheese frosting in a can.

I added 1/4 tsp. of cinnamon to half the tub of frosting.

It only took a half can to frost 12 cupcakes.

Ice the cupcakes and let them stand until the frosting is set.

These are ready to enjoy!

Popcorn Cupcakes- Cooking with Aiden

Our grandson, Aiden, came for a weekend visit.

Yes, Popcorn Cupcakes!

Of course, Saturday was filled with things to do.

The first event was for an important cause.

We participated in a "Walk to End Alzheimer's". 

We walked with my co-workers at Home Instead Senior Care.

Then, back home for lunch and a baking project.

This is Aiden's first year in Cub Scouts.  He is a Tiger Cub Scout.

His pack is selling popcorn as a fund raiser for his local cub scout group.

The Popcorn Cupcakes is a great recipe

 if you like your popcorn in the form of a cupcake.

It was fun to make.

And, if you have an opportunity to support a local Cub Scout Group,

 by all means do so.

The fund raisers help to fund projects for the boys.

 To make the Popcorn Cupcakes, you need to read the directions.

Aiden is in first grade and is a super reader.
He has a sign in his front yard to prove it!

If you notice, Aiden is sporting his purple Mohawk from the Alzheimer's Walk.

We are following the directions on the box of the cake mix.

First, pour the dry cake mix into a mixing bowl.

We are using a white cake mix.

 Then add 1 cup of water.

 Crack 3 eggs into a small bowl, so if an egg shell falls into the bowl,

 you can get it out.
Aiden said he knew how to crack the eggs open.
He has helped his Papa make his famous homemade Angel Food Cake.
Note to self.  Ask Papa (Tom) if he would like to blog his Angel Food Cake.
He has made this cake for his children and grand children
every year for their birthdays.
His cake is so much better than the store bought varieties.

Then add the eggs to the mixing bowl.

 I wanted to help Aiden, so I added 1/2 cup vegetable oil.

 Beat with a mixer on medium.

Aiden is reading how long to mix the batter.

Mix for 2 minutes.

 Line mini muffin pans with liners.

We used white so the finished cupcakes would look like popcorn in the bowl.

 Part of the job is to lick the beaters.

 Have an adult, or grandma, put the pans into a 350 degree oven.

(My oven mitt was a Christmas gift from Aiden and Camden when

they were 4 years old and 1 year old.)

We baked our cupcakes for 13 minutes.

 When the cupcakes are cool, frost with white frosting.

Then top them with mini marshmallows.

Leave the cupcakes out to dry for a little while

before you put them into popcorn bowls or cartons.

 S'Mores were part of our activities.

We had a beautiful 80 degree fall day.

Perfect for roasting marshmallows.

The First Recipe

No one knows for sure who invented the s’more.
However, the first published recipe for “some mores” was in a 1927 publication called
Tramping and Trailing with the Girl Scouts.
 The name "some more" was presumably because
 any person who ate one inevitably asked for another...some more.

 Loretta Scott Crew, who made them for Girl Scouts by the campfire, is given credit for the recipe.
http://wonderopolis.org/wonder/why-are-they-called-s-mores

 Aiden is learning to "whittle".

He sharpened the end of his stick with his pocket knife
 to roast his marshmallow.

 We didn't have a campfire, so we used the grill for roasting.

Grandpa helped on quality control before it was too burned.

This dessert has gone by different names and inspired scores of variations,
but the original combination of graham crackers, milk chocolate and marshmallows
 has remained an American tradition over the years.
http://everydaylife.globalpost.com/called-smores-26735.html

" I want S'more!"

This is the finished product.

The mini cupcakes are packaged into the boxes to take home

and there is still a bowl of "Popcorn Cupcakes"

for Grandpa and Grandma.

Thanks, Aiden, for a great day!