Just J.Faye

Hiking & Other Adventures

caramel apple snack cake

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I love caramel, apples, snacks, and cake, so a caramel apple snack cake just makes sense.

caramel apple snack cake

The cinnamon/caramel/apple flavor combination is essentially the epitome of fall. The smell of this snack cake baking in the oven will make you want to grab some friends, go on pretty fall walk, and jump in piles of crisp leaves.

Maybe those crisp leaves are now buried under a pile of snow?? A walk is still a good idea.

So go do that as these are cooling. Then when you come in you can enjoy a slice with mugs of steamy coffee and your favorite people.

caramel apple snack cake

To make these I took a basic blondie recipe (1 stick butter, 1 cup sugar, 1 egg, 1 cup flour) and added in some cinnamon, a shredded Zestar apple, and some caramel bits (these things). The moisture from the apple made these light and cakey rather than gooey and dense like blondies typically are.

Which is why I am calling it a snack cake.

Side note: Make sure to squeeze the excess moisture out of the shredded apple!

caramel apple snack cake

On a semi-related note, Katie and I had friends visiting this weekend from California (hi Ellie & Oliver!), so we drove towards the mountains for short, yet scenic hike at St. Mary’s Glacier. It was so, so beautiful. We took lots of pictures and stopped for lunch near the glacier. Naturally, I packed pieces of this caramel apple snack cake for dessert.

St. Mary's Glacier

It was such a fun afternoon. I don’t think the beauty of the mountains will ever stop surprising me. Never, ever.

caramel apple snack cake

caramel apple snack bars
 
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A snack cake full of all the best fall flavors: cinnamon, apple, and caramel!
Serves: 16 pieces
Ingredients
  • ½ cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, melted
  • 1 cup brown sugar
  • 1 egg
  • 1 ¼ cup flour
  • 1 teaspoon cinnamon
  • 1 medium apple, shredded (I used a Zestar)
  • ½ cup caramel bits
Instructions
  1. Pre-heat the oven to 350 degrees F. Line an 8x8” baking pan with foil and spray with non-stick spray.
  2. Mix the melted butter, brown sugar, and egg together until everything is combined.
  3. Stir in the flour and cinnamon until incorporated.
  4. Fold in the shredded apple and caramel bits (saving a bit to put on top).
  5. Place batter into the prepared pan and spread evenly. Sprinkle on the remaining caramel bits and a little bit of sea salt.
  6. Bake for 30-35 minutes or until the center is set.
  7. Cool completely in the pan, then cut and serve!

caramel apple snack cake caramel apple snack cake

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Vanilla bean cake with salted caramel buttercream

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Vanilla bean cake with salted caramel buttercream. Doesn’t that sound delicious?

And doesn’t it look delicious:

vanilla bean cake with salted caramel buttercream frosting

Well let me tell you, it tastes delicious too.

One of my favorite things to do with my mom is bake. Bake and then eat our baked goods. Sip on some black coffee or wine (depending on the time of day). And chat. All while not caring that there is flour everywhere and the counter is full of eggshells, used measuring cups, sugar, dirty bowls, and cooling racks.

There is always time to clean up. It is important to slow down and savor the treat that was pulled right out of the oven.

Unfortunately for a cake such as this, it first needs to be completely cooled and frosted before digging in.

It’s totally worth the wait.

vanilla bean cake with salted caramel buttercream frosting And as a bonus, this gives you time to clean up the kitchen first. I guess that’s a bonus…

Ok. As an actual bonus, this cake uses vanilla bean. If you have never baked with a vanilla bean before, try it out (like now, in this cake). It’s fun and makes you feel real fancy.

Look at all those gorgeous little specks!

vanilla bean cake with salted caramel buttercream frosting Also, look at this salted caramel buttercream frosting. Drool.

vanilla bean cake with salted caramel buttercream frosting I am a total frosting person. Few things in life are more amazing than a fresh homemade batch of buttercream frosting. Especially when it is paired with pretzels, champagne, and some girlfriends.

Anywho. Now we have two vanilla bean cakes, a jar of this salted caramel sauce, and a bowl of salted caramel buttercream frosting. Take one of the cakes, poke some holes in it with a fork, drizzle caramel sauce all over it, spread on a layer of frosting, stack on the next cake and repeat the caramel and frosting layers. Add another drizzle of caramel over the entire cake and some sprinkles of sea salt.

vanilla bean cake with salted caramel buttercream frosting Cut a slice. Eat a slice. Repeat.

I strongly suggest you enjoy this with a glass of milk, a scoop of ice cream, and a few loved ones.

