Circle of Friends

For many New Englanders, Fall is a favorite season. And, at Orchard Hill, we wholeheartedly welcome the arrival of crisp, sweater weather and embrace the sights, sounds and scents associated with Autumn in Sudbury. The leaves on the mature maple trees are now showing their brilliant red and orange colors and our apple trees are heavily laden with an abundant crop of fruit. On a recent weekday, residents gathered together to bake with our harvested apples and the resulting dessert cake was simply delicious. We’d love to share this recipe with you, as it is a longstanding favorite at Orchard Hill! Apple Cake Cake batter: 2 ½ cups sugar 1 cup vegetable oil 4 eggs 3 cups flour ½ tsp salt 3 tsp baking powder ½ cup orange juice 2 ½ tsp vanilla Filling: 4 large apples 2 tsp cinnamon ¼ cup sugar Directions: Preheat oven to 350 degrees grease and flour a tube pan (bundt cake pan) Prepare cake batter by creaming together sugar and vegetable oil, adding eggs one at a time. In a separate bowl, mix flour, salt and baking powder. Add to eggy mixture, alternating with ½ cup orange juice and vanilla. Mix completely. In a separate bowl, mix together filling ingredients – apples, cinnamon and sugar. Place ½ of cake batter into tube pan. Add all of the filling mixture and cover with remaining batter. Bake at 350 degrees for 1 ½ hours. Remove from oven and let cake cool on a rack for 30n minutes. Remove from pan by inverting the pan onto the cooling rack or a large plate. Note: the amount of sugar in the cake can be reduced, depending upon one’s personal preference.