20 April 2009

Ozark Mountain Apple Cake


Image copyright MyrtleArt Photography

As a child this apple treat seemed impossibly exotic - a cake named for a distant sounding mountain range? My imagination would run wild and for a short period of time I thought that if you lived in the Ozark Mountains you must eat cake every day!

The recipe comes courtesy of Mrs. L. Collins (in Jackson Cit Pat).
Note: Non-locals know the "Cit Pat" as the Jackson, Michigan daily newspaper, the Citizen Patriot. Until I was in grade school, I thought everyone called it the "Cit Pat."

Ozark Mountain Apple Cake
1/2 cup butter
2 cups sugar
2 eggs, well beaten
2 teaspoons cinnamon
1 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons baking soda
2 cups all-purpose flour
4 cups peeled and sliced fresh apples
2 teaspoons vanilla


Image copyright MyrtleArt Photography

Directions:
  • Cream together butter and sugar
  • Add eggs and beat
  • Sift dry ingredients together.
  • Stir in dry ingredients alternately with apples and vanilla.
  • Pour batter into greased 9"x13" loaf pan.
  • Bake in oven at 350 degrees for 40-50 minutes
  • Frost, if desired, with Butter Frosting
Notes:
My mother always used a bundt pan rather than a loaf pan. Also, I always remembered dusting the top of the cake with powdered sugar, rather than frosting. Either way, the intent is to look like snow on top of the mountains. If you're feeling especially creative you can insert fresh flowers or other decor in the middle of the bundt, as I did here with tulips.