Apple Butter Caramel Cake is easy, sweet, and just the thing to enjoy with a cup of apple cider or, if you'd prefer something less sweet, coffee or tea. The cake itself is simple to mix up. You don't need to haul out the mixer. A whisk and spoon will do nicely. You also can forget a fancy frosting. The cake layers sandwich more apple butter, which provides great moisture as well as sweetness to the cake. The topping is simply caramel sauce, which you heat in the microwave and then drizzle over the top of the cake. I sprinkle pecans on top of the caramel, but, if you'd rather, you can leave the top plain. I say plain, but the cake looks and tastes anything but that. Yes, the cake is easy, but it's delicious and looks quite impressive with its shiny, sweet caramel top and caramel oozing over the top to the sides of the cake, urging you to taste just a little...Enjoy!
Apple Butter Caramel Cake -- Makes 1 Cake
2 eggs
2/3 cup of sugar
1/2 cup of canola oil
1 teaspoon of vanilla
1/3 cup of fat-free plain yogurt
1 cup of apple butter
1/2 cup of white whole-wheat flour
1 cup of all-purpose flour
1/4 teaspoon of salt
1 teaspoon of baking powder
1/4 teaspoon of baking soda
1 teaspoon of pumpkin pie spice
For the Filling/Topping
1/2 cup of apple butter
1/2 cup of caramel topping/sauce
1/2 cup of whole and/or chopped pecans (optional)
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees and coat two 8- or 9-inch cake pans with baking spray (the kind with flour in it--or use regular non-stick cooking spray and dust the pans with a little flour after spraying them). In a large bowl, whisk together the eggs, sugar, oil, vanilla, and yogurt well. Whisk in the apple butter. Whisk together the flours, salt, baking powder, baking soda, and pumpkin pie spice. Stir the dry ingredients into the wet ones until they're incorporated. Divide the batter between the prepared pans. Bake the batter for about 25 minutes or until a pick inserted in the center of one of the cakes comes out with only moist crumbs attached. Let the cakes cool for 10-15 minutes in their pans. Turn the cakes out and place one layer on a serving plate. Spread the top of the layer with the apple butter and place the second layer on top of the apple butter. In a microwave cup or bowl, heat the caramel in the microwave on 50 percent power for about a minute, stirring it every 20 seconds, or until the caramel is smooth and spreadable. Pour the warm caramel over the top of the cake to cover the top. Let a little of the caramel drizzle over the sides of the cake. Sprinkle the top of the cake with pecans, if you'd like.
