Homemade Saturday: Gluten Free Hail to Harvest Cake

 Yes, it looks like winter outside but that does NOT mean you have to give up on the fall desserts yet.  Right now our garage is full of apples, and our porch holds a few pumpkins.. So for last Sunday's dessert I mixed up this Gluten Free apple chocked full, raisin studded, pumpkin flavored, super moist, glazed cake which I am dubbing the Hail to Harvest Cake.  (Cheesy I know, but a shorter name anyway) :)

For those of you that are not Gluten Free, and don't have a stash of Almond Flour laying around, I think you could easily use regular flour and have it turn out just fine!

Hail to Harvest Cake

1. Place 1 - 1 1/2 cups of cooked pumpkin, 1 cup of honey (or half and half honey and sugar) and 4 eggs into a blender or food processor.  Blend for at least a minute until smooth.  

2. Add 2 cups almond flour, 1/2 tsp of salt, 1 1/2 tsp of Baking soda, 1 tsp cinnamon, 1/2 tsp of nutmeg, and 1/2 tsp of cloves. Blend until well combined.

3. Grease 2 round cake pans and put a circle of parchment paper (or wax paper) in the bottom of both. DO NOT skip this step!!! If you forget the parchment paper, your cake will stick, fall apart, and you will have to squish it back together on your plate... yes this is experience speaking. :)

4. Scrape half of your batter into each greased cake pan.

5. Peel and chop 2 cups of apples.  Sprinkle 1 cup on each of the cakes, along with 1/2 cup of raisins.

With a spatula gently mix the apples and raisins into the batter.  This is slightly unconventional, but it works!

Bake at 350 degrees for 30-35 minutes. 

Let the cakes cool completely. Then if you like, you can make a quick glaze with 1 cup of powder sugar, a little cinnamon, and a tablespoon or two of milk. Spread some on the first layer, top with the second cake, and then drizzle the rest of the glaze over top.

As I mentioned this is a super-moist, fally-aparty cake, but oh so tasty!  And if you wanted it for more of an afternoon snack (or hey, why not breakfast!) you could put it in a 9x13, or half the recipe and use a 8x8 (like the original recipe) and skip the glaze.

What ever way you decide to do it, I do hope you enjoy!!

~Chs

First Snow

“I watched till thrones were put in place,
And the Ancient of Days was seated;
His garment was white as snow,
And the hair of His head was like pure wool.
His throne was a fiery flame,
Its wheels a burning fire;"

"Fire and hail, snow and clouds;

Stormy wind, fulfilling His word;

Let them praise the name of the Lord,

For His name alone is exalted; "

“Come now, and let us reason together,”

Says the Lord,

“Though your sins are like scarlet,

They shall be as white as snow;

Though they are red like crimson,

They shall be as wool. "

“Have you entered the treasury of snow,

Or have you seen the treasury of hail,"

 "Purge me with hyssop, and I shall be clean;

Wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow."

"He gives snow like wool;

He scatters the frost like ashes;"

  "For He says to the snow, ‘Fall on the earth’;

Likewise to the gentle rain and the heavy rain of His strength."

"His head and hair were white like wool, as white as snow, and His eyes like a flame of fire;"

November is that in-between month.  Technically, according to the calendar, the season is still known as Autumn, but if we take a glance out our window, all the signs point to winter.  So as the snow keeps coming and soon staying, enjoy these little mentions of snow in the Bible.  Some are oh so comforting, other convicting, and a few just awe-inspiring.  Personally I am so grateful that, "though my sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow....."

~Chs