The stormy weather came and went, but it freezing temperatures here last night. To warm up the house, I decided to bake a little treat for my parents. There was one slight problem, though; I didn't have any butter nor any cocoa powder in the house. Luckily for me, it seems like many apple cake recipes don't require either. It worked out perfectly because we had some apples that needed to be consumed somehow (hence the odd amount of apples used in the recipe below). I took this recipe from All Recipes and put my spin on it.

Ingredients

• 2 eggs
• 7/8 cup vegetable oil
• 1 3/4 cups white sugar
• 2 1/2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 2 1/2 small Gala apples, peeled, cored, and chopped

Since I like my apples soft, I heated the chopped apples with 1/2 teaspoon of cinnamon in a small pot while I prepared the rest of the cake. Before I did anything else, I, of course, preheated the oven to 350 degrees F.

In a large mixing bowl, I beat together the eggs and oil until well incorporated. Then I beat in the white sugar and vanilla until I no longer saw a trail of sugar. Once that settled, I added the dry ingredients. I added the salt, baking soda, and the remaining ground cinnamon before beating everything well. I added the flour, 1/4 cup at a time, stirring well after each addition. Finally, I stirred in the cooked apples.

I poured the batter into a 9x13 in baking pan sprayed with Baker's Joy baking spray. This all went into the oven and stayed there for 35-40 minutes, until a cake tester came out clean and the sides of the cake began to pull away from the sides of the pan.

I thought I had burned the cake, but it was moist when I tasted it. The cake had a rich, caramel color. It has a really subtle flavor, and each bite of apple is highlighted by the cinnamon. My parents definitely enjoyed it, and we all indulged in a piece this morning for breakfast.