Apple Picking 2019 – Caramel Apple Cake Recipe

It’s that time of the year where the harvests are rolling in and the apples are no different! We are lucky to have access to plenty of apples because my grandparents have 6 trees and the farm has 2 more. (I think. It’s something like that!) There was a great crop this year, so we went out and picked as many as we wanted.

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Of course, it had flooded the night before, but the water had all receded by the time we went out. The ground was just a little squishy in a few spots and all the grass had turned brown from the mud! Nevertheless, the kids had so much fun picking and eating the apples right off the tree. We took two bags home and had to figure out what to do with All. Those. APPLES!

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Apples Galore! – What to Do?

Now, after bringing all those apples home, there was one tool I was VERY glad I had in my kitchen! And that is this apple peeler/corer/slicer. It seriously does all 3 at once and is amazing! Sometimes it doesn’t get the whole peel off or the core is a little off centered, but it does most of the job most of the time. I will take that over peeling, coring, and slicing all of these apples by hand! Make sure you check it out!

Pie Baking

I started by making 3 pies, and I tried to make a video to show my process, but I accidentally filmed a majority of it in slow motion! Ahhh!! So now I have an hour long video I am struggling to get to my computer to see if I can speed it up. If I ever do, I will share it all with you. Else I will just have to film another one!

Dried Apples

Then I dehydrated a bunch of apples. And I mean a bunch! We have a gallon full now. My grandma always had dried apples around for us to snack on when we were kids and they were so good! And way healthier than chips. I used an actual dehydrator that I borrowed, but here’s a recipe for making them in the oven.

Caramel Apple Cake Recipe

Jump to Recipe

Finally, we STILL had some apples left, so I made a caramel apple cake and that recipe is to die for! Again, its one of my mom’s, so I can’t take all the credit here, but nothing screams fall more than a moist, caramel glazed cake. It just looks like it belongs in fall!

Preparing and Mixing

The longest part of preparing this recipe is slicing up the apples. Again, I highly suggest the 3-in-1 Apple Corer/Peeler/Slicer, but if all you are doing with apples is making this cake, a knife would work great. You can slice the apples up before you start mixing, or you can do so when it is time to put them in the batter. They might turn a little brown if you chop the apples up first is all, but you are putting them into a brown cake, so it really doesn’t matter!

Start by mixing together 1 and 1/4 cup oil, eggs, and sugar. And no, I did not type that wrong. You really do need a cup and a fourth of vegetable oil. It will work. I promise.

Then sift together all your dry ingredients and mix them in with the wet. Peel and chop your apples and add them to the batter with the vanilla. Mix them together. Now the original recipe also says you can add 1/2 a cup of chopped nuts at this point, but I have NEVER had this cake with nuts in it, so they aren’t a part of my recipe. Add at your own risk! 🙂

Baking Tips

Pour the batter into a greased 9×13 inch baking dish and bake at 300˚F for an hour and 20 minutes. I have always baked this cake in a glass baking dish. I bet if you use a dark or nonstick pan, the baking time will be shorter. Maybe only an hour. Also, 300˚ seems low, but if you cook it at a higher temperature, the outside of your cake will be over done while the inside will be sloppy and under-baked. Check for doneness by inserting a clean toothpick into the center of the cake. If it comes out clean, the cake is done. If the toothpick is wet, keep baking!

Add the Topping

What makes this Caramel Apple Cake is the topping! You do not need to prepare it until the cake is done and out of the oven. Add all the ingredients to a small sauce pan and bring to a rolling boil. (See photo.)

Pour over top of the warm cake and spread with a spatula or spoon. You can enjoy the cake right away! (Just let the topping cool a bit!) It goes wonderfully with ice cream, but my husband likes to eat it for breakfast. It has apples, so it’s healthy! Right?!

If you give this recipe a try, let me know. I would love to hear about it in the comment section below! Also, if you want to see more of my family’s crazy adventures, be sure to give be a follow on instagram @blessedmamalife. Have a happy fall and happy baking!