The fall is probably my favorite season of the year. The air is fresh and crisp and there are lots of different things to bake with. Plus it is cool enough to finally want to bake again after those hot summer months. I started off this cool weather snap with using some of the apples I picked up at the farmer's market. I used a recipe that my dad used to use when I was little to make the healthiest apple cake I have ever come across. The cake uses all whole wheat flour which is not often done because it normally will make a VERY dry cake. However with all of the apples, there is no way that this cake could ever be dry. I added the salted caramel sauce once the cake had cooled and it resulted in a great combination with the apples, almost like a camel apple in a cake!
Raw Apple Cake
1/4 c. brown sugar
2 eggs
1/2 c. oil
1 tsp. vanilla
3 c. peeled and chopped apples (I tend to use more like 5 cups...I like lots of apples!)
1 3/4 c. whole wheat flour
1 tbs. ground flax seed
1 tbs. wheat bran
1/2 tsp. salt
1 tsp. baking soda
1/2 tsp. cinnamon
1/2 tsp. nutmeg
Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
Beat together the sugar and the eggs in a large mixing bowl. Beat in the oil and vanilla. Stir in the apples until covered. Mix the flour, flax seed, wheat bran, salt, baking soda, cinnamon and nutmeg in a separate bowl. Fold the dry ingredients into the apple mixture. Pour into an oiled and floured 9 inch square baking pan. You can also use two 8 inch round cake pans. I also just greased the pan and then lined the bottom of the pan with parchment.
If using a 9 inch pan, bake for 45 minutes. If using two round pans, bake for 35-40 minutes.
For the salted caramel sauce from Cara Lee Cupcakes and Cake, I used a recipe that I have posted before and it has yet to let me down!
I originally wanted to make this a two layer cake with a caramel filling, however it is probably too moist to do that. Plus I was out of cream to make the sauce and wanted to cut into the cake and it never looks good when a chunk is already cut out of the top layer!
