Apple Cake with Caramel Glaze

I love this time of year - sunny and mild weather...before the onslaught of endless dreary coldness.

The boys were outside this afternoon raking leaves and harvesting from the garden.  I was inside baking up a storm!

Apple Cake
I was inspired by Let's Dish's recipe for apple cake with brown sugar glaze.  I doubled the recipe and replaced the pecans with ground almonds using the Vitamix.  The kids don't like "chunks" of nuts but if the nuts are finely ground in a high-speed blender, all is good.  This turned out crazy good, it's going to be super hard to not pick at it.  I had a bite while cutting a piece to photograph and it was divine.  This is NOT a diet cake!

Ingredients
Cake
6 cups all purpose flour
4 cups sugar
2 teaspoon baking soda
2 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoon cinnamon
8 eggs
2 cup canola oil
4 tsp vanilla
6 cups finely chopped apples, I left the skin's on
2 cup finely chopped almonds

Brown Sugar/Caramel Glaze
2cup packed light brown sugar
12 tablespoons butter
2 teaspoon vanilla
4 tablespoons heavy cream or evaporated milk.

Directions
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease an 12x18-inch pan and set aside.  In a medium bowl, combine the flour, sugar, baking soda, salt and cinnamon. In a large bowl, beat the eggs until light and foamy. Add the oil and vanilla and mix well. Stir in the flour mixture with a spoon and continue stirring the batter till the flour disappears. Add the apples and nuts; mix well. Scrape the batter into prepared pan and bake for 40-45 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Set the cake on a wire rack.

While the cake is still hot, prepare the glaze.  Combine the brown sugar, butter, vanilla and heavy cream in a medium saucepan. Cook over medium heat, stirring often, until the mixture comes to a gentle boil. Continue cooking for 3 minutes. Spoon the hot glaze over the still warm cake. Let the glazed cake cool completely before serving straight from the pan.

I also made whole-wheat dinner rolls from my standard bread recipe, roast chicken, french fries, gravy and kale chips.

The party is at our house!

Astrid