Apple Cakes Like My Mommy Makes

In 2008, Bill and I took the trip of a lifetime. We traveled for 3-1/2 months in Europe. We took a 2-1/2 week cruise across the Atlantic, and then traveled around much of western Europe, concentrating on France and Italy. In fact, we spent an entire month living in a small town in Tuscany.

A couple of years later, we again cruised across the Atlantic to Rome, and then cruised around the Mediterranean to such places as southern Italy, Greece, Turkey, and Egypt. Very nice travels. Remind me to tell you about it sometime.

My mom and dad didn’t travel nearly as much as Bill and I. Still, they went to Hawaii a couple of times, and saw a fair bit of the United States thanks mostly to my sister who married a career army man who was stationed in several locations throughout his career.

But mostly I think my parents – and particularly my mom – liked to stay home. She loved her family and loved spending time with them. So her travels consisted almost entirely of visits to my sister and her family and my brother and his family (who live in Phoenix). And, of course, she enjoyed traveling to any places where she could travel with her kids and her grandkids.

One such trip was to Lancaster, Pennsylvania – Amish country, in 1989, probably as an addendum to a visit to my sister’s home in northern Virginia outside Washington, DC. I only know the year because as I was going through my mother’s recipe box, I came across an envelope from Historic Paul Sours Plantation House in Bendersville, PA, and it was addressed to my mother. That seemed like an odd thing to find in a recipe box. It was date-stamped October 1989. I opened it, and a note card fell out. It was a recipe for Apple Cake.

That was when I recalled that trip, and how much my mother loved that apple cake. What I didn’t remember is that she must have loved it so much that she talked the bed-and-breakfast proprietor into giving her the recipe. That is probably not something most chefs are wont to do, preferring to keep the recipe their own little secret. My mother, however, could be charming and persuasive.

Enjoy this apple cake. By the way, I looked it up and can find no sign that the Historic Paul Sours Plantation House still exists. But thanks to my mom, their apple cake does!


Historic Paul Sours Plantation House Apple Cake

Ingredients
2 c. flour
2 c. sugar
2 t. cinnamon
1 t. baking soda
1 t. baking powder
1 c. shopped walnuts
1 c. vegetable oil
2 t. vanilla
2 eggs, beaten
1/4 c. brandy
4 c. chopped apples (peeled)

Process
Mix all ingredients and press into a greased 9 x 11 baking dish. Bake at 350 for 1 hour or until center bounces back when touched. Don't know how the B&B served it, but I plan on serving mine with a dollop of fresh whipped cream.