Turning apples into apple cake

My in-laws have an amazing garden bursting with abundant tomatoes, squash, beans, pears and much more. Everything delicious with the exception of the apple tree - the fruit looks great, but year after year produces the most mouth puckering sour apples. I brought a big bag home this year hoping to coax them into a palatable apple sauce, but with a friend coming over for coffee and not much else in the house, I decided to try to whip up a quick cake. I found this recipe on Martha Stewart and decided to give it a go. I made a couple changes (butter rather than oil) and hoped that the sweetness of a brown sugar glaze would offset the sour apples. It worked! The cake was moist and delicious and allowed the not so perfect apples to shine. With cooler temperatures upon us, this lovely cake will be my new fall favorite.

Brown sugar apple spice cake

• 1 1/3 cups unsalted butter, softened
• 3 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 tablespoon ground cinnamon
• ¼ teaspoon cardamom
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 2 cups sugar
• 3 large eggs
• 3 to 4 Granny Smith apples, cored and cut into 1/2-inch pieces (3 cups)
• 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
• Brown sugar glaze
• Nonstick cooking spray with flour

Preheat oven to 350. Prepare a 12-cup Bundt pan with cooking spray; set aside.
Sift together flour, cinnamon, cardamom, baking soda, and salt
In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, combine butter, sugar, and eggs; mix on high speed until lemon yellow.
With mixer on medium speed, gradually shake in dry ingredients until just incorporated.
Add apples to batter; mix to combine. Add vanilla, mixing until incorporated.
Pour batter into prepared pan, and bake until a cake tester inserted in the center comes out clean, 75 to 90 minutes.
Remove from oven, and cool slightly on a wire rack.
Invert cake onto rack; turn cake right-side up to cool completely on rack, and serve drizzled with brown sugar glaze

Brown Sugar Glaze
¼ cup unsalted butter
½ cup brown sugar
2 tablespoons cream

Whisk together butter, brown sugar, and cream in a small sauce pan and bring to a boil. Cook for 5 minutes
Drizzle over warm cake