Apple Cake

Temperatures are forecast to drop this week and I'm getting excited for Fall, one of my favorite seasons! I was browsing GOOP (Gwyneth Paltrow's lifestyle website) the other day and found a recipe for apple cake. I'm a sucker for anything apple cinnamon, so I headed straight for the store to pick up everything I needed for this recipe! Check out the GOOP newsletter with the recipe, from Tamra Davis.

TIME: 1 hour approx. including baking time

• 1 cup sugar
• ½ stick or 2 ounces butter, melted
• ½ cup applesauce
• 1 egg
• 1¼ cup flour
• ½ teaspoon ground cinnamon
• ½ teaspoon baking soda
• ½ teaspoon salt
• 2½ cups chopped apples (or two large apples)
• ¾ to 1 cup chopped walnuts

Preheat oven to 350°F. Grease your baking dish. Mix the sugar, butter, applesauce and egg together with a hand mixer. Whisk the dry ingredients together. Blend the wet and dry ingredients and then add the apples and walnuts. Pour into baking dish and bake for 30 to 50 minutes (depending on your pan and oven temp) or until knife or toothpick comes out clean when inserted.

I decided to make this in my cast iron skillet (out of necessity - where did I put those baking dishes when I moved in?!) and baked it for about 35 minutes. I liked that this cake isn't quite as bad for you as other cake recipes and that there are lots of apple chunks that soften up a little during baking.

What are your favorite fall recipes?