Apple Cake 4 College Cooking

What I love about Thanksgiving is not only the obvious--friends, family and good food--but, I love experimenting with recipes that I have never made before on an unassuming crowd! 

This is good for several reasons: 1. Instant Feedback 2. Plenty of Food 3. Endless Variety 4. No Leftovers! 

That said…I went to town so to speak…especially with the sweets and desserts! I took total advantage of having the crowd to see if so-called "super-simple" or "genius" recipes are worth the effort, and really the "crowd pleasers" they promised because if they are, these recipes are perfect for college cooking!

Baking has to be straightforward for anyone living on a budget, living on their own, just learning to cook, or limited with equipment, i.e. as it is for college students living off-campus! Additionally, baking gear can get expensive; especially, if you are not using them daily or even regularly--it just becomes stuff you have to lug around.

That said, I proceeded with an apple cake promising to be easy, delicious, and "genius" from the recently released Genius Recipes Cookbook from Food 52 / Kirstin Miglore whose premise was to select the best (and most genius-"crazy-enough-to-just-work") recipes of our time into one cookbook.

Indeed….the crowd went "wild" for the Marie-Helene Apple Cake! Thus, if they liked it, I figured you would as well!

Marie-Helene's Apple Cake 4 College Cooking

Equipment:
10" Springform, well-greased and then floured
Apple Corer (optional)
Mixing Bowl
Spatula

Ingredients:
3/4 cup all-purpose flour
3/4 tsp baking powder
Pinch of salt
4 large apples (different if possible), peeled, cored, chopped into 1" chunks
2 large eggs
3/4 cup sugar
3 Tbls dark rum
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
1/2 cup unsalted butter, melted and cooled

Instructions:
1. Wash your hands.
2. Preheat oven to 350F degrees and prep your pan and apples.
3. Whisk flour, baking powder and salt together.

4. Melt butter and set aside to cool.
5. Beat eggs with a whisk until foamy.

6. Add sugar and beat x 1-2 minutes.
7. Add rum and vanilla.
8. Add half of the flour mixture and beat until smooth followed by half of the butter.

9. Repeat with other half of flour and melted butter until smooth.
10. Toss and cover apple chunks in batter.

11. Pour batter into springform and bake at 350F degrees x 55-60 minutes.

12. Sprinkle with powdered sugar.

Enough said--Just Do It!