Better Late Than Never....

I know it has been a long time since I last posted...a little over a month to be exact. I apologize for that. I have been so busy with Football and work and have had very little time to do any baking.

I decided to make something with a sort of "fall" theme. I searched the internet to find a good recipe that included pumpkin. On the Epicurious website this little recipe popped up. It turned out to be a beautiful cake. Gary didn't care for the apples, but liked the cake. I on the other hand liked the apples more than the cake. The two of them together kind of threw me off. The cake was a little heavy for me and the apples became soggy after a bit. The pumpkin pie spice was a little strong, but it could have been the heavy hand that put it in there. You know the more I think about it though, the cake probably would have been great with ice cream and whipped topping on it because while it was warm it really was good! Mom, on the other hand, said it was good with coffee. I don't think I will be making it again anytime soon though.

PUMPKIN-APPLE STREUSEL CAKE

Apples
3 tablespoons unsalted butter
4 cups diced peeled cored Granny Smith apples (about 4 large)
3 tablespoons sugar
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
Cake
11/2 cups all purpose flour
1 cup (firmly packed) golden brown sugar
1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, cut into pieces, room temperature
1/2 teaspoon salt
3/4 cup canned pure pumpkin
1/3 cup sour cream
2 tablespoons sugar
2 teaspoons pumpkin pie spice
1 teaspoon baking soda
2 large eggs

Vanilla ice cream




Melt butter in large nonstick skillet over medium-high heat. Add apples; saute until apples begin to brown, about 5 minutes. Add sugar and cinnamon and saute until golden brown, about 3 minutes longer. Cool.

Preheat oven to 350°F. Butter 9-inch-diameter springform pan. Combine flour, brown sugar, butter, and salt in large bowl. Using electric mixer, beat until mixture resembles coarse meal. Set aside 2/3 cup of mixture for topping. Beat pumpkin, sour cream, 2 tablespoons sugar, spice, and baking soda into remaining flour mixture, beating just until smooth. Beat in eggs. Transfer batter to pan. Scatter apples evenly over top. Sprinkle reserved topping over apples.

Bake cake until topping is golden brown and tester inserted into center comes out clean, about 1 hour 10 minutes. Cool cake in pan on rack 20 minutes. Run knife around pan sides to loosen cake. Release pan sides from cake. Transfer cake to platter. (Can be made 6 hours ahead. Let stand at room temperature.) Serve warm or at room temperature with ice cream.

Makes 6 to 8 servings.
Bon Appetit
October 2001