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By Sarah Condley

Columnist

We were going to see our grandson, Owen, and his parents when I decided to try this recipe for Apple Cake with Cinnamon Sauce that I’d copied from a “Gooseberry Patch” cookbook. The recipe suggested Red Delicious apples but said you could use others for a “change in taste.”

The night before our visit, I prepared this cake. I peeled, cored, and chopped the apples first, then greased and floured a baking dish.

I mixed the oil and sugar for the batter, then beat the eggs one at a time with a handheld mixer. After whisking together the dry ingredients, I poured them into the wet mixture and beat them just until everything was combined. I stirred the chopped apples and vanilla with a spoon.

After pouring the batter into the pan, I placed the cake into the preheated oven, set the timer for 30 minutes, and cleaned up the kitchen. The timer sounded at the 30-minute mark, and it was apparent when I opened the oven that the cake wasn’t done, but I used a cake tester to make sure. No, the cake was not done. I set the timer for an additional 10 minutes. No, it was not done. Ok, another 10 minutes, and still, the cake tester showed the cake was not done. After 60 minutes, the cake tester came out clean – done! I took the cake out of the oven and sat it on the counter to cool. I did not remove the cake from the pan since it would be easier to transport to our daughter’s the next day. I figured we could serve ourselves right from the dish. Her family would not care that the cake wasn’t on a platter.

The following day when I looked at the cake, I said, “Oh No.” Brad was in the kitchen and asked what was wrong, and I told him the cake had fallen. He looked at it and said, “Huh.” I didn’t think falling would hurt the taste.

That afternoon, before leaving to go to our daughters, I put the cinnamon sauce together. It went together so quickly. Just put all the ingredients in a medium size pan and turn on the heat. Once the butter melted, it came to a boil in no time; when it had thickened, I turned off the heat. I put the lid on the pan, and we took it just like that to our daughters so that I wouldn’t dirty any of her pans that evening.

We had a great visit with our 1-year-old grandson Owen, who loves his Granddaddy, and were ready to eat supper, then dessert.

After Brad said a prayer and we ate, everyone was ready for dessert. I started cutting the cake into pieces and immediately noticed it was oozy. It looked like the cake wasn’t done at all. I told everyone they needed to take a piece from the outer edge because the center didn’t look right. I explained that I’d baked this cake twice as long as the recipe said, and I wasn’t sure what was going on.

As we served the pieces around the edge of the pan, it was obvious something had gone wrong with this cake. The cake center oozed as we removed our outer edge pieces and put them on our plates. The center of the cake looked like it was raw batter.

The cinnamon sauce had been on the stove warming, and we drizzled some over our pieces of cake. The cake did have a nice flavor, and while we were trying to enjoy the weird dessert, everyone commented on how good the cinnamon sauce was.

I didn’t use Red Delicious apples in this recipe. I used what I had in the refrigerator, which were 2 Galas and 1 Granny Smith. The moisture in those apples should not have caused this cake to do what it did.

This cake recipe was a huge “Failed It,” but on the bright side, the Cinnamon Sauce was a huge “Nailed It.” I told our daughter Sarah that the sauce would be great over ice cream, and she said she thought it would be good over pancakes. Frankly, I could eat the sauce by itself with a spoon.

I’ve thrown the cake recipe away, but I’m holding on to the cinnamon sauce recipe.

Apple Cake with Cinnamon Sauce

Ingredients

• 1 1/2 coup oil

• 2 cups sugar

• 4 eggs

• 2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour

• 2 teaspoons baking powder

• 1 teaspoon cinnamon

• 3 cups red delicious apples, peeled and chopped

• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Instructions

• Mix together oil and sugar.  Beat in eggs one at a time.  In a separate bowl, combine flour, baking powder and cinnamon; blend into egg mixture.  Fold in apples and vanilla; mix thoroughly.  Pour batter into an 8 x 8 inch greased and floured cake pan.  Bake at 350 degrees for 30 minutes. Cool, remove from pan and serve with Cinnamon Sauce.

Cinnamon Sauce

Ingredients

• 2 cups water, boiling

• 2 cups brown sugar, packed

• 1/4 cup butter

• 1/4 cup all-purpose flour

• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract

• 1 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon

• 1 teaspoon salt

Instructions

• Combine all ingredients in a saucepan and bring to a boil, stirring constantly.  Serve warm over slices of apple cake.