Maple Caramel Apple Cake

What makes a truly great baking recipe? Who you got it from, of course! Getting your recipes from an old family cookbook just feels so right. This apple cakes is one of those recipes

A second runner up to a great recipe is making it your own. That’s what I did with my Aunt Debbie’s apple cake recipe. She wrote it down for me about 6 or 7 years ago. She’s been making it for years, and now so have I. Actually, it’s one of my husband’s tried and true favorites. It’s comforting and classic, especially in the fall. So I made it for him on Father’s Day, but this time I added my own twist to it. Maple extract & caramel drizzle….NUFF SAID!

Admittedly, he was a bit skeptical at first. He’s a classic kind of guy, and really don’t like messing with desserts that have just worked for so long (cheesecake, rice pudding, leave it all alone). But the flavors in this recipe worked so well together, he couldn’t really put up too much of a fight.

OK, here’s your visual steps to making this Maple Caramel Apple Cake:

Now before you go any further, please don’t get anxious about all my notes. They’re just some tips that I’ve learned and I really wanted to share them so your apple cakes turns out perfect. If you do get overwhelmed, go back up to the visual instructions and take a breath! I promise, this is NOT HARD

Ingredients:

Wet (add one at a time to your bowl starting with the butter & eggs)

• 1 stick of butter, melted
• 2 eggs
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 1 ½ tsp maple flavor extract
• 1 cup of brown sugar
• 1 cup of white sugar

Dry (sift together, then add to your wet ingredients)

• 2 cups flour
• 1 tsp baking soda
• 1 tsp baking powder
• ½ tsp cinnamon

**at this point you may get nervous; I ALWAYS do & you’d think I would have learned by now but I haven’t. OK, so what you’re probably thinking is this batter is way too tight! I know, but once you add the apples and let them beat around for a bit in your mixer, juice from the apples will loosen the batter.**

• 3-5 medium apples (I always use Gala)

**Add a sprinkling of flour to cover all the apples; this will help to congeal the juice that comes out of the apple during baking so you don’t end up with a wet cake.**

Cinnamon Sugar topping:

• ½ cup brown sugar
• 4 Tbs. cinnamon

Cover the top of the cake with the cinnamon sugar mix. I like to push the cinnamon sugar down into the batter a bit.

Bake:

• Bake at 350 degrees in a 9X13 greased & floured sheet pan for about 40 minutes, or until a toothpick comes out clean. This is another step that you’re gonna wanna question me on. Why am I using such a large pan? I don’t know! The first time I made this recipe, it was all I had, and we liked how the batter just wrapped around the apples. Each bite was a mouthful of apples with a little bit of cake.
• Once it cools, drizzle away with that caramel sauce! I used Smuckers ice cream caramel.

Tips:

1. I’ve done this recipe with a ½ cup of each of the sugars, which may be preferable because of the caramel drizzle
2. Also, I never actually measure my extracts, oops (wink!)
3. I always use gala because they soften up just enough without being too mushy.
4. I also always use 4-5 apples depending on the size. It turns out being apples with just a bit of cake to keep them together, yum!

Please don’t run! I know it’s a lot to take in, but the steps are actually just blend wet, mix in dry, add apples, then sprinkle and bake.

The great thing about this apple cake is that you can always bring is back to its classic form by leaving out the Maple extract and caramel drizzle. Or you could step up the classic recipe just a little by adding only one of the extra ingredients. Make it your own, try a different extract you think would work. Powdered sugar simply sprinkled over the top would be great with a cup of coffee! Have at it friends, enjoy this apple cake recipe with your own twist, and let me know what you do.