POW. KABLAM!

Got your attention? Good.

Okay. I have to admit that I have been REALLY slow at getting my recent Zesty Kitchen recipes out to y’all. One of the problems I find now is that I am taking a bazillion great pictures with my fantastic Nikon camera. This is also the monster I call “editing”. All of these great pictures ensures lots of time with the “monster”. Picking and choosing what y’all are gonna see on MZL. I am not holding out on you, my zesty kitchen friends… I swear! Today is delivery day.

But wait. There’s another reason. I tend to get a little choked up in my old age, when I look at this picture -

Caramel Apple Filled Spice Cake and the birthday boy. I guess I have to start saying young man, huh? Sniffle.
I know. This is a silly picture. It’s just that this picture used to hold an image of a baby. And now look what happened. This. 16 year old C$. Whaa.

But wait? Didn’t I mention a Caramel Apple Filled Spice Cake? Of course I did. Which brings me back to my zesty life, you and this special recipe. A bright, yummy side to it all – ’cause I love ya.

C.A.C. This year C$’s birthday cake request: “a layer cake that has caramel, apples, and spices”. Complicated, huh? Can’t I hit rewind? Back to baby smiles over a train decorated boxed cake? Nope, not when you can get this. Caramel Apple Filled Spice Cake, a special cake for a special 16 year old C$.
If you like caramel apples you will be in for a treat. This delicious double decker spice cake is filled with a caramel apple cinnamon concoction & then glazed. It is so dang good. If you already haven’t guessed, we love apples, cakes and caramel around these parts. There ain’t nothin’ wrong with that.

Caramel Apple Filled Spice Cake – definitely worth the wait.

First things first. Set aside the following ingredients:
Caramel Apple Filling & Topping: 3 Granny Smith apples or apples of your choice, peeled and cut into ½ inch chunks, 2-3 Tablespoons lemon juice, 1 Tablespoon ground cinnamon, 4 Tablespoons Butter, 1 cup brown sugar, ½ cups cream, ½ teaspoon salt and 1 tablespoon Vanilla extract. Don’t know how to make Caramel Sauce? Get my zesty lowdown here.
Cream Cheese Glazed: 1 Tablespoon softened cream cheese, ½ teaspoon Vanilla extract, 1 Tablespoon lemon juice, and 1 ½ cups sifter powdered sugar.

For the Spice Cake:

Ingredients: 2 ½ cups all purpose flour, ½ cup whole wheat flour, 1 teaspoon baking soda, 1 teaspoon baking powder
1 pinch of salt, 1 cup brown sugar, packed, ½ cup white sugar, 1 Tablespoon vanilla extract, 1 stick butter, softened
½ cup unsweetened applesauce (all natural), 1 cup buttermilk, and 3 eggs.

Round up the following spices

2 Tablespoons ground cinnamon, 1 teaspoon ground nutmeg, ½ teaspoon ground ginger, ¼ teaspoon ground cloves, and a ½ teaspoon ground coriander. I like to pre-blend my herb?spice and seasoning mixes. You can always skip this step and add ‘em straight to the flour mixture. It’s our little secret.

Give the spices a good whisk and then set aside.

To the the flour add

the baking soda, baking powder, a pinch o’ salt and the

mucho spices.

Give it another whisk, and set it aside.

On to the eggs. “You gotta keep ‘em separated!” Do you know what song this is?

Separate the yolks from the whites.

Place the whites into a medium bowl.

Keep ‘em separated and set ‘em aside.

Preheat the oven to 350°. and prepare two two 9-inch round cake pans with grease and flour. I use non-stick baking spray with flour.

Butter time.

Using a Kitchen Aid or electric mixer, cream the butter

and sugar together in a large bowl.

Add the egg yolks one at a time,

beating well after each addition.

Add the applesauce

and vanilla extract, beating on medium speed until well blended.

Add the buttermilk

and flour alternately.

Mix on medium speed until the batter is well blended.

Grab the egg whites and your hand mixer.

Beat the egg whites on high. Watch them go from this

to billows of fluff

and then to this. Stiff peaks.

Grab the yummy spice batter. It will get nice and airy with the addition of the whites.

Fold the egg whites into the cake batter until combined.

Fold gently and

carry a big spatula.

Pour the batter evenly into the two prepared cake pans.

Bake for 20-25 minutes or until the center springs back when touched. Time to get busy with the Caramel Apple Filling & Topping; prepare and set aside or refrigerate. Wanna 2-step? Follow the 2-step link for step by step instructions OR boogie on down to the recipe instructions.

Cool the cakes in the pan for 10 minutes on wire racks; turn the cakes out onto the racks to finish cooling. Get going on the Cream Cheese Glazing. Ready? Set. 2-step with me or follow the recipe instructions.

Turn the cooled cakes onto a wax paper or parchment paper lined cookie sheet. Here’s the trick. This will keep the toppings, fillings and glazing, off of the surface of the cake dishes. You will see in a moment how this works.

In the meantime, look.

Caramel Apple Filling has showed up just in time. Oh yeah. You know what this means.

