#7 - Apple Cake

If there's something funny, awesome, or bizarre on the Internet, Johnny's probably found it. And one thing he's come across is Bakerella, a blog by this crazy lady who makes crazy desserts with her crazy free time. She's most known for her cake pops, which we actually made on a few occasions, and since they came out so well, we decided to give this cake recipe a try.

Apple Cake

From Bakerella
Most of the ingredients for this recipe are pretty run-of-the-mill baking ingredients, except for the dates. Scary, weird dates. We were too afraid to try them raw, but once the cake was made, we found out that they're actually not bad. Maybe next time we'll be braver.
This was actually a pretty easy recipe to make. Except for mixing the dry ingredients, you could just throw everything in the KitchenAid, which made it simple.
The original recipe said that the batter would be really thick, and they weren't kidding. After adding the last few things, we could barely stir it with a spatula. But with a little elbow-grease, we could get the batter onto a greased (but not elbow-greased, yuck) pan and in the oven.
A fun thing about this cake is that you get to make a warm drizzle to put on top of it which makes it even more moist once it's done. The recipe made way too much of the sauce, though. We probably didn't even use half of it, but if you like it sweeter and moister, then you can add more. But we don't think you'd need to use it all under any circumstances.
For being such an easy recipe to make, this is the best apple cake you'll ever eat. Why Americans are so infatuated with apple pie, when apple cake can be so delicious, we'll never understand.
Le recipe:

Ingredients

• 3 cups flour
• 1 tsp baking soda
• 1 tsp cinnamon
• 2 cups sugar
• 1 1/2 cups vegetable oil
• 3 eggs
• 2 tsp vanilla
• 3 cups apples, diced
• 1 cup chopped dates
• 1 cup chopped walnuts
  
• 1 cup brown sugar
• 1/2 cup butter
• 1/4 cup milk

Preparation

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
2. Sift together flour, baking soda and cinnamon with a wire whisk.
3. Using a mixer, combine sugar and oil, and mix until blended.
4. Add eggs and vanilla, and mix well.
5. Add dry ingredient mixture, and mix thoroughly.
6. Coat dates in flour, shaking off excess.
7. Fold in dates, apples, and walnuts.
8. Grease and flour 9 x 13 pan.
9. Pour batter into pan, and bake for 40-45 minutes.
10. Cook brown sugar, butter, and milk over medium heat until mixture bubbles.
11. Once it has cooled, poke holes into the cake using a dowel or other small rounded utensil.
12. Pour some, not all, of the heated topping over the cake.