Award-Winning Caramel Apple Cake (Possibly my spiritual gift)

I think my spiritual gift might be baking and cooking. Just throwing that out there. It's certainly not keeping a clean house, being skinny, or distinguishing tongues (Dear people of Tennessee, sometimes I still do not understand a word you are saying). But baking, I can win awards for.

I took this cake to work this week to enter in a contest. And it won me some movie tickets. Possibly by default since there weren't many entries. But this cake is award-winning none the less! And delicious and full of everything that is fall.

I inherited a huge bag of apples from my sweet friend Emily, since they were ridding their fridge of everything before their big move to Canada. (Ca-razy!) I was trying to figure out what to do with them and I remembered this cake. I got this apple cake recipe from one of my teachers in nursing school. She brought the cake to a meeting and it was divine. When I got married, I registered for a bundt pan just so I could make this specific cake. (But you don't have to have a bundt to make it!) And two years later, this is the first time I've made it. I made one last week for my hub and he ate like half of it in one night. So for the contest I made it again and decided to top it with a caramel glaze. Yummy. The cake by itself is super delicious, but the caramel glaze just kicks it up a notch. And makes it so pretty!

The best part about this cake is that the ingredient list is short and the cake comes together quick. I actually had everything already in my pantry.

Fresh Apple Cake
2 cups sugar
1 1/4 cups vegetable oil
3 cups diced apples (I didn't peel the apples for the first cake and it was delish, but I did peel them for the second cake and it was a little better, the apples kind of just melt into the cake)
2 eggs (well beaten)
3 cups flour
1 tsp. baking soda
2 tsp. cinnamon
2 tsp. vanilla

Stir together sugar, oil, eggs, and apples. Separately stir together all other ingredients. Mix everything together. Bake in a greased 9x13 pan or bundt pan at 350 degrees for 40-50 minutes. (I think the bundt takes the longer time, it took me about 55 minutes with the bundt.)

Caramel Glaze (from The Runaway Spoon, found on Food Gawker)

1/4 cup butter
1/2 cup light brown sugar, tightly packed
1/4 tsp salt
1/3 cup heavy cream
1 cup powdered sugar, sifted

In a saucepan, melt together butter, brown sugar, salt, and cream. After everything is melted, bring to a rolling boil. Let the mixture boil for one minute. Remove from heat and let sit for 5 minutes. Then vigorously beat in powdered sugar. (You should definitely sift first, I didn't and had to very vigorously beat and still ended up with some lumps)

Make sure the cake is completely cool or the glaze will slide right off.  Also make sure that as soon as the glaze is done, you pour it over the cake. (It firms up pretty quickly.) Put some foil under the cake or you will make a big mess!

Then you can eat the drops. Like I obviously did.

Daylight was gone when I took the above pics, so I snapped one at work.

There you have it. A delicious apple cake to make for your man, your mom, or yourself this weekend. A few more quickies for your Friday:

1. Hoda and Kathie Lee were in Harry Potter World at Universal Studios this morning. Two of my favorite things combined!

2. I am in love with this nail polish. Glamour Purse by Essie. I got tons of compliments on it this week at work, plus this pic is from this morning. Which means that I made it through a week of wiping butts, opening pill packages, and doing intense hand hygiene without a chip. Don't judge my cuticles.

3. The winner of the Mary Kay giveaway is Kerry! Probably because her and my mom are the only ones that read this blog. Which is ok with me! (Let me know what color you want!)

4. Thank goodness being skinny and keeping your house clean are not real spiritual gifts.

Happy 11/11/11!