Marie-Hélèn's Apple Cake, from "Around My French Table"

I am very fortunate to have found some very wonderful friends in my college years, and even more blessed that they have kept me around since. They are all strong women, wives, mothers, leaders in their churches and communities, and they are all kind. We don't live near each other anymore, but if I could choose my ideal dinner party, it would be at a table with these women.

We also share a passion for making and eating good food, so you can imagine the bevy of recipes that have been flying back and forth over the last week. From a vintage family recipe for cornbread dressing, and a winter greens gratin, to pumpkin bread pudding, and homemade 5 spice pumpkin ice cream.  

Today I'm sharing one of my favorite dessert recipes that always seems to find its way onto my menu. It has nothing to do Thanksgiving, but everything to do with fall. It is apple season after all. This was one of the first recipes I made from Dorie Greenspan's tome, Around My French Table.  

photo courtesy of Around My French Table - HMH

It is surprisingly simple to make, but the flavor of cooked apples spiked with a bit of rum,  evoke a sense of time, and love. I've added one small change to Mrs. Greenspan's recipe, and if she were to ever stumble across this note, I hope she and Marie-Hélène would forgive me.  Cardamom. That's it, just 1 tsp of cardamom* takes this cake from elegant simplicity to something a bit more rugged and sensual. Either way you make it, I promise, you will serve this cake to the people you love over, and over again.

-keep eating

baby it's cold outside - apple cake

On Thursday the temperature dropped 20 degrees in 8 hours, landing at "quite chilly", perfect weather for hosting a cozy fall dinner.  My menu consisted of beef bourguignon served over a celery root puree, followed by a seasonal salad of wilted kale topped with roasted beets and drizzled with balsamic dijon vinaigrette.

For dessert, I made apple cake and served it with a wedge of Stilton cheese to pass around the table (trust me on this one, the two share a plate quite well).  The recipe for this apple cake comes from a friend who bakes the most delicious cakes.  Not the kind of cakes one has at birthday parties or manufactured social gatherings.  These are the cakes that dinner party legends are made of.  Rustic, with fruits and spices, and full of warmth. In this recipe, the spices are what make the cake especially good.  Nothing compares to the flavors of fresh cardamom plucked from its pod, or nutmeg grated directly into the batter.  Both of these spices will keep in your pantry for a very long time,  and the results they yield are not to be surpassed.