One-Bowl Apple Cake

The last of the sad apples have been reincarnated as this easy apple cake. They must've done something right during their little apple lives to have ended up here. The warm cinnamon and apple smells coming from the oven are just so good. Maybe they're not exactly reincarnated, but with so many other obvious metaphors to choose from, this one was as good as any. A few weeks ago these little apples had fallen off of a tree. That's pretty much the end of the road for an apple. These particular windfalls found their way into my kitchen and there they sat. And sat...and sat. Until today. I washed and dried them, cut them up and baked them into this cake (o.k. cakes - I made two), now cooling on my counter top. Those little apples are now fully realized as our breakfast. They're happier now. Tender, moist, nutty and fragrant. It's a good thing I made two.

One-Bowl Apple Cake
Adapted from: One-Bowl Apple Cake at MayaMade

2 cups of chopped apple
1 cup of granulated sugar
1/4 cup vegetable oil
1 egg
1 tsp vanilla
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp ground cinnamon
1/4 tsp ground ginger
1/4 tsp salt
1 cup all-purpose flour
1 Tbsp orange zest
1/2 cup chopped walnuts

Preheat oven to 350°. Grease and flour an 8" cake pan (round or square); set aside. Mix apples and sugar together in a large bowl. Add the oil, egg and vanilla to the apple mixture and stir. Add all the dry ingredients to the bowl, including the orange zest, and stir. Add the walnuts and (you guessed it)... stir. Using a rubber spatula, pour batter into prepared pan. Bake for 50 - 55 minutes. Let cool in the pan on a rack for 15 minutes. Slide a thin blade around the sides of the cake and invert it onto a serving plate. Using a mesh sieve, sprinkle powdered sugar over the top of cake.