Irish Apple Cake

     For my MOPs Christmas meeting all the groups participated in a table decorating contest.  For our table, the Spirited Sisters, I came up with an idea to feature different countries and how they celebrate Christmas.  So each lady picked a country to research then bring decorations and a sweet treat to share with the rest of the group.  I picked Ireland.  So for my sweet treat I brought this Irish Apple Cake.     

Recipe from The Kitchen McCabe

What you need:

3 cups all purpose flour (sifted)

2 tsp baking powder

1/8 tsp salt

1/4 tsp ground cloves

1/4 tsp ground nutmeg

6oz unsalted butter

3/4 cup sugar

4 large Golden Delicious Apples

2 eggs (room temperature)

3/4 cup milk

2 TBsp sugar (for sprinkling on the top)

How to make it:

Grease and flour an 8" or 9" round springform pan (using an 8" pan will give you a taller cake).

Preheat oven the oven to 375˚F.

Sift the flour, baking powder, salt, cloves, and nutmeg into a large mixing bowl.

Make sure the bowl is very large to allow room for the apples to be folded in.

Cut the butter into the flour using your fingers or pastry cutter until the mixture resembles fine crumbs.

Add the 3/4 cup sugar to the flour mixture and mix in.

Peel the apples and slice into uniform pieces (this cake works best and gets that 'chucky apple look' if the slices are about 1/4" wide then cut into 3 pieces.

Toss the apples into the flour mixture and combine them thoroughly.

In a separate bowl, beat the eggs and milk together.

Add to the apples and flour, mix in with a large spatula until just combined.

Batter will be thick and dough-like.

Transfer the dough into the prepared cake pan and flatten the top surface using the back of your spatula.

Sprinkle the sugar over the top of the cake.

Bake for 45-50 minutes.

Test the center for doneness, the top of the cake should be golden brown.

Let cool a bit before taking the cake out of the springform pan, then ENJOY!

Cupcake Couture

     I love baking, especially cupcakes!  Finding new recipes and trying them out is such a delicious challenge I take head on!  What makes it more fun is when I can bake up a tasty treat for my son or daughter's birthday or a friend's baby shower or special holiday get together.

I baked up these Chocolate Chip Cupcakes for my friend's Enchanting Butterfly Baby Shower

I made these for Kinley's Rainbow 1st Birthday Party

These were fun for Liam's Skylander 6th Birthday Party

These minty cupcakes were for my sister's Baby Shower

These Strawberry Lovecakes were for Liam's Valentine's Day party at school 

Liam's Angry Bird 5th Birthday Party cupcakes

We celebrated 4th of July Crafternoon with these Snow Cone Cupcakes

Made these colorful cupcakes for my sister's Baby Shower too

Margarita Cupcakes for our March Crafternoon

Horton Hears a Who Cupcakes to celebrate Dr. Seuss Day

July Crafternoon with Cheeseburger Cupcakes

Also made these Cotton Candy my sister's Baby Shower

Celebrating Halloween with some festive Jack Skellington Cupcakes

Some throwback cupcakes for a Vintage Baby Shower 

Love the neon colors on these 80's Cupcakes

One of my favorite parties to host included these Twilight Cupcakes

It's Tea Time with these Black Tea Cupcakes for January Crafternoon

Liam loved these Alien Cupcakes from his Toy Story 3rd Birthday Party

March Crafternoon with these Chocolate Guinness Cupcakes

These Brain Cupcakes were ghoulishy good 

Made some Batman Cupcakes for a friend's son's birthday

Mad Hatter cupcakes for my friend's Mad Hatter Tea Baby Shower

Lots and lots of fun festive cupcakes! Pretty to look at and yummy to eat!

Friday Foodie Favorites: Candy Corn

     Well, with it being Halloween season, my favorite candy is popping up everywhere!  Last year I found the Candy Corn M&M's and the Candy Corn Oreos.  This year I discovered Candy Corn Taffy,     Candy Corn Jelly Bellys, and Candy Corn Cotton Candy.  With my love of Candy Corn I decided to make some Candy Corn Fudge for my ladies for our monthly Crafternoon tomorrow.  Check out the Candy Corn Merginues I made too!

Found the recipe on Something Swanky.

Ingredients:

6 cups white chocolate chips (I used the Nestle Toll House ones)

2 cans sweetened condensed milk

food coloring : yellow & orange

How to make it:

Line a 9x9 baking dish with wax paper

In a large saucepan, combine the white chips and sweetened condensed milk over medium-low heat.

Stir until completely melted and smooth, remove from heat

Pour 1/3 of the mixture into prepared baking dish and chill for 15 minutes 

(Keep remaining fudge in sauce pan, heat off)

Stir fudge over low heat until melted and smooth again (should only take a minute or two)

Pour 1/3 mixture into a medium bowl and whisk in some orange food coloring.

Pour over the chilled white layer in baking dish and chill for 15 minutes.

Again, reheat the remaining 1/3 fudge over low heat until melted and smooth.

Whisk in yellow food coloring, pour over orange layer in baking dish.

Let chill for 3-4 hours or overnight.

Cut into squares, top with a Candy Corn kernel and ENJOY!