Apple Cake

About 10 years ago, someone made me an apple cake. I've been looking for the recipe ever since, and this year, with an abundance of apples, I've tried lots of them. The closest approximation of the cake in my memory came from this recipe. It's based on Cathy Anderson's award-winning apple cake recipe, with some substitutions and additions on my part. The cake is very sweet, and very moist, so it tastes fine unfrosted. Sprinkle a little confectioner's sugar over the top if you want to make it look pretty (like a first snowfall). If you must have frosting, the cream cheese recipe from my old Betty Crocker cookbook works better than most of the richer recipes you'll find on the Internet these days. You can definitely overdose on sweetness with this cake.

Apple Raisin Sheet Cake

• 4-5 cups chopped apples (cored, but with peels)
• 1 and 1/2 cups sugar
• 1/4 cup blackstrap molasses
• 1/2 cup salad oil
• 1 cup raisins
• 2 eggs, well beaten
• 2 cups flour (1 cup white, 1 cup whole wheat works well)
• 2 teaspoons baking soda
• 1 tablespoon cinnamon
• 1 tablespoon ginger
• 1/2 teaspoon salt

Preheat oven to 350 degrees (F). Mix apples and sugar thoroughly. Add oil, molasses, raisins, eggs. Combine dry ingredients (flour, spices, salt, baking soda), add and stir to mix. Bake in a greased 13x9 inch pan for 1 hour, or until cake pulls away from sides of pan and a toothpick inserted in the middle comes out without any batter.

Cream Cheese Frosting

• 3 oz. cream cheese
• 1 Tbs milk
• 1 Tsp vanilla
• 2 1/2 c confectioner's sugar

Blend cream cheese, milk, and vanilla--an electric mixer works best for this. Add the sugar and continue to blend. If frosting is too stiff to spread, add a little more milk.