Apple Spice Cake with Bourbon Glaze

I thought I better get this recipe posted since it is perfect for fall and well, fall isn't really happening this year I guess. Not that you can't eat it whenever of course. I just always think of apple and pumpkin recipes being perfect for fall weather. This recipe is very special to me because it was the very first thing I baked on my own many moons ago. I remember being so proud of myself because back then I thought it was so difficult. Well throughout the years my baking knowledge has increased and the tools (hello KitchenAid mixer) have improved greatly, but the taste of this cake has stayed the same. It is so deliciously moist with the perfect apple flavoring. The glaze makes it a little sweet, but not overpowering (below I've also included another version if you don't want to use bourbon in yours). It is too easy and tasty not to try! If you can, hurry up and make it before fall has completely left for the year! Enjoy! 

Apple Spice Cake with Bourbon Glaze

Ingredients
1 cup oil
3 eggs
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1 teaspoon vanilla
3 cups chopped apples
2 cups sugar
3 cups flour
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon nutmeg

Optional

1 cup chopped pecans

Bourbon Glaze

1/2 cup Bourbon

1/2 cup sugar


Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease and flour your bundt pan, set aside. 

Combine oil and sugar, beating well. Add eggs one at a time until combined. 

In a separate bowl combine flour, soda, salt, cinnamon, and nutmeg. Add the dry mix to the sugar mixture and add vanilla. Stir in pecans (if using) and apples. 

Pour into bundt pan, bake 1 hour 15 minutes. Once done, poke holes in the bottom before removing from the bundt pan and spoon over glaze, cool completely.

Bourbon Glaze

Place the bourbon and sugar in a small saucepan. Heat over low to medium-low heat until sugar is dissolved and the glaze is slightly thicker. Remove from heat and use on the cake. 

* Here is the original glaze I used before which is sweeter, but equally as good. It's perfect if you don't want to use the bourbon in your recipe! 

Glaze
1 cup sugar
1/2 cup buttermilk
4 Tablespoons butter
3 teaspoons vanilla
1/2 teaspoon baking soda

Combine all in saucepan, boil 4 minutes.

Happy Halloween........Bark

Happy Halloween everyone! Halloween has always been fun for me no matter what I have been doing. I have dressed up many years, obviously for trick or treating in younger years and parties in adult years, dressed up to pass out candy, and just sat back and watched everyone else dress up and get excited. No matter what your stance, you probably do some sort of celebrating or decorating. Why not make this easy and delicious bark that is super festive and you can use many things you already have. It is perfect for snacking on around your house or taking to a Halloween party! You can use various kinds of chocolate (dark, white, semi-sweet, just one, two, etc.). You can also use candy or sprinkles you have already. I used Halloween Oreos because I feel like we always have Oreos around the house and candy corn, but you can use any candy you have (hello leftover candy from trick or treating). Use your imagination and enjoy!

Halloween Bark

Ingredients

12 ounce bag semi-sweet chocolate chips

12 ounce bag white chocolate chips

about 10 Oreos, broken in pieces 

about 1/4 cup candy corn

Halloween sprinkles 

Prepare a sheet pan with foil. Place about 3/4 of the broken Oreos scatter about on the foil. 

Heat the semi-sweet chocolate chips over medium-low heat in a saucepan, stirring constantly, until completely melted. Pour that on the prepared pan with the Oreos. Smoothing all around until it is as thin as desired (the thicker it is, the harder it will be to break apart). Place in the refrigerator until hardened (about 20-30 minutes). 

Heat the white chocolate chip in a separate saucepan, the same as you did the semi-sweet. Once melted, pour that over the already hardened semi-sweet chocolate. If it is really hot, it can start melting the semi-sweet chocolate and they can combine (just a heads up, it is ok, but you can let it cool slightly if you don't want them to mix very much). Once you have it on and spread out, place the ready of the Oreos scattered around, the candy corn, and the sprinkles. You can press slightly on the bigger pieces to help them set in the chocolate. Place back in the refrigerator until set (again, about 20-30 minutes).

Once set, remove from refrigerator and break apart. Since mine was on one pice of foil, I hit it on the counter a couple times. You can also use a knife to break it apart or your hands (though it may get a little messy as the chocolate melts).   

This was a craft/halloween fun I was having. I bought my husband his favorite bourbon and dressed it like a ghost. For that I uses part of a pool noodle (I had it on hand) and cut up and old white T-shirt. Then I drew on the eyes and mouth with a sharpie and added the signs. 

I saw someone post a picture of Halloween glasses they bought and I thought "Hey I can make that". I printed off Jack-O-Lantern faces, cut them out and taped them on. If we thought it was fun because we could pick out our eyes, noses, and mouths, imagine how cool kids would think it was. If it is a tradition we continue, I might look into making them so they are reusable, but for right now they are one time use. They can be used on any type of glass so have fun with it! I hope these gave you some ideas for a fun Halloween!