Is anyone else in the full swing of fall baking yet?? I’ve kind of been baking like crazy lately. It’s always kind of therapeutic for me when I’m feeling stressed (as long as I can talk someone else into doing the dishes for me!), so I’ve kind of been decompressing after our book-writing experience by baking and de-junking. Yes, the irony of baking after writing a healthy eating cookbook isn’t lost on me.
My latest baking adventure was this Apple Spice Sour Cream Bundt Cake (check out the recipe at the end of the post):
I can’t quite put into words how fantastic it was. It’s loaded up with all sorts of ingredients like apples, sour cream (or Greek yogurt), and butter (you can never go wrong there) that make it super moist even if you leave off the glaze. I’m not joking when I say the batter tasted like frosting. Oops, I mean…who tastes cake batter??? (I do.)
So kicking off my baking frenzy was the appearance of the most massive box of baking goodies on my doorstep from MightyNest. There is so much I love about that company–high-quality, unique products for your home that are Earth-friendly as well as functional and really, really cute. PLUS. They donate 15% of every purchase you make to the school of your choice. My kids go to a public magnet school that doesn’t get Title I funding, so I’m happy when I can give back to them in a tangible, useful way. ALSO. You get free shipping if you spend more than $50 (and the shipping rocks–because I live in the boonies, I end up ordering a lot of stuff I can’t get locally and I’m dead serious when I say that my shipping experience will make or break our future together.)
Anyway. Back to my box of treasures. This is what was in it:
1. Simax Glass Bundt Pan. I wasn’t prepared to love this pan the way I did. I’ve had a few other glass bundt pans in my days and they’re usually very heavy and kind of more decorative than they are practical. But this one is super thin and lightweight, but it can handle oven temperatures upwards of 500 degrees F. I kind of love it an embarrassing amount.
2. Wooden Cake Box. Transporting frosted cupcakes is kind of the bane of my exi
stence, so I can’t wait to try this out next time I need to bring them somewhere. It has two slide-out trays where you can pop the cupcakes into the holes to safely transport them to wherever you’re going. Plus it’s adorable.
3. 3 Endurance Stainless Steel Mixing Bowls. I’m kind of embarrassed about my lack of metal mixing bowls. I’m not sure what happened there. I’ve got melamine, I’ve got glass, but I don’t have a nice set of metal mixing bowls. Well, I didn’t. Now I do. And I love them. They’re sturdy and just the right sizes and I’m kind of mad at myself for not having any like this sooner.
4 & 6. Chemex Glass Coffee Maker and Filters. I don’t drink coffee, so I can’t attest to this, but it looks cool and it has rave reviews. And if CrioBru (and stuff like it) is your thing, I totally bet you could brew it in this, too.
5. Glass Mugs. These 12-ounce glass mugs are a great size and perfect for entertaining.
7. Anchor Glass Measuring cups (1 cup, 2 cups, and 4 cup set). Again, for all the things I do have (hello, like, 8 glass carafes and an unmentionable number of Italian soda syrups), this was an area where I was seriously lacking. I had a 2-cup and an 8-cup measuring cup, but I didn’t have the much-more-useful 1- and 4-cup sizes.
8. Organic Tea Towel. I’m such a sucker for cute tea towels and I love that these are designed by a small business and made in the USA.
So I’m not just sharing all this to be a jerk–MightyNest is giving away a box just like the one I got, PLUS they’ll donate $100 to the school of the winner’s choice. Amazing, right?
To win, enter using the RaffleCopter below. You can get one easy entry and then an additional entry by signing up with MightyNest (it’s not as scary as it sounds, you just give them an email address and it lets you browse their site.) Giveaway begins now and ends 10/31 at midnight. Winner will be notified via email, so please use an email address you check frequently. Entrants must be at least 18 years old and a resident of the US. Good luck and happy Friday!!
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Apple Spice Sour Cream Bundt CakeRecipe heavily adapted from Taste of Home by Our Best Bites
Ingredients:
1 cup butter, softened2 cups white sugar2 eggs1 teaspoon vanilla extract2 cups all-purpose flour, lightly spooned into measuring cups and leveled with a knife1 teaspoon baking powder1/2 teaspoon baking soda1/4 teaspoon salt1 cup plain Greek yogurt or sour cream
FILLING1 small baking apple, peeled, cored, and finely chopped (about 1 1/4 cups chopped apple)1 1/2 tablespoons all-purpose flour2 tablespoons brown sugar1 teaspoon cinnamon1/8 teaspoon ground cloves1/4 teaspoon ground ginger1/8 teaspoon ground nutmeg
GLAZE (optional)1 cup powdered sugar1 teaspoon almond extract (vanilla works if almond isn’t your thing)1-2 tablespoons milk
Instructions:
Preheat oven to 350. Grease and flour a 10″ bundt cake pan and set aside.
In a large bowl (like the bowl of your stand mixer), combine the butter and sugar and beat with an electric mixer on high speed until light and fluffy (about 90 seconds). Add eggs, one at a time, mixing completely after each addition. Add the vanilla and mix to combine.
In a medium bowl, combine flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. Add 1/3 of the flour mixture, beating until completely combined. Add 1/2 of the yogurt (or sour cream), mix completely, then add another 1/3 of the flour, mix completely. Add the last of the yogurt, mix completely, then add the final 1/3 of the flour mixture. Mix until combined and set aside.
Place the chopped apples in a small mixing bowl. Sprinkle with flour, brown sugar, and spices and toss to coat evenly. Set aside (but not too far aside–you’ll need them in just a second.)
Pour enough batter into the bottom of the pan to cover about 1″ of the bottom of the pan. Cover this layer with about 1/2 of the apples. Spread enough batter over the apples to completely cover them, then spread the remaining apples over the batter layer. Spread the remaining batter over the apples. Bake in the preheated oven for 45-55 minutes or until golden and a pick inserted into the center of the cake comes out clean. Remove the cake from the oven and allow to cool completely invert the cake onto a serving plate. If desired, whisk together the glaze ingredients and drizzle over the cake. Makes 16 servings.