Cake Stand: Caramel Apple Cake

One of my most favorite fall treats is Caramel Apples! Oh they are so yummy, juicy and ooey-gooey!! I love the sweetness of the apple and caramel topped of with the salty crunch of pecans. Oh my mouth is watering just thinking about it!!

I'm not one to take something from its original form and put it in a non-traditional form or to change up a good thing...because very rarely does the "new" version taste like the original version. But I think this past weekend, I created something that will stand on it's own, and will be a new favorite of mine. It's rather time consuming, but the results are OH SO worth the end result. I made an Apple Cake (that I've made before) and topped it with a caramel sauce/icing (recipe I found in my favorite Wednesday reading - The Columbus Dispatch Food Section), then sprinkled with pecan pieces! Oh yes, it was/is as yummy as it sounds!! Below are the two recipes that I used to make this yumminess!

Note: You will need a Candy Thermometer to make the icing. These can be purchased at your local grocer or department store, if you don't have one.

Caramel Apple Cake

Apple Cake
6 tablespoons Butter (real butter, not margarine or fake butter)
2 cups White Sugar
2 eggs
2 cups all-purpose flour
1 tsp Nutmeg
1 tsp Cinnamon
2 tsp Baking Soda
2 tsp. Vanilla (real vanilla, not imitation)
1 tsp Salt
1 cup walnuts (I omitted this weekend, due to some in my family not liking nuts in their cake)
6 cups Chopped Apples (approx. 5 medium size apples)

Directions:
Cream butter and sugar together and beat in eggs one at a time. Add dry ingredients and mix well. (Note: it will look like you don't have much batter, don't worry the apples will increase the batter). Add apples and nuts, mix thoroughly. Bake in a greased 13x9 in. pan for 1 hour (check on it around 45-50 min.) at 350*.

(Source: Apple Treats from Amish Country)

Caramel Frosting
2 cups packed brown sugar (I used light brown sugar)
1 cup heavy cream
3 tablespoons butter (real butter, not margarine or fake butter)
1 teaspoon vanilla
1/2 cup chopped pecans (I used the pecan pieces, found in the baking aisle)

Directions:
In a saucepan over medium heat, stir the brown sugar and cream until the sugar dissolves. Cook without stirring until a candy thermometer registers 238 to 240*. Remove from heat. Stir in butter with a wooden spoon. Cool frosting to 110*.
Stir in vanilla. Beat frosting until thick and creamy. Mine was more of a mix between a sauce and a frosting, because I don't think I beat it long enough - but I'm not going to change it next time!
Spread frosting over a completely cooled cake. Sprinkle with pecans. Enjoy!

(Source: Columbus Dispatch, Food Section - original recipe Caramel Cake, September 2010)

*My completed cake sat for about 2 hours before serving, allowing the frosting to "set".

This cake is very sweet and rich - so you might want to "calm" the sweetness with Ice Cream (Vanilla or Cinnamon would be nice) or have coffee on hand for the coffee lover in your life.