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Michelle's Apple Caramel Cake

9X13 PAN · SERVES 12 · PREP 25 MIN · BAKE 45 MIN
My take on a Swedish tosca cake, inspired by Rooted in My Garden
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Prep Time 25 minutes
Cook Time 45 minutes
Servings: 12
Course: Dessert
Cuisine: Swedish
Ingredients Equipment Method Notes

Ingredients
  

CAKE
  • 4 eggs
  • 1 1/3 cups sugar
  • 2 tsp vanilla
  • 2 cups + 2 tbsp all-purpose flour
  • 1 tbsp baking powder
  • 1/2 cup scant 1/2 cup milk
  • 1 1/3 cups melted butter 2 sticks + 5 tbsp
WALNUT APPLE TOPPING
  • 8 small Granny Smith apples peeled and diced
  • 2 cup scant 2 cups English walnuts chopped
  • 7 tbsp butter melted
  • 1 cup scant 1 cup sugar
  • 1/2 cup scant 1/2 cup heavy cream
  • 2 tbsp all-purpose flour
  • 1 tsp apple pie spice
FOR THE TOP
  • 2 tbsp sugar stirred with 1 tsp apple pie spice

Equipment

  • 1 9" x 13" Baking Pan Lined with parchment
  • 2 Mixing Bowl

Method
 

  1. Heat the oven to 350°F. Grease a 9x13 and line the bottom with parchment.
  2. Melt both butters and let them cool while you peel and dice the apples.
  3. Put the eggs, sugar, vanilla, flour, baking powder, milk, and melted butter in one bowl all at once. Mix until smooth. Don't beat it.
  4. In a second bowl, put the apples, walnuts, melted butter, sugar, cream, flour, and apple pie spice in all at once and toss it together.
  5. Pour the batter into the pan.
  6. Spread the walnut apple topping evenly over it. Bake 40 minutes.
  7. Sprinkle the sugar and apple pie spice over the top. Bake the last 5 minutes, until bubbling and golden. Check the center - a metal pan runs longer than glass.

Notes

Do Not Cook the Topping
Melt the butter and everything else goes in that same bowl at once - sugar, cream, flour, walnuts, apples, apple pie spice. Toss it and it is done. Cooking it down on the stove sets it too early and it goes stiff before it ever reaches the cake. It goes on the batter loose and wet, and the oven does the rest.
The Spice and Sugar Go at the Very End
Last 5 minutes only. Any earlier and the sugar melts down into the topping and you lose the crackle, and the spice goes bitter. Pull the pan out at 40 minutes, sprinkle it, put it right back in.
Good to Know
    • Granny Smith holds its shape and the tartness cuts all that caramel. Sweet apples cook down to sauce.
    • Everything goes in the bowl at once, cake and topping both. No creaming, no separate bowls, no stove.
    • Dice the apples small so they bake through and settle down into the batter instead of riding on top.
    • The caramel welds itself to the pan. Grease it well and line the bottom with parchment.
    • For a 9-inch springform or an 8x8, cut everything in half and bake about 35 minutes, then sprinkle and go 5 more.
    • Stay in the kitchen for those last 10 minutes. Walnuts go from toasted to burnt fast.