Pioneer Woman and Apple Cake

Last night, my friend Anne and I (that’s right, together we’re Annie, squared) went to the Pioneer Woman book signing here in St. Louis. It was so much fun.

First off, Left Bank Books, who sponsored the signing wisely moved the event to Christ Church Cathedral. What a beautiful, gorgeous building. Truly. I’ve seen churches all over this country because my dad, Papa Joe, loves touring churches. This one was one of the loveliest I’ve ever seen and I include with it the cathedrals that I have seen in Europe, too. If you ever have the opportunity you really must go and see it for yourself. Along with touring the church as we waited for Pioneer Woman, we also got to chat with the Provost of the Cathedral. He’s an enthusiastic fellow and would like everyone in St. Louis to stop in his church. They have a free organ recital every Thursday if you’re ever in the neighborhood….

I learned so much more about the church and all because I went with Anne. She has a way of asking folks questions that they love answering. I always find out cool information when I go places with her. Also, she scored us some great seats, so, yea Anne! Now I already have my New Year’s resolution — to ask more questions.

So, after poking around the church and lamenting over and over that I FORGOT to bring my flipping camera, we settled in for the Pioneer Woman Q & A. It was fun to hear her answers to all of the questions which ranged from Charlie the Bassett hound to cooking to photography to Black Heels to Tractor Wheels (yes, they’re going to do a book of that, next year?) and everything in between. She is one of those people who is just really genuine and likeable — no surprise there. Also, she’s glamorous and down to earth and like, ten feet tall (dang her). It was fun to watch her little boys run around, too, and to see Marlboro Man in real life. So, all in all, it was a really fun evening.

I had thought before going that I wanted to give her something, you know, just a little happy but didn’t know what to do. In the end, I decided to give her a card with a note and include one of my recipes. She’s a recipe hound, after all, and so I tried to think which one(s) I might give her. So, I thought about my Sauteed Chicken with Olive Relish, or possibly my Chipotle Lime Vinaigrette. Then I thought that she might possibly like the Chicken Marinade? But, in the end, I decided to bring her my recipe for Apple Cake. Because of this recipe, I’m basically the Apple Cake Lady. It’s totally yummy, y’all. Try it.

It’s ALDIvore, too, did I mention that?

Apple Spice Cake

Serves 10.

1 1/3 cups canola oil
3 cups all-purpose flour
1 Tablespoon ground cinnamon
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
2 cups sugar
3 large eggs
3-4 Granny Smith apples, peeled, cored and sliced ½ inch thick
1 teaspoon rum
Caramel Sauce (optional)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Spray a Bundt pan with baking cooking spray.
Sift the flour, cinnamon, baking soda and salt over a large piece of parchment or waxed paper. Meanwhile, in the bowl of a mixer with paddle attachment, combine the oil, sugar and eggs; mix it on high speed until lemon yellow. Fold the parchment in half lengthwise; reduce speed to medium and gradually shake in dry ingredients until just incorporated. Add apples and rum to the mixture, mixing until just incorporated. Pour into the pan (it might look like there are too many apples – don’t worry, it’ll work out). Bake 75-90 minutes or until a tester comes out clean. Cool, invert onto rack. After it is completely cooled, drizzle with caramel sauce. If serving with vanilla ice cream I wait and just drizzle the caramel sauce over the cake and ice cream together.

Caramel Sauce

1 cup light-brown sugar
1 stick butter
¼ cup evaporated milk
1 teaspoon (or a little more) rum
pinch of salt

Combine ingredients in a saucepan over medium heat. Cook and stir until desired consistency.