Fall Baking.....

Some of my favorites to bake in the cooler, crisper fall months include Cranberry Almond cake with Orange Zest icing, Jewish Apple Cake, Vanilla Butternut Velvet Pound cake with Maple Syrup icing AND my all time favorite Apple Pie! The Velvet Pound cake and Apple Pie are 2 recipes from my favorite King Arthur Flour. They are truly reliable and wonderful and will be used over and over again. The Jewish Apple Cake is my mother-in-law's recipe and she's been baking it to rave reviews for 40 years. You can't go wrong with recipes that have been so thoroughly tested!

King Arthur Flour's The Best Apple Pie is truly a wonderful pie. I've tried tons of apple pie recipes and this one really does top them all. I used every ingredient listed, including the ones you can only purchase at KAF. But the boiled cider really adds that flavor punch and is worth the purchase.

The Jewish Apple Cake is my husband's favorite and my MIL bakes it for him every Birthday. You can use just about any apple that you have on hand but firmer apples like granny smith and cortland work best.

Joanne's Jewish Apple Cake

preheat oven to 350 degrees

4 large apples, peeled, cored and sliced thin

3 cups sifted all purpose flour

2 cups sugar

3 tsp baking powder

1 cup oil

4 large eggs

1/2 cup orange juice

2 1/2 tsp pure vanilla extract

cinnamon-sugar for sprinkling

Grease and flour tube pan (I use a metal, coated Monkey bread tube pan)

Add everything together in mixer bowl and beat till light, batter is thick.

Pour 1/2 batter into pan, add 1/2 of the apples in a layer and then a heavy sprinkling of cinnamon-sugar.

Pour remaining batter on top and layer the rest of the apples on the batter. I press down the apples so that many of them sink into the batter but some remain on top. Sprinkle with cinnamon-sugar.

Bake in oven for 75 minutes or until top is brown, crusty and toothpick comes out clean. Let cool in pan and then turn out onto platter.

The Cranberry Almond cake is my adaptation of the Solo Almond cake recipe that I have highlighted on my blog before. Recipe can be found here. It's the same recipe with the addition of 1 cup sweetened dried cranberries mixed into the batter at the end. Add the zest of one orange and a 1/4 tsp of orange oil to the icing.

I can't say enough about the King Arthur Flour's Velvet Pound cake. Very versatile, reliable and yummy! Instead of the vanilla and almond extracts I used 1 tsp of KAF Vanilla Butternut flavoring. I also made a glaze with 1/2 cup powdered sugar and pure maple syrup. I don't measure the syrup, I slowly add it and whisk with the sugar until I have the consistency I need.