Apple Cake - so yummy!

Don't ask me why I've been busting a gut to make an apple cake, but I have. The first time was a disaster (we aren't going to talk about it...) but yesterday, during our "snow day," I found success!

Finding an apple cake recipe really isn't as easy as I thought, but the one I used is from "Tapestry," a cookbook printed by the Junior Welfare League of Rock Hill, South Carolina.  A girl I worked with gave each of us this book, which I've only used for the Vulture Dip recipe until now. YUM.

I give to you Foba's Apple Dapple Cake.  I gotta tell you, it's pretty tasty.  Here is the recipe for you to try (is it wrong to publish a recipe online? If so, I'm terribly sorry...)

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FOBA'S APPLE DAPPLE CAKE

1.5 cups vegetable oil
3 eggs
2 cups sugar
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
3 cups flour, sifted
1 teaspoon salt
1.5 teaspoons baking soda
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1 teaspoon nutmeg
1 cup pecans, chopped
3 cups chopped apples
1 cup packed brown sugar
1/4 cup milk
1/2 cup (1 stick) margarine

Beat the oil, eggs and sugar in a mixing bowl until well blended.  Beach in the vanilla.  Add the flour, salt, baking soda, cinnamon and nutmeg and mix well.  Fold in the pecans and apples.  Spoon into a greased tube pan.  Bake at 350 degrees for 1 hour.  Combine the brown sugar, milk and margarine in a saucepan.  Cook over low heat until the mixture is smooth, stirring frequently.  Cook for 3 minutes, stirring frequently.  Pour the hot glaze over the hot cake.  Let stand for 2 hours.  Remove from the pan.

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I didn't do the pecans because I didn't have them.  Otherwise, I followed it just as it was written and it was mighty yummy in my tummy.  This glaze stuff that you pour over it - holy moly. Yum yum yum.  I had a slice for breakfast this morning - umm umm good.

I must say, if you had any way of getting your hands on this cookbook, I would recommend it, however, I think it's pretty much sold out.  You need it for the vulture dip recipe alone - THAT is some GOOD STUFF.

Pinned It Did It - Felt Hearts!

When I saw this on Pintrest, I knew what I wanted to do with all this left over felt I had from the felt food I made for my niece this Christmas. I wanted to make felt hearts to share with those crafty people in my life that I love dearly.




I had another pin of all these brown felt hearts but it seems I deleted it.  Oh well.  WAIT! I found the website  it's actually on the same page as the red ones above:

check out the entire blog post here.  she rocks. 

So I picked up several colors of red, pink, cream, brown, and tan. And several shades of embroidery thread in all those colors, too.  I have tons of buttons - old buttons, new buttons, craft buttons, oh-la-la button - so I didn't need to buy those.  Then I sat down at got to work.

Basically, I took a piece of card stock, folded it in half, cut it into a half-heart and made myself a heart shaped template. It's about the size of my palm. I kept refolding and trimming until I was happy.

Then it was just a matter of holding the template on top of the felt and being still as I tried to cut. It was a hot mess to tell you the truth, but it's ok, I like the rustic look. Which is good because I can't sew all that great, either.  I looked up different stitches on You Tube to teach myself.

So I wanted to do three for each person, with each of the three different. Some had smaller hearts overlapping, or one larger contrasting heart - buttons or just one button, the stitching helped make some stand out a little more... I really looked at the example above and went with it.

I made one set for myself - black, gray and cream.  Here is mine on my vanity in my bedroom.  The photo is of my great-grandmother and me (I live in her old house).  My hearts are in a special place! :)

See some of the other groupings below! :)

I also made a set for my preteen niece, who is all about owls and mustaches - hers are larger. I found printed felt at Hobby Lobby.  The mustache I just made myself and stitched it on.  Please ignore the very wrinkled tshirt I'm using as a backdrop!

My boss liked them so much she's giving them to her friends this Valentine's and found these cute buckets to put them in!  What do you think?

Ok, just a few more before I sign off -

Hope this possibly inspires you to try your own! It's lots of fun and folks really enjoyed receiving them in the mail. Feel free to share your creations with me! I'd love to see them.  And join me on facebook at www.facebook.com/pressedclovers.


Easy to Pin!