I recommend whenever you making a dinner with dessert,
start with dessert, first.
Because it usually takes longer, and it usually requires
a little bit more focus.
So I'm just going to chop the rest of these apples.
I use green apples because they're a little tart,
and there's sugar in the cake, and it's a nice balance.
Also the green apples that are firmer
will stand out more when you bake them.
This cake is definitely a cake that I grew up with.
My grandmother used to make this frequently.
The best thing about spending summer in Shreveport,
Louisiana with my grandmother, was cooking with her.
I still have her original recipe.
My mom would make it a few times a year.
It's so comforting, and it reminds me of both of them.
OK, let's put together the dry ingredients.
We have 3 and 1/2 cups of flour, 1 teaspoon of baking soda,
and 1 teaspoon of cinnamon.
I really can't think of anything better
than apples and cinnamon.
I think it's one of those things that reminds
you of just a warm blanket.
OK, so now I'm going to get my eggs and sugar.
The sugar is considered a wet ingredient because you want
to mix it in with the eggs.
You always want to separate your wet ingredients
from your dry ingredients.
Make sure the eggs in the sugar bowl
are mix well before we start folding in the dry ingredients.
I'm just going to whisk together the dry ingredients.
And into your stand mixer, three eggs.
Add 2 cups of granulated sugar and 1 teaspoon of salt.
So you definitely want to mix this sugar with the eggs
to make it a little bit of a creamy paste
before you add the dry ingredients.
While it's mixing, I'm going to add some vegetable
oil, a cup and a half.
A cake with oil, no butter.
My grandmother wasn't buying butter.
Butter was expensive.
This is a really down-home cake, really simple to make,
inexpensive.
All right, let me get my rubber spatula.
We're going to fold in the dry ingredients.
This'll make the cake really tender.
So always dry into wet, that way you avoid
it becoming clumpy and messy.
I usually do maybe like a third at a time, third in, mix it,
another third.
Go around the outside of the bowl
and turn it on itself, like that.
My grandmother always had a cake.
You never know who's going to stop by.
I really didn't know a house in the South
that didn't have a cake already made, just ready to go.
So I'm just going to finish mixing that in.
With oil in this batter instead of butter,
this is going to be a very dense cake.
It's pretty well mixed, you don't want to see any flour.
So I'll just go around there.
OK, and next, we're going to fold in our apples
and some toasted walnuts.
I already toasted these in the oven
on a baking sheet at 350 degrees for about 10 minutes.
So let me just give these a little chop.
I like to toast them just to bring out the flavor.
Wow, it looks good.
It smells good, already.
And the apples we can add at the same time
and fold everything in.
My grandmother definitely made this as a Bundt cake, as well.
We always had a Bundt pan.
Hers was made out of cast iron.
You know, I took for granted my grandma's strength.
You know, she was a pretty formidable woman,
lifting the cast iron pan and all this batter.
She definitely had a presence, though.
So it was her home, and there was no mistake about it.
I may have inherited a little stuff from her.
Now I'm going to put it in my Bundt pan,
which is lined with butter and a little bit of flour.
And that's really important to make it easy to get out.
Last little bit, now this goes in a 350 degree oven
for about 60 to 75 minutes.
OK, so that's going to bake.
Next, I'm going to make my brown sugar glaze.
Now, you won't ask why I called my restaurant
Brown Sugar Kitchen, right?
I love brown sugar.
OK, we're going to melt stick of butter,
1/4 cup of milk, whole milk, and one cup of brown sugar.
We're going to bring that to a boil.
Up next, soon as the cake is cooled,
I will drizzle up on top.