Apple Spice Cake with Caramel Glaze

​Cake
3 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
½ teaspoon ground cinnamon
¼ teaspoon ground allspice
1 teaspoon salt
1 ½ cups granulated sugar
½ cup packed dark brown sugar
1 ½ cups vegetable oil
3 large eggs, at room temperature
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
3 cups chopped Granny Smith apples (from about 2 ½ apples)
2 cups walnut halves, coarsely chopped
 
Caramel Glaze
1/2 cup packed dark brown sugar
¼ cup (½ stick) unsalted butter
¼ cup heavy cream

1. Make the apple spice cake. Preheat oven to 325 degrees.  Grease and flour a 10-inch bundt pan.
2. In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, baking soda, cinnamon, allspice, and salt. Set aside.
3. In a large bowl, preferably the bowl of a standing electric mixer, beat together the granulated and brown sugars and the oil until smooth. Add the eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition and scraping down the bowl as needed. Beat in the vanilla. On low speed, add the flour mixture in 1 cup at a time. Using a large wooden spoon, stir in the apples and walnuts. Pour the batter into the prepared pan and smooth the top.
4. Bake the cake for 65 to 70 minutes, until a cake tester inserted into the center comes out clean. Let cool for 10 minutes, then remove the cake from the pan and let cool completely.
5. Make the caramel glaze. In a small heavy saucepan, combine the brown sugar, butter, and cream. Bring to a boil, stirring to dissolve the sugar. Boil, stirring occasionally, for 3 minutes, or until slightly thickened. Remove from the heat and let cool for 10 minutes, or until the glaze thickens slightly but is still pourable.
6. Set the cake, still on the wire rack, on a baking sheet. Drizzle the glaze slowly over the top, letting some of it run down the side. Transfer the cake to a serving plate and let the glaze set before serving.

 
 
The fall is such a welcome season ushering cooler temperatures to relieve us from months of high heat.  It brings the comfort of routine when the freedom of summer is on its way out. As a teacher, my students and I are afforded a fresh start with many hopes for a new year of learning and growing.  This recipe is quite similar to one delivered to my school desk years ago by one of the best roommoms anyone could imagine.  It was baked in mini-bundt form and tied up in cellophane with school-themed ribbon.  She had a way of making those around her feel special and appreciated.  Home baked treats have a way of doing that, too! 
 
While this cake is a good dessert as we turn to those warm spices of fall, it makes a nice morning coffee cake as well.  The next day, pop a slice into the microwave for a few seconds to melt the caramel a bit again. Ribbons and cellophane are optional, but highly encouraged!

​***Not all of our recipes are “USDA APPROVED”  We highly recommend that you follow the USDA guidelines when canning and cooking.  Our recipes are all “tried and true”….some are recipes our families have passed down for generations, some are just made up from the joy of cooking and canning, some of the recipes that we use are straight from the USDA Canning Book and some are passed along by our dear readers.  With all of that being said – can and cook at your own risk.  If you feel that a recipe is “unsafe”, simply overlook it and move on.  None of us are, “Canning Police” and we all should respect others.  Safe in your kitchen and safe in my kitchen – two different things….We won’t criticize your recipes please don’t criticize ours :).
Make these recipes at your own risk, we assume that should you desire to follow the recipes in this magazine, you are doing so “at your own risk”. We are and the writer is not liable, not responsible and do/does not assume obligation for…..

• Adverse reactions to food consumed such as food poisoning and any kind of food-borne disease
• Misinterpreted recipe
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