Bolo de Maçã (Apple Cake)

Happy Monday and Martin Luther King Jr. Day!

I hope everyone has had a wonderful weekend.  I spent it at a comedy show, in good company, some baking, and yoga.  Regarding the baking, not only have I been doing some baking myself, but I’ve also been binge watching other people bake, as in The Great British Baking Show on Netflix.  I’m nearly done with all of the seasons, and don’t know what I’m going to do when it’s over!  Recommendations welcome for similar shows. 🙂

The show motivates me to want to learn how to make pastry and magnificent cakes.  A few of The Five Marias recipes will require me to make pastry, but that will come a little later.  Today I made a fairly simple, but delicious apple cake, courtesy of Tia Elvira.  It really is a nice coffee cake for the morning or to take to a dinner party.

I hope the week ahead is wonderful for everyone, and stay tuned for the next recipe this weekend!

Yields: 10-12 slices

Ingredients:

1/2 cup vegetable or canola oil

2 teaspoons vanilla extract

2 cups granulated sugar

2 eggs

4 cups red apples (2-3 apples), peeled and cubed

2 cups all-purpose flour

2 teaspoons baking soda

1/2 teaspoon cinnamon

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 cup chopped walnuts, or nut of your choice

Directions:

1) Preheat oven to 350°. Lightly grease a Bundt cake pan with cooking spray or butter.

2) In a large bowl, whisk together oil, vanilla extract, sugar, and eggs.  Fold in apples and mix together really well.

3) In a medium-sized bowl, sift flour.  Add baking soda, cinnamon, salt and walnuts, and mix together.

4) Gently fold dry ingredients into apple batter until blended well together. Pour batter evenly into the pan and bake for 1 hour or until a cake tester comes out clean.