a real holiday cake

A HAPPY BELATED NEW YEAR TO ONE AND ALL!!!!!! 2010 is looking to be a wonderful year - big plans and lots of baking on the horizon for me! You? Did you make any resolutions? How about trying this recipe? :0)

I have loved this cake since I was in high school and my friend Robin's mother would bake it. It became my "go-to" recipe when I wanted to impress people with a cake that is full of flavour, has a punch of chocolate, but is moist and light. It's the kind of cake that you make and can either serve with afternoon tea, for dessert or even as breakfast (perfect for that chocolate fix).

I made this for Christmas with my family - and we ate away at it over the course of the visit... I also brought some of it along to another Christmas (and birthday) celebration... and my wonderful hostess Céline absolutely adored it too! I could eat this anytime, anywhere, any place. I heart this cake. Thank you Robin and Barb for sharing it with me. And as promised Céline, here is the recipe :0) Bonne année à tous!

Apple Chocolate-Chip Spice Cake
ingredients:
1 c. butter, room temperature
2 c. brown sugar
3 eggs
1/2 c. water
1 tbsp vanilla
2 1/2 c. flour
2 tbsp cocoa
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp ground cinnamon
1 tsp ground nutmeg
1 tsp ground allspice
1 tsp ground cloves
2 c. finely chopped and peeled apples (about 4 medium sized apples)
1 6 oz. pkg of semi-sweet chocolate chips

Preheat your oven to 325 F. Grab your bundt cake pan and spray it with non-stick spray or grease it with some butter... make sure you grease the middle well so that the inside of the cake doesn't stick when you try and remove it from the pan.

In the bowl of your stand mixer, cream together the butter and sugar. You want to really get the light and fluffy texture - so let it cream for several minutes, increasing the speed as the mixture loosens up. Beat in the eggs (one at a time), the water and the vanilla. Continue to mix everything until smooth.

In another bowl, stir together the flour, cocoa powder, baking soda and spices.

Beat the dry ingredients into the wet mixture at a low speed (stir on the kitchenaid). You just want to incorporate the flour. Toss in the apples and chocolate chips and again stir only enough so that they are evenly distributed within the batter.

Pour the batter into your greased pan and bake for 75 minutes. Allow to cool on a wire rack in the pan for about 30 minutes, then remove the cake and completely cool it on the wire rack.

You can dust it with powdered sugar if you like (Barb used to do that), or leave it as is... either way, this cake is well worth the effort. I promise.