Once again, I am confessing that I read magazines at work. But, who could blame me? There's a wealth of information free to me; and since I can't sit still at lunch, I am productive by researching facts and recipes. Let's face it, if it weren't for my reading magazines at work, Paul would not have an absolutely fabulous Christmas present, which I am proud of finding. Sadly, some of Paul's friends read this blog; so, I cannot share the details until after the 25th. Therefore, we must return to the topic of the cake.

The recipe came from Better Homes and Gardens. I made a few adjustments: eliminating the icing, using a boxed cake mix, using fresh/frozen cranberries, and passing on the pears. In addition, I did not make the cake in two layers, but as two different round cakes. I am a fan of small desserts and found the size of the triangles to be perfect. In fact, this was the cake I made for my dad's birthday. I have made this recipe twice. One cake served a group at church. The other half of the cake mix served my dad. Another cake served the Nuclear Lab's Christmas party. The other half of that mix served Paul's office before their Christmas party. Each time, it was a very popular dessert. Many people wanted to know what kind of fancy apples I had. Some people thought the cake itself was so good that I had made it from scratch! I said I wasn't that perfect. This is truly a wonderful fall treat.

It takes just one apple per cake. I put about 1/2 cup cranberries in because I didn't know how they would work.

Cost for cake

• $0.98 Duncan Hines Devil's Food Cake Mix (Publix-Buy one, get one free. Aldi sells one for $0.79, but it is not as dark.)
• $0.43 Eggs (3 out of 18 bought at Costco.)
• $1.00 Oil (Estimate. Walmart.)
• Free Cranberries (My mother's contribution. She bought them buy one, get one free at Publix. However, the first set of cakes were with apples only.)
• $0.58 Jonagold Apples (Costco, pack of 12)
• $0.75 Orange Juice (Walmart)
• $2.00 Brown Sugar (Estimate. Costco.)
• Free Shortening for greasing pans (My mother-in-law left it after making a blueberry cobbler.
• $6.32 Total

But in fact, this is really $3.16 for two whole cakes! You can wrap up the cake in foil and the apples in a glass container and find the cake will last nearly a week without drying out. It may last longer than that, but it hasn't lasted that long in our refrigerator.