Hmmm…! What is it about baking that has me swooning? Is it my love for anything sweet? Is it the intoxicating aroma that fills my kitchen and heart with that warm homely feeling? Or is it the faces of my family that gleam as the experiment for the day is wolfed down or enjoyed slowly as it melts in the mouth? Honestly, I don’t care which, because all of these make the half hour spent on the endeavour truly worthwhile.

A couple of years back I tried an apple pie I got from a local store. It was the first I ever had and was bad enough to keep me off any food with baked apples for a long, long time. But last week I stumbled upon a review for an apple cake in the paper and it got me thinking that maybe, just maybe apples in pies and cakes weren’t so bad. I fished out a simple apple cake recipe and have modified it to give me the perfect blend of sweet and spice and fruit and heaven. Its takes not more than half an hour of your time and when you’ve had your first bite you’ll love yourself for it.

I always say that when you are trying something for the first time keep the project small because you never know how its going to turn out. Once the first batch disappears it is ok to get ambitious, of course. So here’s what you will need. The ingredients below will suffice for a first try or dinner desert for family. You can just double everything when you are expecting company.

1 cup           flour

2/3 cup      unsalted butter

2/3 cup      fine granulated sugar

1                  egg

1 tsp            baking powder

½ tsp           salt

1 tsp            cinnamon powder

½ cup         milk

1                  apple

• Mix together 1/3 cup sugar and the cinnamon powder and keep aside.
• Peal, core and slice your apple. These go into the cake and will taste like heaven even if every slice does not look like an exact replica of the others. Just try to make them of roughly even thickness.
• Grease a 6 inch oven proof glass bowl and keep aside. You can use any baking dish but the glass bowl just looks so good. Preheat your oven to 180 degrees C.
• Sieve together the flour, salt and baking powder.
• Beat together the remaining 1/3 cup sugar and the butter. Since we are working with small quantities a small hand mixer should suffice. But if you are doubling the ingredients you could work with a processor.
• Add the egg and whisk. Now add the flour a little at a time and fold into the mixture. Alternate with milk till you have a smooth mixture. The mixture is a little less sweet than the regular cake mix but it works beautifully to balance the sweet fruit layer.
• Pour half of the batter into your baking dish and smooth over. Place the apple slices in a roughly even layer on the batter. The slices may overlap. Sprinkle half of your cinnamon and sugar mixture over the apple layer. The spice and sugar will fuse with the apples as they cook and bubble giving out the most amazing aroma.
• Cover the apple layer with the rest of the batter. If this layer appears thin don’t worry. Gently smooth over the batter, just making sure the apples are covered. Sprinkle over with the rest of the cinnamon mixture.
• Bake for 20 minutes or till a toothpick inserted in the middle comes out clean. As the cake bakes you will see it transform to a rich golden brown with a beautiful spice crust. Allow to cool before serving so that the cake does not fall apart when serving, though it is delicious just a little warm. Unfortunately every time you bake this you will see it disappear before it reaches the fridge. But if you do manage to refrigerate some, once cold the cake is absolutely divine.

No, a simple apple cake might not change your life. But a bite of a truly good one could, just for a couple of minutes; help you forget about deadlines and the laundry and homework and enjoy life at its best. A simple, home cooked taste of heaven! Happy eating.