The Best Berry Crumble Cake

Don't you just love when you come up with your own recipe creation and it is a total success?! That's what happened to me yesterday when I had the goal of using up some fruit that was on the verge of rotting, but still perfectly edible. I have found that overly ripe fruit is actually better for baking! It gives the piece a more moist texture and the flavor of it just seems to ooze within! I started with a base recipe that is pretty special to me. If you've never heard of the Apple Festival in Bayfield, Wisconsin, it takes place every October and thousands of people crowd the streets of the quaint Lake Superior village of Bayfield. I absolutely love the town! It reminds me of a city on the east coast, but really it's just a few hours east of my town. Everything is obviously themed around apples, hence the "Apple Fest". Every kind of food imaginable infused with apples, and for about a month after the festival your still eating fresh apples picked from the orchards, and then for the rest of the year your pretty much appled out. It turned out we couldn't finish the 4 or so bags of apples we bought, but I happened to snag a family recipe from the lady at the orchard. I looove getting family tradition recipes, because they're almost guaranteed to be delicious since they've been passed down from generation to generation. They had an apple cake with cream cheese frosting and once we had a piece we couldn't stop ooo'ing and ahh'ing over the moistness and robust flavor. So I was thrilled when she offered to write down the recipe for me! Right when I got home I made it and to my delite, it turned out just as good! So not that I wanted to totally change this recipe when I made it this time, but I wanted to adapt it to the ingredients I needed to use. And I thought why not try and make a great recipe even better? Turns out I did! Instead of the standard 2 cups of white sugar, I used 1 1/2 and then 1/2 cup of brown sugar to add more of a maple flavor. Then I took the 4 C apple, decreased it to 3C, added 1/2 C of blueberries, and then instead of 2 TSP. cinnamon, I decreased it to 1 TSP. and added 1/2 C of Cinnamon chips I have been wanting to use up; these made a heck of a difference! Ooey and gooey and cinnamony all at once =) Then I topped it off with 1/2 C of chopped walnuts for the subtle crunch factor. Not only did this make the house smell outrageously good, it was gone within 2 days!(My mom brought it to her office at work!) This is a crumbly cake, and I decided to bake it in a bundt cake as opposed to the standard 9 X 13, but you can bake it in whatever pan you have handy. Also, I think this would be even better with a dollop of whipped cream, or some ice cream sounds even better! Please don't pass up this cake! It's a winner!

Mixing it all up

Chopping up the apples

The extra "yum" factor!

In the oven it goes....Beautiful and delicious result!

Check out the texture of this!!!!

The Recipe for my Best Berry Crumble Cake
Ingredients:
3 eggs
1 C cooking oil
1 1/2 granulated sugar+ 1/2 C brown sugar
1 tsp. vanilla
2 C flour
1/2 C nuts
1 tsp. cinnamon
1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp. baking soda
3 C apples, chopped
1/2 C whole blueberries
1/2 C Hershey's Cinnamon Chips
Drizzle(optional): 1/2 tsp vanilla, 1.5 Tbsp melted butter, 1/2 C powdered sugar
Directions:
Beat eggs and oil until foamy. Add sugar and vanilla. Mix in cinnamon, salt, and baking soda. Then add flour and mix until well-blended. Then add apples, blueberries, nuts, and cinnamon chips. Bake in a bundt pan, or 9 x13 pan that is well greased on 350 F for 50-60 minutes.
Icing: Mix all ingredients together and drizzle over cake while still warm.