Cinnamon Apple Bundt Cake

I’ve kinda been in a cooking slump lately… you know, ordering pizza, swinging through Jimmy John’s for sandwiches, picking up pre-made food at the grocery store. We’ve actually been eating out lately, but often that does not satisfy. I usually wish we had saved the money and eaten at home. Even omelets at home taste better than some restaurant food, right?

My favorite stand-by dinner is grilled cheese and tomato soup; however, I do make a killer grilled cheese (brioche bread with real butter and three different types of cheeses) and I do serve homemade tomato soup, so I guess I get a break with that menu.

Last weekend I purchased some apples and somehow, that has inspired me to get back in the kitchen. This cake was easy and I made it much healthier by using less sugar, less oil, and half wheat flour. The butter sauce could not be passed up….. it absolutely made the cake.

Here’s what you need:

For the Cake:

2 heaping cups of peeled apples, thinly sliced

3 T white sugar

2 T cinnamon

½ C vegetable oil

½ C applesauce

1 C white sugar

4 eggs

3 t vanilla

¼ C orange juice

1 ½ C white flour

1 ½ C wheat flour

1 T baking powder

1 t salt

For the Glaze:

¼ C butter

1/3 C orange juice

2/3 C sugar

Here’s what you do:

Toss the apple slices in the cinnamon and sugar. Set aside.

Beat the oil, applesauce, sugar, eggs, vanilla and orange juice until well incorporated. Add the flours, baking powder and salt.

Spoon about 1/3 of the batter in a well-greased bundt pan. Arrange the apple slices over the batter. Spoon the remaining batter over the apples.

Bake at 325 degrees for about 60 minutes. Check it after about 50 minutes.

To make the glaze: melt the butter, orange juice and sugar together and spoon over the cake. I started while the cake was still in the pan. (You can see the holes I poked in the cake with a wooden skewer.) Then I turned the cake out of the pan and continued spooning the glaze. I also used a pastry brush to apply the glaze. Be patient – it all fits in there and you want it, trust me.

(printable recipe)

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