French Apple Cake

• 2 ¼ cups flour
• ½ teaspoon baking powder
• ½ teaspoon salt
• ¼ teaspoon baking soda
• ¾ cup unsalted butter, softened
• 1 1/3 cups sugar
• 3 eggs, at room temperature
• ¾ cup milk
• 2 ½ teaspoons vanilla
• 1 large Cosmic Crisp apple, rinsed, peeled, cored, and chopped into ¼-inch pieces
• Confectioners’ sugar, for garnish

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. In a medium bowl, stir together flour, baking powder, salt, and baking soda; set it aside.

In the large bowl of an electric mixer, cream butter and sugar until it is light and fluffy, about 8 minutes. Add eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition. Gradually add the flour mixture to the creamed mixture, alternately with the milk to form a thick batter. Add vanilla and mix well. Stir in apples.

Generously spray a 10-cup bundt pan with nonstick spray-with-flour and spoon the batter into the pan. Tap the bottom of the pan a few times to settle the batter in the pan. Bake 55 to 60 minutes, or until a cake tester comes out clean when inserted into the cake.

Remove the cake from the oven and cool it on a wire rack for 25 minutes. Loosen the cake by shaking gently; then place the rack over the top of the cake pan and flip it over. The cake should drop out. Cool completely and dust with confectioners’ sugar just before serving.

Yield: 1 bundt cake