Vegan Apple Cake with Caramel Glaze (Apple Pickin' in Fresh-off-the-Knitting-Needles Eyelet Raglan Cardi!)

This is a straightforward cake. A one bowl cake. A chunky apple cake--so the apples don't disappear in the cake. You taste apples. You're practically eating an apple with each slice. This cake is for a true apple lover (I am very much of this ilk).

 I had this crazy dream that I'd missed apple season entirely. No apple butter, pies, cupcakes or cake! That's how we ended up at the apple orchard last weekend--I was in a panic over the prospect of this calamity. Thirty pounds of apples later, we are all fine here. Now the apple baking palooza has begun and first up, this ridiculously easy, albeit quite ugly, but incredibly delicious cake. I was completely surprised by how tasty this cake turned out. I've scoffed at baking "cakes" with apples. I felt the cake too fine a vessel for carrying the work of the apple. Oh how I was wrong. I have apple cake recipes from my grandmother, from my mother's Amish cookbooks, plus instructions for beautiful bundt cakes made with shredded apples and fancy glazes throughout my cookbook collection. But then I stumbled upon this recipe for a plain "old fashioned" apple cake, and my vintage spirit could not resist. 

Godspeed Merlin, a.k.a. Best Boy Ever (Canine Degenerative Myelopathy Disease and The Final Year)

Merlin was our first boy dog. He won me over thirteen or so years ago when I was "walking" him while he served time at the city pound. I continued visiting, walking, encouraging, hoping he'd find a forever home. No such luck. It wasn't for his lack of trying. He was an incredible flirt. The minute I'd bring him out of his cage, he'd literally nudge me into a corner, sitting like a good boy, and wag that darn tail. I was won over immediately, but we had a house full of dogs by then and I didn't think we were ready for another one, much less bringing a boy into the mix. Our interludes went on like this for about two weeks (me begging the shelter to keep him "off the list". . . he's totally adoptable, just give me time) until one morning I went in and was confronted by the staff and told, and I quote, "Your boy's time is up." Wow. I had no other alternative. In the car with me he went. We had our first boy.