Makes one 8-inch cake
Sweet, sticky & delicious! The caramel is simply sugar, butter, salt, and apple whiskey. If you choose, the whiskey can be substituted with apple cider. The cake batter comes together in a matter of minutes. Serve slightly warm with a scoop of vanilla ice cream and a piping hot mug of coffee.
When selecting apples, use a good baking variety that will hold its shape and has a nice balance of sweet and tart. Apple varieties like Granny Smith, Cortland, and Braeburn are a few excellent choices. Stay away from mealy and overly sweet varieties, like Macintosh and Red Delicious. In this recipe, the apples are left unpeeled. The peel provides a nice contrast in texture and contain a good amount of tannic acid. The tannic acid helps to balance the sweet caramel and cake.
Whiskey Apple Caramel
3 1/2 oz white sugar
2 1/2 oz unsalted butter, small cubes
1 1/2 oz (3 Tbsp) apple whiskey
Pinch of salt
1 medium baking apple, like granny smith, cortland, or similar variety
Cake Batter
7 oz all purpose flour
4 1/4 oz light brown sugar
2 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
2 large eggs
5 oz vegetable oil
5 oz whole milk
1/2 oz (1 Tbsp) apple whiskey
1 tsp vanilla
DIRECTIONS
Preheat oven to 350F degrees. Lightly grease an 8" round cake pan with nonstick cooking spray.
In a dry skillet over medium heat, melt sugar into a caramel. Patience is needed, may take quite a few minutes. DO NOT STIR. As the sugar melts, slowly swirl the melting sugar in the pan to pick up any granules not yet melted. Sugar will naturally brown into a nice amber color. Take caution not to allow the sugar to burn.
Take the pan off the stove, and allow to cool for just a minute or two. Melt cubed butter, a cube at a time, into the hot sugar. The caramel may bubble considerably. Once butter is melted into the sugar, stir in the apple whiskey.
Pour 1/2 the caramel into the greased 8" cake pan.
Core and slice unpeeled apples into 1/4" slices. Arrange apple slices on top of caramel. Caramel is EXTREMELY hot so take caution not to burn yourself.
FOR THE CAKE BATTER:
In a medium bowl, sift together flour, brown sugar, baking powder, and salt.
In a separate bowl, lightly whisk together eggs, oil, milk, vanilla, and apple whiskey, until thoroughly combined.
Pour the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients. With a rubber spatula, fold together just until all the dry ingredients are no longer streaking. The batter will still be considerably lumpy - this is normal - do not over mix.
Carefully, scoop batter over the arranged apple slices. Smooth the batter until even and reaching the edges of the pan.
Bake in the center rack of the oven until a toothpick inserted in the cake comes out clean. About 40 - 50 minutes.
Take cake out of the oven and allow to cool slightly, about 5 minutes. With a knife, carefully loosen cake from the sides of the pan. Invert serving plate over the cake and flip over. Tap the bottom of the cake pan until the cake releases naturally.
Brush the remaining caramel over the top of the cake. Serve warm, with a scoop of vanilla ice cream, if desired.
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