Back to School Bundt Cake

I'm a back to school girl. A white knee sock and patent leather shoe lover of the first day of anything. Today is Rosh Hashanah, the Jewish New Year. Although I'm not a particularly religious person, I've always liked the idea of celebrating the New Year in September, when the leaves are crisp and the air is sharp with possibility. For me, fall has always been the season of new beginnings. If I still had a pink plastic lunch box, I'd fill it with the tiny mirabelle plums from Mr. C's garden, which he keeps bringing over by the basketfull. I've had to start using the punchbowl for fruit. Mirabelle season, like the New Year feeling, is a short window of opportunity - a time when everything feels shiny and golden and new again. I know, I know. Gag me with a spoon. But I get like this every year...

New Year is also a time of closure, when things come full circle. This time last year, I had a manuscript on one hip, and a month old baby on the other - making last minute changes to one, marveling at the tiny uncanny perfection of the other. Now Augustin is ready to run wild, and Lunch in Paris is running full steam ahead. In addition to the American and Australian editions, the book will soon be published in Germany, Holland, Poland, The Czech Republic, Brazil, Taiwan, and even Korea. Like any over-enthusiastic student, my head is full of new projects, new stories, and of course, new recipes. I'm finding echos between past and present even in the kitchen. When we moved to Provence, I vowed to decipher (or weedle) the recipe for Madame N's homemade apple cake out of the local boulangerie. Turns out, my Grandma Elsie (her recipe for Spaghetti Sauce with pork ribs is the proudest family heirloom in Lunch in Paris), made a very similiar cake.In fact, my Aunt Joyce made one just last night. (Skype is a modern day miracle that any bibical prophet would be proud to call his own.)

So this year, my future found a way to catch up with my past, in the form of a moist, dense, comforting apple bundt cake. Life is like that. We are often chasing our tails, looking for stuff that was there all along. And finding a little piece of home in a brand new spot.

Wishing you a wonderful beginning to whatever you might be starting today.

Grandma Elsie's Apple Cake

5 or 6 apples, peeled and cut into slices (due to Mr. C's generousity, I might have to try it with plums)
2 tsp cinnamon
5 tbsp sugar

3 cups all-purpose flour
3 tsp baking powder
1 tsp table salt

2 cups sugar
1 cup cooking oil (canola or vegatable)
1/4 cup orange juice with pulp, fresh squeezed is even better
4 large eggs
(It's not in Grandma's recipe, but I might add the zest of half an orange...)
2 1/2 tsp vanilla

Preheat oven to 350F.

Peel and slice the apples. Sprinkle with the cinnamon and 5 tablespoons of sugar. Set aside.

In a medium mixing bowl, combine flour, salt and baking powder. In a large mixing bowl, whisk together sugar, eggs, orange juice, oil and vanilla. Lightly stir flour mixture into the wet ingredients. Pour 1/2 of the batter into greased, 10" tube pan. Arrangle 1/2 of the apple mixture over it. Pour in the rest of the batter and arrange the remaining apples on top.

Bake for approximately 1h and 30 minutes, or until a cake tester comes out clean. Let rest in the pan on a wire rack for 20 minutes before removing from the pan to cool completely.

Freezes well.

Serves 8 to 10