The Best Apple Cake You'll Ever Make

This recipe, like many others, are from my grandmother. I bake one every year for the holidays. Simple, but take it to a potluck and everyone will want your recipe!

Mamaw Ashby's Apple Cake

1 cup vegetable oil (you can use melted butter as long as it's one cup)
2 cups sugar
3 eggs
2 cups all purpose flour
3 cups chopped apples
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1 teaspoon nutmeg (you can use just 1/2 teaspoon of each if you want a milder taste)
1 cup chopped walnuts (optional)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees, and grease a 9x13 pan.

Mix wet ingredients together. Sift the dry ingredients, taking a teaspoon of the dry mix and tossing with the apples and nuts (this will make sure the apples and nuts don't sink to the bottom of the cake.) Mix the dry ingredients with the wet just until combined, then fold in the apples and nuts. Pour into greased pan, bake at 350 degrees about 40 - 45 minutes, or until the cake bounces back in the middle when you touch it, or a toothpick comes out clean.

You can let it cool, but it's incredible served warm with a scoop of vanilla ice cream or my grandmother's favorite, a scoop of buttered pecan. Yum!

Dump Cakes!

If you've ever been to any kind of church or organization pot luck event, you've probably had Dump Cake. My mother, for years, belonged to a group at our church called the "Livewires". It was a senior adult group which met twice a month, took trips, and had potluck luncheons at their meetings. I would go and help out in the kitchen, I baked their turkeys at Thanksgiving, and hams at Christmas. Every luncheon, you could find several Dump Cakes. Not only are they delicious, you can prepare it and bake it off the morning of the event. They are great served alone, but even better with whipped cream or ice cream. Here are my mom's recipe and my pumpkin recipe.

Catt's Fruit Dump Cake

1 can cherry pie filling
1 - 20 oz can crushed pineapple
1 box yellow cake mix
1 1/4 stick margarine, sliced
1/2 cups nuts, chopped (walnuts, pecans, almonds)

Spread pie filling in 9 x 13 greased pan. Scatter pineapple over pie filling. Sprinkle dry cake mix over that. Drop margarine slices over dry cake mix. Scatter nuts. DO NOT STIR.

Bake at 350 degrees for 40 minutes or until brown.

The flavors above are just a suggestion: you can use:

Blueberry pie filling with crushed pineapple and a white cake mix:

Apple pie filling, a can of whole cranberries with yellow or spice cake mix:

Cherry pie filling, omit the pineapple and use a chocolate cake mix, like a black forest cake:

Raspberry pie filling, pineapple or peaches, French vanilla cake mix;

Peach pie filling and some frozen raspberries with a white or yellow cake mix;

You can certainly omit the nuts – or use coconut which gives it a tropical flair.

Melt the butter and pour it over the cake if that's easier for you.

Catt's Pumpkin Dump Cake

1 (29 oz.) can pumpkin
1 (12 oz.) can evaporated milk
1 cup sugar
1/4 tsp. pumpkin pie spice
1/2 tsp. cinnamon
3 eggs
1 box yellow cake mix
1 cup pecans (chopped)
1 cup butter or margarine (melted)

Beat together pumpkin, milk, sugar, pumpkin pie spice, cinnamon, and eggs. Pour into 9x12 greased baking dish. Sprinkle the dry cake mix evenly over the pumpkin mixture, then sprinkle on pecans. Drizzle melted butter over the top. Bake at 350 for1 hour. Cool slightly. Top with whipping cream, and enjoy. This is a great alternative to pumpkin pie at the holidays. If you take this to a party, be sure you take the recipe, because everyone will want to know!

A very special cake recipe

I first wrote this little story back in 2000 when Matthew was just 5. He's now 11, and tomorrow he is having his tonsils removed. We'll be home in no time, I know. But I guess no matter how old I get, I will never get over missing my mom at times like this. Please enjoy the story, and bake the cake!

I know Matthew will never remember my mother. He was not even 11 months old when she died. She was extremely close to all of her grandchildren, but Matthew never really got the chance. His first steps were at her funeral – I always thought of that as ironic. But she loved him so much and when I do still grieve for her, I do it for I know Matthew will never know her. He does not remember when he was 4 months old and so sick with the flu; she sat in my living room and rocked him for 2 days. She rubbed his tummy, and the sickness he felt was second to the pain she felt for him. Jimmy was close to her, she was there when he was born and experienced all the firsts with him. Steven was born after she died, but the entire time I carried him, I imagined her by a quiet stream my pastor mentioned in her eulogy, rocking Steven and getting him ready for the world. I went into labor twice with Steven and had to return home, I joked it was because mom was not ready to let him go. Of all of my children, I always considered Matthew to know of her the least.

