Recipe: Apple Spice Cake with Caramel Sauce

Happy Halloween!!!

I know.
Right?
The title AND the picture alone is enough to leave you drooling.
I LOVE this cake.
I have no idea where the recipe came from, just that my Grandmother and Mom have been making it for as long as I can remember.

....and let's use up all those good apples that you got on sale at the store!

This is an insanely simple desert to make --- and I am all about simplicity when it comes to baking.
But I am also about the *wow* factor too.
You'll come to learn soon enough; that I love to create food that is simple, yet has a great effect in taste as well as beauty.

Ingredients for cake:

     1 cup granulated sugar                                                                     1 1/2 cups flour
     1/2 cup butter at room temperature (1 stick)                                    1 tsp baking soda
     2 eggs                                                                                             1/2 tsp cinnamon
     3 large apples; peeled & diced (use a potato peeler)                        1/2 tsp nutmeg
     1/2 cup chopped nuts (your choice--& totally optional) 

Directions for cake:

~preheat oven to 350 degrees and grease a 9x9 pan.
~Cream together the sugar, butter and eggs.
~Sift the dry ingredients together and add to the sugar mixture.
(HINT: the dough will be really thick, almost like a cookie dough -- that's ok)
~Stir the diced apples in -- by hand -- add the nuts (if you so choose) and put in your pan.
~Bake for about 45 minutes. -- Just watch it, you'll know when it is done: the center won't be wobbly and it will be nice and brown (tan is not done).

Caramel Sauce ingredients:

1/2 cup butter at room temperature (1 stick)
1/2 cup brown sugar
1 cup whipping cream, non-whipped (1/2 pint)
1/2 tsp vanilla
1/2 cup granulated sugar
2 Tblsp flour

Directions for Sauce:

~ Mix the flour and granulated sugar in a small bowl.
~Put the rest of the ingredients in a small sauce pan over medium heat.
~When the butter and brown sugar are melted add the flour/sugar mix and whisk until clear. -- You're basicly warming up all the ingredients and letting the flour do its binding job. It won't be super-thick, but it will look like caramel sauce.

You can serve the cake warm or room temperature --- its good no matter what!
You can also double this recipe and make it to fit in a 9x13 pan. Just adjust the time to cook it.
When I made this, this past week, we had leftover sauce --so I dipped some chopped up apples and had myself a snack. YUM!

Enjoy a new fall recipe!

If you would like to print off a copy of this recipe just click HERE.