Spread the the filling evenly out

and then top it with the remaining layer of cake.

Ready? Set?

Glaze me baby!

Drizzle the top with the Cream Cheese Glazing, starting in the center of the cake. This ensures that the cake will have even drips and dribbles.

Glaze away!

Dribble, drip. YUM.

Transfer the glazed goodness on to the cake stand and cut around the base, in a nice pretty circle. See?
No cake gunk on my serving platter. Nice trick huh?

Another trick -

a light dusting of powdered sugar.

Look.

Every angle is pure

Caramel Apple Filled

Perfection.

A tower of spice cake love.

Happy Birthday C$, with many happy returns! Love, MOM

An Anomaly: I give the MZL photos abbreviated intitials when organizing pictures for publication. It just so happened that the abbreviation I used for Caramel Apple Cake, “CAC” also stands for the actual initials in C$ name. Pretty weird huh?

 Printable Recipe

Caramel Apple filled Spice Cake or C.A.C.

Spice Cake:
2 ½ cups all purpose flour
½ cup whole wheat flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 pinch of salt
2 Tablespoons ground cinnamon
1 teaspoon ground nutmeg
½ teaspoon ground ginger
¼ teaspoon ground cloves
½ teaspoon ground coriander
In a medium bowl, wire whisk together the flour, baking soda, baking powder, salt, and spices. Set aside.

1 cup brown sugar, packed
½ cup white sugar
1 Tablespoon vanilla extract
1 stick butter, softened
½ cup unsweetened applesauce (all natural)
1 cup buttermilk
3 eggs, separated *Place the separated whites into a large bowl

Pre-heat the oven to 350°. Grease and flour (or use non-stick baking spray with flour) two 9 inch round cake pans.

Using a Kitchen Aid or electric mixer, cream the butter and sugar together in a large bowl. Add the egg yolks one at a time beating well after each addition. Add the applesauce and vanilla extract, beating on medium speed until well blended. Add the flour mixture and buttermilk alternately, mixing on medium speed until well blended.
In a large bowl, beat the egg whites until stiff. Fold the egg whites into the cake batter until combined. Pour the batter evenly into the two prepared cake pans.

Bake for 20-25 minutes or until the center springs back when touched. Prepare the Caramel Apple Filling & Topping; set aside or refrigerate. Cool the cakes in the pan for 10 minutes on wire racks; turn the cakes out onto the racks to finish cooling. Prepare the Cream Cheese Glazing and set aside. Assemble the cooled cake by spooning a generous amount of Caramel Apple Filling on the top of one cake layer. Spread the filling evenly out and then top it with the remaining layer of cake. Ice the cake by drizzling the top with the Cream Cheese Glazing. Finish with a sprinkle of powdered sugar on top. Serve each slice with a spoonful of the Caramel Apple filling on top!

Caramel Apple Filling & Topping

3 Granny Smith apples or apples of your choice, peeled and cut into ½ inch chunks
2-3 Tablespoons Lemon juice
1 Tablespoon ground cinnamon
*1/2 teaspoon cornstarch (optional), dissolved in ½ teaspoon COLD water

In a medium bowl, toss together the cubed apples, two Tablespoons of the lemon juice and the cinnamon. In a medium saucepan, cook the apples over medium heat and bring the mixture to a boil; add the remaining lemon juice. Turn down the heat and let the apples simmer, stirring often. If you notice a lot of liquid follow the *instructions for adding cornstarch to thicken. Cook the apples for about 5 minutes until al dente. We like our apples still a bit crunchy. Set aside.

*Some apple varieties produce a lot of juices when they cook down. If there is a lot of liquid you will need to thicken it up by adding cornstarch. Mix ½ teaspoon cornstarch into ½ teaspoon COLD water until the cornstarch dissolves. Add the dissolved cornstarch into the apples. Stir and cook over med/high heat until the apple mixture is thickened. Set aside.

In a medium saucepan add:
4 Tablespoons Butter
1 cup brown sugar
½ cups cream
½ teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon Vanilla extract

Mix the butter, brown sugar, cream and salt in a saucepan over medium low. Cook and whisk for 7 minutes. Turn off the heat and stir in the vanilla extract. Pour the caramel sauce over the cooked apples, stirring the mixture until is thoroughly combined. Spoon the filling into a glass bowl. To avoid moisture and condensation, cover the Caramel Apple mixture by placing plastic wrap directly on the top of the filling, and refrigerate. Caramel Apple Filling and Topping is freezer friendly; spoon the mixture into an appropriate container and freeze.

Cream Cheese Glazing

1 Tablespoon softened cream cheese
½ teaspoon Vanilla extract
1 Tablespoon lemon juice
Blend cream cheese, vanilla extract, and lemon juice together. Then gradually add:
1 ½ cups sifter powdered sugar

Using an electric hand mixer, beat the cream cheese, lemon juice, and vanilla extract until creamy. Gradually add the powdered sugar, beating until the glazing is smooth, drizzling consistency. If it is too thick, add a little more lemon juice a teaspoon at a time.