Since the early 1960s, David and Lindsey Butler and their family have lived among the shady apple trees of Sky Top Orchard just off Highway 225 near Hendersonville. Old and young, side by side, the family has planted, thinned and plucked from the 25 different types of apple trees spread out on the family’s 40-acre orchard.
During apple season, which runs August through December, visitors travel the windy road up the mountain to the Butler’s popular “pick your own” orchard to enjoy the crisp Pink Ladies, Honeycrisp and Jonagold apples and fresh mountain air.
There is always the scent of a tried-and-true family recipe wafting through the shed at Sky Top, too, including fresh-pressed cider and their signature Cider Donuts. Lindsey Butler generously shares the many apple recipes she has collected over the years, except for one: the Cider Donut recipe remains top secret.
“It’s a happy place to be,” she says. “Years ago, somebody you knew lived on a farm. Now we all live in our cars. Just to experience this is cool.”
On Labor Day weekend, the Butlers join their fellow apple farmers from across the region for the 63rd annual North Carolina Apple Festival in Downtown Hendersonville, where they showcase the best of their harvest and some of the scrumptious goods from their home kitchens.
BUTTERMILK APPLE POUND CAKE
Cake:
1 - 1/2 teaspoons vanilla, 1 - 1/2 cups sugar
1 - 1/2 cups oil
3 eggs
3 cups flour
1 teaspoon baking soda 1 teaspoon salt
3 cups chopped apple
1 cup coconut
1 cup nuts
Glaze:
1 tablespoon corn syrup
3/4 cup sugar
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 cup buttermilk
1 stick butter
1 teaspoon vanilla (boil 5 minutes).
Blend first 7 ingredients with mixer. Stir in apples, coconuts, and nuts. Bake in greased Bundt pan 1 hour, 20 minutes at 350 degrees, or until tests done. Cool, turn out of pan, punch small holes in top of cake and pour glaze over cake (letting glaze soak in).
