Chris took some of the kids camping in Wisconsin over Labor Day weekend. They canoed for 10 miles, camped on a sandbar, weathered a middle-of-the-night thunderstorm, then returned home exhausted but exhilarated. I would have loved to join them, but a trek like that with 4 year old twins just isn’t my idea of a good time!

I asked Chris to stop by a farm stand on his way home. He picked up loads of corn on the cob, tomatoes and a big bag of apples. Now that we are finally settling into our new house (that Chris spent the past 8 months renovating), I feel like I can start baking again. For so long, we didn’t really have a kitchen, and then when we did the house was still a mess and I didn’t want to add to it. But when I saw the apples I knew this would be the perfect time to get back into baking!

Apple Spice Cake

3/4 cup dried apricots, chopped

3/4 cup dried cherries

2 cups flour

3/4 teaspoon cinnamon

1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg

1/4 teaspoon allspice

1 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon salt

2 sticks (1 cup) butter, softened

1 3/4 cup sugar

4 eggs

1 teaspoon vanilla extract (here’s how I make homemade vanilla extract)

3 cups chopped peeled apples

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Combine apricots and cherries in a bowl and cover with hot water. Set aside while preparing the other ingredients.

In a medium bowl, mix the flour, baking soda, spices and salt. Set aside.

In a large mixing bowl, cream the butter and sugar. Add eggs, one at a time, followed by vanilla extract. Mix in dry ingredients.

Drain water from dried fruits. Add dried fruits and chopped apples to batter and mix well. Pour into a greased bundt pan and bake for 50-60 minutes. Remove from oven, cool and sprinkle powdered sugar on top.