a very merry unbirthday

j's parents were in town, so we decided to have an impromptu 6 month birthday celebration for R with a few friends.  a quick trip to the market in koreatown and a recipe from my new rad cake book, All Cakes Considered (from j's parents for christmas) yielded a wonderful apple coconut cake.  i made it in two round cake pans, and half served 7 of us, so we get to eat it again at some point!  (thank you freezer).  a slight crunch on the outside and sweet in the middle, with chunks of fresh fuji apple.

i didn't have the right supplies to make r a proper bday hat, his head was too big to make a cone shape out of letter paper, so it looks more like...a pope's hat.  fitting for j'a parents i suppose, and we thought it looked cute regardless.  

Grandgirl's Fresh Apple Cake from Georgia

Recipe courtesy Paula Deen

Prep Time: 30 min

Inactive Prep Time: 1 hr 0 min

Cook Time: 1 hr 30 min

Level: Easy

Serves: 16

Ingredients

cake:

• Butter, for greasing pan
• 2 cups sugar
• 3 eggs
• 1 1/2 cups vegetable oil
• 1/4 cup orange juice
• 3 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1 tablespoon ground cinnamon
• 1 tablespoon vanilla extract
• 3 cups peeled and finely chopped apples
• 1 cup shredded coconut
• 1 cup chopped pecans

sauce:

• 1/2 cup (1 stick) butter
• 1 cup sugar
• 1/2 cup buttermilk
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda

directions

Preheat the oven to 325 degrees F. Generously grease a tube pan.

For the cake: in a large bowl, combine the sugar, eggs, oil, orange juice, flour, baking soda, salt, cinnamon and vanilla extract; and mix well. Fold apples, coconut, and pecans into batter.

Pour the batter into the prepared pan and bake until a tester comes out clean, about 1 1/2 hours.

Shortly before the cake is done, make the sauce: Melt the butter in a large saucepan, stir in the sugar, buttermilk, and baking soda, and bring to a good rolling boil, stirring constantly. Boil for 1 minute. Pour the sauce over the hot cake in the pan as soon as you remove it from the oven. Let stand 1 hour, then turn out onto a rack to cool completely.