Apple Harvest Cake

We had a busy weekend. Saturday my son and I spent the day in Moscow, Idaho. We started by dropping off our Farmer's Market prototypes for a jury process and spent the time wandering downtown before going back to pick the items up. We came up with some great ideas and found some wonderful stores (the buy local promotion was hosting a scavenger hunt to find local businesses). We tried kumquats for the first time and something called a mandinquat (or something like that). We aren't fans but I'd still like to try making jam or something from kumquats. While out and about we stopped at the Co-op and checked out the meat department. I like stopping in grocery stores to browse because it helps me plan my next shopping trip and there's no real pressure at that time. The guy at the meat department was more than willing to give me a tour of their products. He gave me more information than I could possibly hold but what I learned most was how affordable the prices were. The hamburger is $2.89 a pound and he told me if I buy 3 family packs I can get them for $2.59 a pound. What a bargain for locally grown meat (some is organic but I can't remember what). I rarely stop in the meat department there because I knew I couldn't afford it but taking the time to learn about their meat I discovered I could afford it and I'm happy.
For lunch I made bacon fajitas. We had bacon in the fridge so I thought I'd chop that up with some onions and peppers and serve in corn tortillas. I dowsed the filling with lime juice just before scooping it up into warm tortillas.
We made popcorn for a snack. My mom had this idea of using a spray bottle for me to add butter to my popcorn. I decided that using oil would be better because all I really want is a way to get the seasoning to stick. It worked wonderfully. I air popped the popcorn, spritzed it with oil and sprinkled on some msg and cajun seasoning. I like the flavor of the msg but I over guessed on the cajun seasoning and ended up with spicy popcorn which was really tasty.
Sunday I spent baking. I do have lots of recipes to share. Today I'm sharing the Apple Harvest cake - what a great moist cake. It's not a huge cake - makes 1 pan but it's tasty.
I substituted the egg for 3 tablespoons applesauce, mostly because I had some leftover applesauce and I wanted to try using the oil instead of butter in a cake. I did make the rum glaze with whole milk and nucoa (since that's all we have). The only problem was it kept seperating. I don't know if it will have that problem with butter and half n half but I just had to make sure to shake the container before pouring it over the cake. Also, I didn't have any nuts.

Apple Harvest Cake with Rum Glaze
2 c. Chopped peeled apples
1 c. Sugar
1/2 c. Oil
1 tsp. vanilla
1 egg (or 3 TB applesauce)
1 1/2 c. flour
1 tsp. baking soda
3/4 tsp. cinnamon
1/2 tsp. nutmeg
1/2 c. chopped nuts
1/2 c. flaked coconut
1 c. sugar
1/2 c. butter
1/2 c. half & half
1/4 c. rum (spiced is better)
Cake: Mix together apples and sugar, let stand a few minutes until juice forms. Sift together dry ingredients and add to apples. Mix in oil, vanilla, egg, nuts, and coconut. Bake in a greased 8x8 pan at 350 deg for 40-45 minutes. Serve warm with rum glaze. Rum glaze: Heat sugar, butter and half & half on stove, stir until smooth then add rum.