The following is the story behind this apple caramel cake. I was grocery shopping and while at the produce section I passed by the organic produce and an amazing apple aroma dragged me toward the organic McIntosh apples. I couldn’t believe it, the smell was so strong almost smelled like the apple orchard soap from Bath and Body (the soap store). The sweet and candy like fragrance made me buy a big batch and while picking the apples I was thinking of recipes that will heighten and elevate this beautiful aroma and obviously flavor.
The apple resembles the end of summer and the beginning of the fall and the schools. It’s an exciting feeling to go pick the fresh new apples from the orchard, every time I visit the orchard I start thinking and creating more apple recipes, based on the type of apple I find I will create the proper recipe. Although this time I didn’t pick the apples from the orchard, but these apples’ aroma reminded me of the caramel candied apples usually made at fall fairs and this is how I came up with this recipe.
Ingredients
- 1 cup soft unsalted butter
- 2 cups sugar
- 3 cups all purpose flour
- 4 large eggs
- 1 cup milk
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- 1 teaspoon vanilla
- 2 lb. apple McIntosh grated
- 1+1/2 cup sugar
- 1/2 cup water
- 1/2 lemon juice
- 2 cups whipping cream
- 1/4 cup powder sugar
- 1 teaspoon vanilla
- 1/4 cup water
- 1 cup sugar
- 1/2 cup warm whipping cream
- 1/4 cup butter
Instructions
- Place the soft butter and the sugar in a large bowl and mix until soft and creamy. Add eggs and vanilla, mix for 1 minute, sift the dry ingredients, add half cup of the milk and half of the dry to the egg mixture and mix just to mix then add rest of the milk and the dry and mix until well incorporated, for 2 minutes.
- Preheat oven to 350 F. use 1 tablespoon of butter and butter a cake pan sprinkle with some flour to cover the pan, pour the cake batter in the pan, place on a baking sheet, place on the oven's middle rack and bake the cake for 50 minutes or until the cake center is fully cooked.
- Let the cake stand in the pan for 1 hour until its cool enough then remove the cake off the pan and let it stand at room temperature until it's completely cold.
- To prepare the apple filling, wash, peel and finely grate apples, place the minced apple in a pot add the water and the sugar and use a spoon and mix well. Place the pot over medium high heat and with frequent stirring cook the apple until very soft, add lemon juice, stir and continue cooking for another 5 minutes. Turn off heat and completely cool the apple sauce.
- For the caramel, place a medium pot over high heat, place the sugar and the water in the pot and mix to dissolve the sugar, bring the sugar mixture to a boil, reduce heat to medium and continue simmering the syrup until it's light golden brown. Remove the pot off heat and carefully add the warm whipping cream to the golden syrup then slowly and carefully stir the mixture, place the pot over low heat, add the butter and continue stirring for 2 more minutes. Remove the pot off heat and let the caramel stand at room temperature until it's completely cold, cover and set aside.
- In a large bowl place all the ingredients of the cream and use a mixer and mix until the cream is fully whipped and hard. Cover and refrigerate.
- Cut the cake into 3 equal layers, place the first layer on the serving plate, cover this layer with half of the apple paste then use 1/3 of the cream and place it over the apple paste, place another layer of cake over the cream, repeat the same with the rest of the cream, paste and cake. Drizzle the finished decorated cake with the caramel. Place the cake in the refrigerator and keep cold until the serving time.
Notes
** Preparing the cake and its different components takes about an hour, but cooling the cake, the paste and the caramel will take quite a while. All the different components of this cake can be prepared 1 to 2 days ahead and kept covered and in a cold place, at the day that you want to serve the cake you just assemble the cake and refrigerate it.
Bon Appetite
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