Welcome to The Ordinary on this rainy Sunday morning! David bought a few new-old CDs recently, and I’ve been knocked over the head by how wonderful some of the songs are. Two blues compilations, and lots and lots of Buddy Holly. Buddy Holly!! Who knew? I mean, I sort of knew, but I had no idea. So sweet, and rocking, and generally amazing. So this week’s Sunday interactive playlist is songs that are new-to-you that you’ve been enjoying recently. I don’t hear much brandy new music these days, because I don’t listen to the radio all that much or watch TV ever. But I do love to discover old music that I hadn’t known existed. It’s like when you realize that there are bright yellow, red, and blue birds singing noisily in the trees above your head, and they’ve been there all along but you never noticed. So new new songs, or old new songs…anything you’ve recently discovered that is making you happy lately.

This cake was something of a surprise!! I added raw apples to the processor, and whizzed them up. I wasn’t sure how it would turn out, and it turned out really lovely. Dense and delicious, almost custard-y, but there’s only one egg in here. I added almond essence, because I’m adding that to everything these days, and I added chocolate chips, because I always add them to everything! Always! I also added some salted almond praline, crumbled up, which gave a nice crunchy salty texture to the soft cake. Anyway–a very simple, satisfying cake.

Here’s the link to the playlist. As ever, it’s interactive, so feel free to add what you like, or leave a song in the comments and I’ll add it for you.

1 stick unsalted butter (1/2 cup)
1/2 cup sugar
1 t vanilla
1 t almond essence
2 eggs
1 cup flour
1/2 t salt
1 t baking powder
3 apples, peeled and roughly chopped
1/2 cup almond praline
1/2 cup bittersweet chocolate chips

Preheat the oven to 375. Lightly butter and flour a cake pan.

Combine the butter and sugar in a food processor and blend till smooth. Add the flavorings and eggs, and blend till smooth again. Add the dry ingredients and…blend till smooth again.

Add all of the apples, and process until they’re pureed, and everything is well blended. Add the toffee and chocolate chips, and process briefly, just to mix.

Pour batter into the prepared pan, and bake till puffed and golden and pulling away from the edges–20 – 25 minutes. Let cool, remove from the pan, dust with sugar, and eat!