October 16, 2012
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Your perfect fall pleasure: Spiced Caramel Apple Cake!
This is a very easy and delicious way to enjoy apples!
Spiced Caramel Apple Cake a la RameyLady
Original Recipe is from CHOW via Punchfork
If you follow the original, this cake is entirely dairy-free.
I’m going to tweak it here according to what I’m doing….mostly using dairy and spices:
INGREDIENT LIST AT BOTTOMPreheat oven to 375.
Butter a 8×8 or 9×9 pan really well. I use a 9×9 Pampered Chef stoneware pan and I’ve never had trouble getting this cake out of the pan. If you’re using glass or metal, butter that sucker up.Slice down 1-2 apples. You need about 32 good slices, about 1/4 inch thick.
Sprinkle with some lemon juice if you don’t want them to turn brown.
Dig out some chopped nuts if that’s your thing. You’ll need them later.Make the cake batter — I use my KitchenAid stand mixer
:
Cream together….
1/2 cup softened butter (1 stick) or beat the tar out of a cold stick;
1 cup brown sugar.Mix in
2 eggs, one at a time
1 tsp vanillaSift together in a separate bowl
1 and 1/2 cups flour
1 tsp baking powder
1 Tbs cinnamon
1 tsp cloves
1 tsp nutmeg
shot of ground ginger if you want
1 tsp saltStir in and alternate:
the dry mixture
1/4 cup milkMake the caramel in a heavy-bottomed pan on the stovetop:
Melt 1 stick of butter over medium heat.
Stir in 2/3 cup of brown sugar, stirring until it doesn’t feel really grainy and it’s combined (I’ve noticed this is a very buttery caramel, so if you have a tiny later of butter on top, you didn’t mess up)
Once that’s combined, add 1/2 tsp vanilla plus a dash of any apple-happy spice you like — I use cinnamon, cloves, nutmeg & roasted ginger.
Stir until smooth.Pour the caramel into the bottom of your buttered pan.
Arrange the apples in a layer on top of the caramel.
If you like nuts, sprinkle them on top right now.Smooth the prepared batter carefully onto the apple layer — I drop by big spoonfulls and then use an offset spatula to smooth it out like cake icing.
Bake 40-45 min or until toothpick in center comes out clean.
Cool about 5 min, then invert onto a platter to serve (it’s great warm or cold). Ice cream is a natural partner.
I recommend pulling this from the pan pretty quickly, though I’m about to take this cake in the stoneware to a friend’s house an hour away, so I’ll post an update if that works out ok. It’d be messy to transport it already out of the pan, so we’re gonna just hope.
FULL INGREDIENTS
For the Caramel & top:
2-3 apples, sliced 1/4 thick and sprinkled with lemon juice (optional)
1 cup chopped nuts, optional
1 stick butter (1/2 cup)
2/3 cup packed brown sugar
1/2 tsp vanilla
1 tsp apple pie spice or assorted apple-y spicesFor the cake:
1/2 cup butter (1 stick) — very soft or very beaten
1 cup packed brown sugar
2 eggs
1 tsp vanilla
1 1/2 cup flour
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp salt
1 Tbs apple pie spice or combo of cinnamon, cloves, nutmeg, etc)
1/4 cup milk
