Mama Reed didn’t really have a recipe for Mama Reed’s Caramel Apple Cake, but I took one of her recipes and used it as the base to build it on so I decided to give her credit. It’s sort of like a collaboration with the great grandmother I know only through stories, and I like how that feels. After making a spiced baked apple cake I topped it with a Caramel Fudge icing, similar to my Peanut Butter Fudge Icing and Chocolate Fudge Icing, but even better, because it’s caramel :).

How To Make Caramel Apple Cake

For the cake part, you’ll need: a couple of apples (any kind, 2 large or 3 medium or whatever you have), self rising flour**, eggs, vanilla, sugar, vegetable oil, and water.

Eek! You also need some cinnamon and allspice. I would tell you that I didn’t know where my head was but I actually do – it was on fifty other things. Y’all know how that is.

The icing ingredients are down a little further in the post but they are all together like one big happy family at the bottom.

**To make your own self rising flour, simply add 1+1/2 tsp baking powder and 1/2 tsp salt for EACH cup of all purpose flour.

Stir together your self rising flour and sugar in a bowl.

Peel and chop apples until you are tired of chopping apples.

Then dump them in the bowl with the flour along with all of the other ingredients.

Stir that by hand really well until it is all nice and blendy looking.

Or until you get tired of fooling with it.

So much of the timing in my recipes is gauged by that… Some people are really precise and everything has to be perfect. I’m of the school that if it is edible and looks good from ten yards on a galloping horse, it’s good enough.

Pour that into a 9×13 baking dish that you’ve sprayed with cooking spray.

Bake this at 350 for about 45 minutes, or until set and lightly browned.

There we are. A lovely photo of our baked cake in my dark and shadowy kitchen 🙂

This cake looks a little boopy doopy when it is done on account of the apples.

Now for the icing part. Oh mercy mercy mercy is this stuff amazing? Yes. Yes, it is.

You’ll need: Confectioner’s sugar, butter, more vanilla, brown sugar (light or dark works but I prefer dark for this), and heavy cream, sometimes known as whipping cream.

You can use whole milk in place of cream if you like. Please don’t use skim or 2 percent. You can, of course, but whole milk is just one step down from heavy cream, once you get into the skim stuff you’re pretty far removed and it will make a taste difference. Having said that, what business is it of mine to tell you not to use skim or 2 percent? I’m just gonna get my nose out of your kitchen and back into my own pots. Apologize for the intrusion :).

Place your cream (or milk), butter, and brown sugar in a medium sauce pot.

Stir this CONSTANTLY over medium heat until the butter is melted (mostly 😉 and it is all a nice brown mixture like this.

Now crank up that heat to medium high and STIR CONSTANTLY (not kidding here) to bring it to a full rolling boil. Once it is boiling, set your timer for 2 minutes. Exactly. Immediately remove from heat, stir in vanilla, and stir in confectioners’s sugar.

Like this. Stir fast because this stuff is gonna set up pretty quickly.

Quickly: Websters defines quickly as in something that is done or happens in a short amount of time.

I define quickly as “Hurry up or you’ll have concrete.”

It is still a little lumpy here so I’m going to switch to a whisk.

BOOM! Now it is smooth and creamy. Okay, so it still has some lumps of confectioner’s sugar in it but I’m tired of stirring it and that is good enough for me!

Quickly spread it over your cooled cake. Quick. Because it gets hard fast.

Why are you still sitting here when you have an amazing cake just waiting for you to bake it?

Mama Reed’s Caramel Apple Cake

Ingredients

• 2 cups self rising flour
• 2-3 apples peeled and chopped
• 2 eggs
• 1 +1/2 cup sugar
• 1/2 cup vegetable oil
• 1/2 cup water
• 2 teaspoons cinnamon
• 1 teaspoon allspice
• 1 teaspoon vanilla

For Icing

• 4 Tablespoons butter or margarine
• 8 Tablespoons heavy cream or milk
• 1 cup packed dark brown sugar light is okay
• 2 cups confectioner’s sugar
• 1 teaspoon vanilla

Instructions

• Combine all ingredients in a large mixing bowl and mix by hand with a wooden spoon until well blended and smooth. Spread into a greased 9×13 cake pan.

• Bake at 350 for 45 minutes.

For icing

• Stir together butter, cream, and brown sugar in a sauce pot. Place over medium heat and stir constantly until butter is melted and mixture is well blended. Turn heat up to medium high and stir constantly until it comes to a rolling boil. Once boiling, cook for 2 minutes and then remove from heat. Stir in confectioners sugar and vanilla until smooth. Work quickly and use a wire whisk or electric mixer if you prefer. You can add up to 1/2 cup more confectioner’s sugar if needed to thicken. Ice cooled cake as soon as possible.

If you were born after 1950, don’t try to ice a layer cake with a boiled icing. Stick with 9×13 sheet cakes. Trust me 🙂

 “Happiness is not determined by what’s happening around you, but rather what’s happening inside you.  Most people depend on others to gain happiness, but the truth is, it always comes from within.”

~Unknown

Yum