Caramel Apple Cake

So what does one do with 40 pounds of apples?  Seriously, could you let me know.  I gave away some but there is probably 25 lbs on my kitchen table.  You are probably wondering why did I have so much apples.  Well.....myself and my friend Anna decided to rent a tree and whatever fruit was produced from the tree, we got the apples.  It was a good deal but now I have to figure out what to do with all of it.

Luckily, it was requested that I make dessert at work.  To be exact, I was yelled at over the cubes by my desk that I should bring dessert.  At first I didn't realize that I was being asked anything.  I thought I was imagining the voices (this is what happens when one is a data monkey, I go into the "zone" and don' pay attention to my surroundings).  When I realize I was beng asked something, the h awayampters in my head started to run in their little wheel.  I knew i wanted to use the apples but with what?  I  figured  why not practice my caramel making skills and make something with a caramel favoring.  I aquired quite a bit of cookbooks from the recent closure of borders :(.  I used one of the 50 books (not that much but close).

Caramel Apple Cake with Apple Chips (Adapted from Baked Explorations) Cake
4 Cups of Flour
3 Stick of Soften Butter
2 ½ Cup Sugar
2 Eggs
1 Tsp of Salt
1 Tsp of Baking Powder
2 Tsp of Baking Soda
1 Tsp of each:Cinnamon, Nutmeg, Cloves
* The original recipe said 2 Cups of apple sauce but I was really lazy to make it. So I adjusted the recipe here
5 Diced Apples (about 1 Cup)
½ Cup of Oil
½ Cup of Peach Juice (I couldn’t find any apple)

Directions

1. Preheat the oven to 375F
2. Sift together all of the dry ingredients and set aside.
3. Cream the butter than slowly add the sugar.
4. Once the sugar is fully incorporated, add the eggs.
5. After the eggs is completely mixed into the butter mixture, add the flour mixture, oil, juice, and apples 4 parts. The batter is on the thicker side so adding the rest of the ingredients in parts allows everything to be mixed well without over working the flour.
6. Pour the batter into a prepared pan. I used a 10 inch spring form and the original recipe said 3-8 inch pans. I actually don’t have that many 8” pans so I went spring form.
7. Bake for 25-35 minutes depending on how thick the cake is. 8. Remove from the oven once a toothpick comes out clean.
8. Remove from the pan and let it cool.

Caramel Sauce
1 Cup of Sugar ½ Cup of Water 2 Tbs of Corn Syrup 1 Stick of Soften Butter Diced in 1 inch slices ¾ Cup of Warm Cream *I used cold and I had to put the pot back on the stove to heat the sugar up again, it seized a little. 1 Cup of bitter Chocolate *this was my add Directions

1. Place the sugar, water, and corn syrup into a medium sauce pan.
2. Bring to a boil at medium-high heat.
3. Once it is boiling, increase the heat to high and watch it until it reaches a rich caramel color. I had to keep asking The Husband if it looks right to him. So there was both of us staring into this little pot arguing if it was ready. The color is achieved at 300F.
4. When it is the right color, add the butter and cream and mix well and quickly.
5. Take the chocolate and place in a bowl.
6. Pour the caramel over the chocolate and mix until the chocolate is melted.
7. Set aside and it let cool.

Apple Chips Apples Sliced thin as possible Cinnamon Nutmeg You could add sugar but I didn’t due to the caramel. Directions

1. Preheat the oven to 300F
2. Spread out the apples on a cookie sheet and sprinkle the cinnamon and nutmeg.
3. Bake for 15 minutes (I went a little too long because I thought it wasn’t hard enough) or until it starts to harden.
9

Assemble

1. Place the cake on a platter.
   
2. Pour the caramel over the cake.
3. Place the apples chips on the cake.

I took this outside of my office going home.