Uncle Dee's Dutch Apple Cake

My mother had an aunt whose name was Mary Biffle Liles. When Mary Biffle was young, her siblings couldn't say "Mary Biffle," so...as so often happens in the South...Mary Biffle ended up being "Titter", which was the closest the little kids could get to "Sister."

Good Lord.

Titter and Uncle Dee never had children so they thoroughly enjoyed the great-nieces and nephews. You know...feed 'em and send them home. And when we had family gatherings in Tennessee, where my mother is from, Titter and Uncle Dee would bring this cake. It was really good, the first time. So they kept bringing it, and bringing it, and bringing it and being the rude ignorant little kids that we were...we stopped eating it. Looking back, I'm gonna go to hell for this one...they were so proud of this cake!

A couple of years ago, I hunted up the recipe from a cousin and..goodness gracious! This cake is just lovely! It's good, it's easy, it's cheap and it travels well.

I actually married a man with those qualities, once.

Uncle DeWitt's Dutch Apple Cake

1-1/2 cups vegetable oil
2 cups sugar
2 large eggs
3 cups self-rising flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
3 cups sliced apples
1 cup pecans

Mix oil, sugar, eggs and flour. Add vanilla and soda. Fold in apples and nuts. Bake in a greased and floured tube pan at 350 degrees for one and one-half hours.

(This is the original recipe but...hey. Look at that. Obviously, we're going to add 1 teaspoon cinnamon and 1/2 teaspoon nutmeg.)