Apple Cake With Cream Cheese Frosting

It’s all about apples around here—where to pick them, the many varieties and what to make with them! The New York area is full of orchards, ripe with virtually every kind of apple. It’s a regular weekend outing for friends to pack picnic lunches and head out to the orchards to pick-their-own. We did just that yesterday with our good friends and each family returned with close to a bushel. Luckily for me, I have a pretty good way to use up all my apples and so do my friends – we cook and bake together!

Usually, the Monday after apple picking, there’s a lot of apple talk, as we brainstorm ways to use our sweet and tart bounty. There’s also a lot of sharing going on, with the friends who picked providing the apples and those that haven’t yet, promising to do so at a later date. So far, we’ve made mini apple pies using some adorable apple molds we found at William Sonoma, apple pie filling (which we discovered freezes exceptionally well), lots of apple sauce and a super moist and delicious apple cake.

This week, our apple talk includes some new ways to use our surplus – pork chops with baked apples, apple turnovers and even soup. Our cooking dates are scheduled and revolve around the simple goal of using up every last one of these apples in a way our families will enjoy.