Autumn Equinox and Harvest.

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Autumn Equinox and Harvest.

On or near September 21st,

the autumn equinox, or Mabon, is a celebration of equal day and night; as with

its spring counterpart, March 21st, or Lammas. This will be the last harvest of fruits and

vegetables before winter blankets the landscape with frosty whiteness. Or, as the southwestern states hope for, tons

of snow upon the mountains to swell up the creeks, rivers and lakes come

springtime.

Celebrating the autumn

harvest is centuries old and spans many cultures worldwide. In ancient Greece, Oschophoria was a festival

held to celebrate the harvesting of grapes for wine, and in honor of Dionysus, the god of the vine. Oktoberfest, a 16 day beer festival (September

to October) originated in Munich, Germany, 1810, to honor the marriage of

Prince Ludwig to Princess Therese of Saxe-Hildburghausen. What better way to celebration the harvest of

hops and grains? Originally, the

American Thanksgiving holiday was celebrated on October 3rd to celebrate the

end of the fall harvest.

With the fall and winter

holiday season fast approaching, many cooks and bakers are thinking about what

creations will come from their bountiful harvest. Apples, pumpkins and other types of squash

will take center stage; while the last of the fruits and vegetables will be

canned or frozen.

Apples; even though they

are available all year long, there is just something special about the fall

apple. Maybe it’s all in the mind; the

clear, crisp fall breeze upon the skin, as one bites into a juicy apple and a

scent of spice suddenly wisps by. The

most delicious apple I have ever eaten was from an orchard on Mount Penn in

Reading, Pennsylvania. The “Mutsu” was a

specialty apple with the most delightful taste of spice in every bite. I have tried to find a similar type of apple,

but nothing has even come close. That is

probably because what the orchard growers called “Mutsu” was a name used by

other orchards as “Crispin”, “Pipkin” or “Liberty” apples; yet they were still not

the same. Well I might not find that

apple ever again, but I sure do have very fond memories of it.

Now I’m going to ask all

those wonderful made-from-scratch bakers to forgive me for the recipe I’m about

to write out. I came up with this semi-homemade

recipe when, during a past holiday season, I had surgery on one of my

• hands. The hand was immobilized for 6
• weeks, so I was very, very limited to what I could do with one free hand. So please feel free to use your own cake
• batter recipe and freshly spiced up apple slices instead of the packaged goods
• I mention. I used a Super Moist Yellow
• Cake mix; yellow cake mix can also be bland, so I umpped up the flavor
• intensity by adding apple pie spice mix and a bit of ground ginger. You could also think of this as a type of
• "upside down" cake where the toppings are baking in the pan
• underneath the cake layer, but when you flip the finished cake out, you see all
• the lovely apples and caramel. I will
• consider myself redeemed by that little feature of the semi-homemade cake.
• Caramel Apple Cake
• 1 tsp pure vanilla extract
• 1 (21 oz.) can apple pie
• filling
• 1 box Super Moist Yellow
• cake mix
• Preheat oven to 350F;
• spray two 9 inch cake pans with nonstick baking spray. Cut out two circles from parchment paper to

line bottom of cake pans; spray the paper with the nonstick baking spray.

In a medium bowl, mix

together the ingredients for the caramel layer until it resembles coarse

crumbs.

Divide the mixture up

between the two pans pressing to the edges and 1/4 inch up the sides.

Divide the pie filling

between the two pans, spreading it out up to one inch from the edges.

Prepare the cake mix

according to packages directions, but add in the apple pie spice and ground

ginger. Divide the batter up between the

two pans and use a spatula to smooth it out.

Bake for 35-40 minutes;

cake will be golden browned and you might see some of the caramel oozing up the

sides of the cakes. Remove pans to a

wire rack and let cool for 10 minutes.

When cooled, use a hot

knife around the edges to make sure the caramel will not stick to the sides of

the pan. Carefully flip the cakes onto a

serving plate and peel off the parchment paper.

Cut into 8 wedges and serve with a scoop of ice cream.

Makes 2 cakes, 8 servings

each.

Mary Cokenour