Apple Upside-Down Cake

This tasty little cake won 2nd place in the 2nd Annual Apple Bake Off at the UVic Geography Department. Yeah.

Caramel-apple topping (bottoming?):
1/2 c brown sugar
2 T margarine, melted
3 c baking apples, very thinly sliced (1-2 large)
1/2 c pecans or walnuts, chopped

Cake:
1 1/2 c unbleached white flour
3/4 c cane sugar
2 1/2 t baking powder
1 t cinnamon
1/2 t salt
1 c soy milk
1/4 c oil
1 T apple cider vinegar
1 t vanilla

Preheat over to 350F.
Oil the sides of a 9" cake pan. Line the bottom of the pan with parchment paper.
Mix dry cake ingredients in a medium mixing bowl, set aside.
Mix wet cake ingredients, set aside and let sit for a couple of minutes.
Combine hot melted margarine and brown sugar. Spread this caramel mixture over the bottom of the cake pan.
Arrange apples in a pretty pattern on top of caramel. Top with nuts.
Combine wet and dry cake ingredients, stirring just to mix.
Pour cake batter over apples, use a spatula to gently spread the batter evenly over the apples.
Bake for 30 minutes, or until the cake tests done in the middle.
Let cool on a wire rack for at least 10 minutes before removing from the cake pan.

Notes on a "healthier" version:
This morning I made a somewhat healthier version of this cake for breakfast. I replaced 1 c of the white flour with whole wheat flour and reduced the sugar in the cake batter to 1/2 c. I also added an extra cup of apple slices and tried substituting water for margarine in the caramel sauce. It turned out tasty and still quite sweet, however, the caramel sauce stayed thin and ended up making the cake a little soggy in the middle.

Potato Gnocchi

These are exceedingly simple little pasta-like dumplings. The only hard part is deciding how you want to shape them. Serve them with any sauce you would normally have with pasta: pesto, marinara, oil and balsamic vinegar, etc. We had them with an exciting dandelion-greens sauce that Jennie made.

2 lbs russet potatoes, peeled
Salt and pepper to taste
1 1/2 to 1 3/4 c unbleached white flour

Bake, boil or steam the potatoes until they are all soft. Make sure they cook evenly (we had problems with some less-cooked chunks sticking around).
While they are still hot, mash potatoes with salt and pepper.
Gradually add flour, stirring until you have sticky blob (sounds tasty, eh?).
Turn dough out onto a lightly floured surface.
Knead dough for about 3 minutes, adding more flour if the dough is too sticky to handle.
Pat dough into a rectangle, cut into long strips about an inch wide.
Roll strips into thick ropes (like you're playing with clay), cut into 1/2 inch thick cylinders.
Now the really fun part: decide how you want to shape the gnocchi. We followed a cookbook's directions and pressed the dough between a thumb and fork. They turned out a little funny looking, but that didn't stop them from tasting good!
Drop gnocchi into a pot of boiling salted water in batches small enough that the pot won't be too crowded.
Gnocchi are done when they float to the top.
Drain cooked gnocchi in a colander. If you're making a big batch, you may want to pour a little oil over the waiting gnocchi to keep them from sticking.

This recipe served three of us, but should be good for at least four if Branden isn't there.

Blueberry Crumble

A lovely summery crumble. The addition of pecans in the topping makes it even more special.

Filling:
4 c blueberries
2 T lemon juice
2 T flour
2 T cane sugar
1/2 t vanilla

Topping:
1/4 C margarine, melted
1/3 C brown sugar
3/4 C flour
3/4 C quick-cooking oats
1/3 C pecans, finely chopped
1/4 t salt
1/8 t each allspice and cinnamon

Preheat oven to 350F.
Toss blueberries with remaining filling ingredients until coated.
Place blueberry mixture in a pie pan.
Combine margarine and sugar. Add remaining topping ingredients and mix until an even, but still coarse, texture is reached.
Spread topping evenly over blueberries.
Bake for 40 minutes, or until lightly browned on top.