FAVORITE FALL RECIPES: CARAMEL APPLE CAKE

When I was a kid, my mom would make us a cake or pie everyday... usually it was pie but on occasion, she would make Apple Dapple Cake... a recipe she got from someone along the way. It was one of the few recipes she actually used and I have a copy of it in her handwriting... a treasured possession. I took that basic recipe and made it into one of my favorite fall desserts by adding the hot caramel because what is more fall than caramel apples? I like to serve it slightly warm with a scoop of vanilla ice cream.

I served this cake to over 300 guests at the after-party following the Hangout's Oyster Cookoff in November to rave reviews. My mom would be so proud.

Caramel Apple Cake is a wonderfully easy cake to make for fall tailgates, festivals, or Saturday morning coffee.

Prep Time: 15 minutes

Cook Time: 1 hour plus 15 minutes

INGREDIENTS

3 cups flour

1 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon baking soda

1 1/2 cups pecans, chopped fine

3 apples, peeled and chopped fine

1  1/2 cups vegetable oil (like Wesson)

2 cups sugar

3 eggs

2 teaspoons vanilla

HOT CARAMEL SAUCE

1 cup packed brown sugar

3/4 cup whole milk

3/4 cup butter (1 1/2 sticks)

DIRECTIONS:

Spray a tube pan with Baker’s Joy or grease and flour it. Preheat oven to 350.

For the cake: Sift together flour, salt, and baking soda. Add apples and pecans. Stir to coat the fruit. Mix together oil, sugar, eggs, and vanilla. Add to the fruit mixture. Bake at 350 degrees for one hour. Remove from the oven and sit on a wire rack to cool. While the cake is still hot, pour the caramel sauce over it and then let it cool completely before removing from the pan.

For the hot caramel sauce: Put the sugar in a saucepan over low heat until it starts to melt. Add the butter. Swirl the pan until the butter melts. Add the milk. Bring to a boil, reduce heat to low and cook for 3 minutes, stirring constantly so it does not burn. Pour the hot caramel directly over the hot cake while it is still in the pan. Be careful- the hot sugar will burn!

NOTE: It is important to pour the caramel over the cake in the pan because it creates this great coating on the bottom, side and top of the cake. As much as you want to eat it, you have to allow it to cool completely before you remove it from the pan. Run a knife around the edge of the pan to help release it.

RECIPE: EASY THREE INGREDIENT WHIPPING CREAM BISCUITS

These are fast, easy and delicious biscuits that work for breakfast or even as a dessert when you serve them toasted with a scoop of ice cream and some fresh fruit. I often use them for strawberry shortcake because they're fast and easy.

NOTE: If you don't have self-rising flour, you can use all-purpose flour. Simply add 3 teaspoons baking powder and 1 teaspoon salt to 2 cups all-purpose flour.

EASY WHIPPING CREAM BISCUITS

Prep Time: 15 minutes   Cook Time: 12-15 minutes

INGREDIENTS

2 cups self-rising flour plus 2 tablespoons, reserved

1 cup heavy whipping cream

Pinch salt

DIRECTIONS:

Preheat oven to 450 degrees F. 

Line a baking sheet with parchment paper. Mix all ingredients together just until moistened. Using the reserved flour, dust the work surface. Turn the dough out. Knead 2 times only, folding the dough over on top of itself. Flour the rolling pin and roll out the dough to about ½ inch thickness. Flour a biscuit cutter and cut out circles or cut the dough into squares. Place on prepared sheet. Make sure the edges barely touch as you place them on the pan. That way, they will help each other rise. Bake for 12-15 minutes or until golden brown.

Makes about a dozen.

RECIPE: MY MOM’S POUND CAKE

We had pound cake a lot growing up. While my mom made a lot of pies, she rarely made cakes except this pound cake. We rarely let it cool before it was gone; my mom would serve it with homemade ice cream or use it for Strawberry Shortcake which was our family favorite.

My mom was a “pinch of this” cook and rarely wrote down her recipes. When I was living in Chicago back in the 1990′s, she gave me this recipe over the phone for my co-worker, Janet Radziejeski. I did not keep a copy of it. Sadly, my mom passed away and most of her recipes were never written down. Many years later, when I reconnected with Janet via Facebook, she told me she always makes my mom's recipe for Easter and it has been a family tradition ever since I shared the recipe with her all of those years ago. She photocopied the original recipe (which was in my handwriting) and sent it to me. Now I am able to share it with you and with the kids in our family who never got to experience Mom’s cooking.

Many Southern cooks have a similar pound cake recipe. The difference in this one is the addition of almond extract. You can omit if your family doesn't like it but to me, that's what makes this pound cake so special. Here's another opportunity for me to remind you to get those favorite family recipes down on paper... before they are lost forever. Thank you, Janet and Facebook, for reuniting me with this treasure!

MY MOM’S POUND CAKE RECIPE

Prep Time: 20 minutes

Cook Time: 1 hour 30-35 minutes or until a wooden skewer comes out clean

INGREDIENTS

3 sticks unsalted butter, room temperature

1 – 8 oz package cream cheese, softened

3 cups granulated sugar

6 large eggs, room temperature

3 cups all-purpose flour

1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

1 1/2 teaspoons almond extract

1/8 teaspoon Kosher salt

DIRECTIONS:

Preheat oven to 300 degrees F. Prepare a 10-inch tube or Bundt pan… grease and flour or spray with Baker’s Joy.

In the bowl of your mixer, beat the cream cheese and the butter at medium speed until creamy. Then add the sugar, a little at a time. Cream the butter and sugar until light and fluffy.

Next, add the eggs, one at a time, beating until they are combined. Turn the speed on the mixer down. Combine the salt and the flour; adding a little at a time until it is blended. Add the almond and vanilla.

Pour into the prepared pan. Bake for 1 hour 30-35 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean. Cool for 10-15 minutes in the pan and then turn out onto a wire cooling rack to allow it to cool completely.

Serve with berries, whipped cream or ice cream. I like it warm, straight out of the oven. Divine.