Until tonight.

I have gone through her box of recipes no less than 100 times looking for particular dishes. As I was scanning through there today I saw a recipe that had never caught my eye. No name, just some ingredients and the directions. Something would not let me put that card down. I decided to bake it tonight. It smelled wonderful, and I do not remember mom ever making it. It was odd to me too because it had no name. It was not like her to do that. And why had I never noticed? It is in her handwriting and everything. After dinner, I gave each the boys a piece of the cake. It has no icing so I was going to top it with whipped cream - before I could turn around, Matthew had inhaled his! "What is this mom, it is great!" He ate another piece. A half an hour ago, he showed up in the kitchen, still half asleep, asking for more cake. I let him have another piece. And I told him the recipe came from his Mamaw. Just then it hit me - we would name this cake for Matthew. And he too, will have something from her.

Matthew's Memories of Mamaw Cake

1/2-cup margarine or butter
1 cup firmly packed light brown sugar
1 egg
1-teaspoon vanilla extract
1 cup all purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon salt1 cup chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease 8-inch square pan. In small saucepan, melt margarine or butter over low heat. Remove from heat and add sugar stirring until dissolved and smooth. Pour mixture into bowl and beat 1 minute. Add egg and vanilla, continue beating until fluffy. Mix in four and salt, just until blended. Fold in chocolate chips. Bake 25 to 30 minutes or until tooth pick inserted in center comes out clean. Cool slightly and serve. Go make some memories too.

Catt's Cream of Coconut Cake

I love this cake! I know it's a variation of the "Better than....." cakes, but I like this one more than any I've tried. At the end of this recipe, I'll post some variations too. This cake is very rich - just a small square will satisfy you!

1 (18.25-ounce) box white cake mix
1 (16-ounce) can coconut milk
1 (14-ounce) can sweetened condensed milk
1 (16-ounce) container whipped topping
1 (8-ounce) bag sweetened flaked coconut

Prepare and bake white cake mix according to package directions in a 13 x 9 baking pan. Remove cake from oven and while still hot, using the end of a wooden spoon, a skewer or a fork, poke holes all over top of the cake. Whisk coconut milk and sweetened condensed milk together. Pour over the hot cake. Cool completely then frost with the whipped topping and sprinkle with the flaked coconut. Cover and store in refrigerator.

This Cream of Coconut Cake makes a lovely Christmas dessert. I like to decorate with red and green cherries. Because of the coconut, it looks like snow.

I've also made this cake using a devils food cake mix; whisk together caramel ice cream topping and sweetened condensed milk, pouring it over the warm cake. Frost with whipped cream, and top with Heath Bit's. It's so good, trust me - take either of these recipes to a pot luck dinner or any gathering and you'll have to make sure you take the recipe. You'll be the hit of the party!

Catt's Easy Lemon Pound Cake

I have a pound cake recipe that's delicious, but here's one you can go right to your pantry and make.

Catt's Easy Lemon Pound Cake

l pkg. 2 layer lemon cake mix
l (3.4 oz) lemon OR vanilla instant pudding
4 eggs
l/3 c. veg. oil
l c. water

Preheat oven to 350.

Grease and flour bundt or tube pan. Combine cake mix, pudding, eggs, water and oil in a large bowl. Beat at medium speed with electric mixer for 2 minutes. Pour into pan and bake 50 to 60 minutes. Cool in pan for 25 minutes and then invert onto a dish or serving plate. Cool completely.

For Glaze: You can heat either vanilla frosting or lemon frosting in microwave on high power for l0 to l5 seconds. Drizzle over cake. You can also make your own using powdered sugar and lemon juice. However, I prefer to sprinkle the cake with powdered sugar and not use a glaze.

I've used different flavors for this pound cake, depending on what I have in the pantry: I've used chocolate cake mix with chocolate pudding: white cake mix with vanilla pudding: Duncan Hines makes a pineapple cake mix, it's good using vanilla pudding - it's perhaps my favorite one so far. I've also used an orange cake mix with vanilla pudding. Just play with it, and use what you have on hand. That's the key to quick recipes: while it's not what some may say 'from scratch' it's all about cooking at home, not buying it from the store already made. This way, you can control the flavors and customize it with what your family likes.