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Splattered card carries recipe for a fall favorite — apple cake
Although fall in Texas is just about the nicest six weeks of the year, I really miss Missouri this time of year.
Maybe you, too, came from a part of the country where fall means crisp afternoons and even crisper leaves to crunch through on a walk through the neighborhood.
Harvest means something different everywhere you go, but in the part of Missouri where I’m from, fall’s greatest harvest is apples from the nearby orchards in Marionville (home of the white squirrels. I’m not kidding).
During an October visit to see my family, I hit one of the last farmers markets of the year and made an apple cake with my grandmother.
(If you’ve been following along, she’s the grandma with the 150-year-old knife, not the one who gave me the juicer.)
This recipe came from Mary Lou Holmes, a friend of my grandmother’s and the wife of local notable and author Wayne Holmes.
‘1/4 c shortening, 1 ” sugar. Cream tog. Beat then add 1 egg. 1 c flour sifted with 1 tea soda, 1 ” cinnamon, 1 ” allspice. Put in 5 chopped apples and nuts. Bak 350 for 35 min’
Just as no one’s handwriting looks quite like my grandmother’s, and no ones hands, not even cooks 60 years younger, can peel an apple quite so quickly.
She relies on the recipe card, but these dishes that have comforted her and her family and friends through the years are made by feel as much as by following directions. She knows exactly the consistency she’s looking for in the dry and wet ingredients and how thick the batter should be going into the dish.
She knows her oven well enough to know that this particular cake will have to cook for nearly an hour in her 50-year-old oven.
Some might call this less of a cake and more of an apple bake, but it’s a cake in my vernacular. Texas apples are almost up for the year, but you might be able to find a few at area farmers markets this week.
Apple Cake
1/4 cup shortening
1 cup sugar
1 egg
1 cup flour
1 tsp. baking soda
1 tsp. cinnamon
1 tsp. allspice
4-5 apples, medium chop (my grandmother uses Jonathans)
1/2 cup pecans, chopped
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Cream together shortening and sugar. When blended, add egg. In another bowl, sift together flour, baking soda, cinnamon and allspice. Combine wet and dry ingredients. Fold in apples and nuts. Bake at 350 degrees for 35 minutes.
— Mary Lou Holmes
Permalink | Comments (3) | Post your comment Categories: Cooking, Desserts, Eating locally, Recipes
Comments
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By Jodi
November 12, 2010 9:30 AM | Link to this
This looks delicious and what a special occasion to be able to bake with your grandmother!
By Mary Ann
November 13, 2010 9:32 AM | Link to this
Love that photo of your grandmother’s apple-peeling action. Does she swear by a paring knife …a peeler?
By Addie Broyles
November 19, 2010 3:11 PM | Link to this
She never uses a peeler, just a paring knife. And, as you can tell, she doesn’t worry too much about getting every single sliver of skin off.