Caramel Glazed Apple Cake

Imagine the cozy scent of autumn filling your kitchen as you bake a delicious caramel glazed apple cake. Here’s a simple recipe that brings together the best of fall: tender cake bursting with tart Granny Smith apples and topped with a rich, buttery caramel glaze.

This is the kind of dessert that could turn an ordinary fall day into something memorable.

Ingredients

For the apple cake:

3 cups of flour

2 cups of sugar

½ teaspoon of ground cinnamon (my addition to the recipe)

1 teaspoon of baking soda

1 teaspoon of salt

3 jumbo eggs

1½ cups of canola oil

3 teaspoons of vanilla (I increased this from 2 tsps. in original recipe)

3 cups of finely chopped apples (I used Granny Smiths)

For the caramel glaze:

1 cup of firmly packed brown sugar

1/4 cup of granulated white sugar (my addition)

1 stick of butter (I increased the amount from 1/3 cup)

1 teaspoon of vanilla extract

4 tablespoons of heavy cream (I increased this from 2 Tbsp.)

Instructions

For the apple cake:

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.

Grease a 9-by-13-inch pan or a smaller size if you prefer, as I did.

In a medium bowl, combine the flour, sugar, cinnamon, baking soda and salt.

Stir with a fork to mix everything together well.

In a large bowl, beat the eggs with a mixer at low speed until pale yellow and frothy/foamy.

Add the oil and vanilla and beat well.

Stir in the flour mixture with a wooden spoon and continue stirring the batter until the flour is completely absorbed and blended in (add about one cup of flour at a time, blend welland repeat).

Add the apples and stir to mix well into the batter.

Scrape the batter into the prepared pan.

Bake for 50 to 60 minutes or until the cake is golden brown and springs back when lightly touched near the center of the cake and the sides of the cake are beginning to pull away from the sides of the pan.

Place the cake still in the pan on a wire rack.

Pour the glaze over the cake while both the cake and the glaze are still hot.

For the Caramel Glaze:

Combine all the ingredients in a medium saucepan.

Cook over medium heat, stirring often, until the mixture comes to a gentle boil.

Cook for three to five minutes, constantly stirring.

Pour the hot glaze all over the hot-from-the-oven apple cake.

Serve warm or cool with vanilla ice cream! (But it is much better served warm!)