Welcome fall

In my opinion, there is no better way to welcome fall then with a fall-themed potluck dinner! Bonnie and I were lucky enough to have some wonderful friends join us in celebration on Thursday night, and we enjoyed a pot of delicious sweet potato soup, curried cauliflower, kale and mushrooms, homemade hummus, Berkeley Bowl olives and some delicious Barbera wine. The night was capped off with an appropriately fall-themed apple cake. The cake was so popular that I decided to share the simple and accessibly recipe here for everyone to enjoy.

Now we all know I'm not a big baker, but thanks to my dear friend Jen Greer, I posses the world's easiest apple cake recipe (although I still managed to mess it up somewhat the first time I made it by not cutting the apples small enough....of course!) Anyhow, I have now perfected the recipe (which, unsurprisingly really just requires following the directions) and I have to admit that the cake came out deliciously! It's super easy to make and although the batter looks really dry and chunky when you put it into the pan (it has the consistency more of cookie dough than batter), the cake is super moist because of all of the apples in it. The prep literally took about 10 minutes, I highly recommend trying it out if you like apples. And cake. And really, who doesn't?! It's even better with a little vanilla ice cream:)

Jen's Apple Cake

1 cup vegetable oil
1 1/2 cups sugar (I used a combo of brown and white, you can use either/both. I liked the earthiness the brown sugar imparts)
2 cups flour
2 eggs
1 tsp vanilla (I dumped in a little more because I love vanilla)
3 cups cubed apples, peeled (should be about 1 centimeter squared)
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp salt
cinnamon
nutmeg

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Combine all ingredients in a large mixing bowl until well mixed. Batter will be very lumpy, more of a dough texture. Spray baking pan (I used a bundt) with oil and then sprinkle the inside of the pan with flour. For extra credit, dust the inside of the pan with cinnamon sugar for a crunchy crust. Bake for 1 hour, or until set all the way through. Once cooled, invert onto a plate and sprinkle the top with powdered sugar for decoration.