Fresh Apple Cake with Homemade Caramel Sauce
This cake recipe tastes like a caramel apple, with a not-too-sweet cake and a deliciously sweet caramel sauce. We recommend adding a scoop of vanilla ice cream or enjoying the cake without the sauce for breakfast.
Prep Time30 mins
Cook Time1 hr 20 mins
Total Time1 hr 40 mins
Servings: 16
Ingredients
- 1/2 cup butter, softened
- 2 cups sugar
- 2 large eggs
- 2 cups (about 2 apples) grated unpeeled Granny Smith apple
- 2 cups all-purpose flour
- 1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
- 2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
- 1 1/2 teaspoons ground cloves
- 1/4 teaspoon kosher salt
- 1 cup chopped walnuts (optional)
- Homemade Caramel Sauce
- Whipped cream or ice cream (optional)
Homemade Caramel Sauce:
- 1 cup packed light brown sugar
- 1/2 cup half-and-half
- 4 tablespoons butter
- Pinch of kosher salt
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350˚F.
- Beat the butter with a mixer at medium speed until fluffy; gradually add the sugar, beating well. Add the eggs, 1 at a time, beating just until blended after each addition. Add the apple, beating just until blended.
- Whisk together the flour, baking soda, cinnamon, cloves, and salt; add to the butter mixture, and mix just until blended. Stir in the walnuts, if desired.
- Pour into a lightly greased 13- x 9-inch baking pan. Bake 30 to 35 minutes or just until a wooden pick inserted in the center comes clean. Let cool on a wire rack 10 minutes. Serve with Homemade Caramel Sauce and, if desired, whipped cream or ice cream.
- Caramel Sauce: Cook the sugar, half-and-half, butter, and salt in a small saucepan over medium-low for 5 to 7 minutes, whisking slowly until thickened. Remove from the heat, and let cool slightly before serving.
Notes
Tip: You can use most any kind of apple. Gala or Red Delicious work great too.
Excerpted from Martina’s Kitchen Mix by Martina McBride. Copyright © 2018 Oxmoor House. Reprinted with permission from Time Inc. Books, a division of Meredith Corporation. New York, NY. All rights reserved.