vanilla bean cake with salted caramel buttercream frosting

Vanilla bean cake with salted caramel buttercream
 
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A simple vanilla bean cake with layers of salted caramel sauce and salted caramel buttercream.
Serves: 12
Ingredients
For the cake:
  • 2⅓ cups cake flour
  • 2 ¼ tsp baking powder
  • ½ tsp salt
  • 12 tbsp unsalted butter, softened
  • 1 ½ cups sugar
  • 1 vanilla bean
  • ¾ cup milk
  • 3 eggs, room temperature
  • 1 recipe salted caramel sauce
For the salted caramel buttercream:
  • 12 tbsp butter, softened
  • 4 cups powdered sugar
  • ½ cup salted caramel sauce
  • ½ tsp vanilla
  • 1 tbsp milk
Instructions
For the cake:
  1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.
  2. Grease and lightly flour two 9-in cake pans, line the bottom with wax paper, and grease again.
  3. Combine the flour, baking powder and salt in a small bowl and set aside.
  4. In the large bowl with an electric mixer, cream the butter until smooth. Add the sugar and beat until light and fluffy, about 3 minutes.
  5. Scrape the vanilla bean into a small bowl, then add it to the butter and sugar mixture, beat for an additional minute.
  6. Add the eggs one at a time, beat well between each addition.
  7. Add the dry ingredients in three parts alternating with the milk. Beat well between each addition.
  8. Divide the batter between the cake pans.
  9. Bake for 20-25 minutes or until you can press down in the cake center and it bounces back.
  10. Cool in the pan for 10 minutes and then on a rack until completely cool.
For the salted caramel buttercream:
  1. Place the butter in a bowl of an electric mixer and beat for 3 minutes.
  2. Add sugar one cup at a time, beating between each addition.
  3. Add the caramel sauce, vanilla, and milk. Beat until incorporated.
  4. Store on the counter in an airtight container.
For the cake assembly:
  1. Take one of the layers and turn upside down so that the flat part is on top. Use a fork to poke holes on the cake.
  2. Spread a thin layer of the salted caramel sauce followed by a thin layer of the salted caramel buttercream.
  3. Place the next layer on top of this (flat side down) and follow the same process.
  4. Drizzle the top with more caramel sauce and a few sprinkles of sea salt.
Notes
Place the emptied vanilla bean pod in the milk to get additional vanilla flavor, but be sure to discard it before adding the milk to the batter.

vanilla bean cake with salted caramel buttercream frosting PS – This cake was a group effort. My mom helped bake and frost, my little brother cracked the eggs, and my dad supervised and observed the photography. He will soon be starting a blog called “just b.lee”. Get excited.

 

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Salted Caramel Sauce & An Ode My Mom

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Moms are like this salted caramel sauce:

salted caramel sauce My mom is anyways: Very sweet. Beautiful. Perfect for when I’m bored or am having a bad day and need a boost. May be a tad overwhelming at times. I can get a little sick of it in extra-large doses.

moms. the best. Moms really are the best. I don’t know how they do it. I really don’t. I can’t even keep a plant alive, much less a human child.

And I know everyone supposedly has “the best” mom, but I really do. I could write pages and pages and pages (and pages!) worth of factual evidence to back up this statement, but I won’t. Instead I’ll just keep it to 10 bullet points:

  1. She is able to put up with my father and his antics. Some of his favorite things to yell to her are “Ma, the meatloaf!”, “Feed me woman!”, and “Watch out, old lady Duesterhoeft!” All of them are from movies or shows and are said quite lovingly. They will celebrate their 32nd wedding anniversary in August.
  2. She managed to raise four kids, who all have J names (Jon, Jenna, Jaci, Jordan) and grew up into phenomenal and neat people.
  3. She is hilarious and says funny things like, “I like Candy Crush. It keeps my brain probably good.” and “When I was little I used to wish that Liberace was my dad.” She has an awesome habit of flipping her hair while saying “Seriously.” And she doesn’t mind being the butt of a lot of our jokes. She knows that the more we tease, the more we love. That’s just how our family works.
  4. She supports me in all my endeavors and helps me make all my dreams and ideas become a reality. (Example: this blog)
  5. She is probably one of the coolest teachers at Hutchinson High School. Students love “Ms. D” and her classes. She makes talking about teen issues and learning to sew really interesting. A lot of my friends still use the quilts they made in her class.
  6. She always planned the best birthday parties when I was growing up, like scavenger hunts around the farm and jewelry making parties. Most of these were executed after only getting a few hours of sleep because she stayed up late the night before to make perfectly delicious homemade cakes in various shapes like Minnie Mouse and Daisy Duck. She is still great at party planning and threw my sister-in-law the most beautiful bridal shower last summer.
  7. She never embarrasses me. She may embarrass herself (see #3), but I’ve never been even remotely ashamed to call her my mother.
  8. She is my role model. She helped me understand the importance of chocolate, a positive attitude, creativity, a wrinkle-free shirt, and cleaning the house before leaving for vacation. She taught me how to bake cookies, sew a quilt, separate my laundry, be involved in too many things, procrastinate, raise a family, and enjoy life. She helped make me into the person I am today.
  9. She forced me to try (and stick with) things that I didn’t particularly enjoy at the time and claimed “you’ll thank me when you’re older.” Things like being in 4-H, piano lessons, and marching band. Now, of course, I do thank her for those things.
  10. She is one of my best friends. I can’t imagine keeping secrets from her. I can’t imagine not talking to her multiple times a week. I love hanging out with her and being around her and planning fun things to do with her.

Those 10 bullet points were probably even too much information, but she is just an amazing human being. Plain and simple. She is perfect. Just like this salted caramel sauce.

salted caramel sauce Some sugar, butter, cream, and sea salt is all it takes.

salted caramel sauce This caramel is great for drizzling on ice cream and/or eating straight from the jar. However, it is also delicious in frosting, which I will talk about later this week.

Salted Caramel Sauce
 
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Ingredients
  • 2 cups sugar
  • 12 tbsp unsalted butter
  • 1 cup heavy cream
  • 1 tbsp sea salt
Instructions
  1. Place the sugar into a 2 or 3-quart sauce pan. Heat on a medium-high heat and whisk until the sugar is melted. While the sugar is melting it will turn a little bit clumpy, but it is ok – just keep whisking.
  2. After all the sugar has melted stop whisking, swirl the pan, and continue to cook until it reaches 350 degrees. It will be a dark amber color and will smell delicious. This process can escalate quickly, so be careful and closely watch the temperature so that the sugar doesn’t burn.
  3. Add the butter and stir until melted. The mixture will bubble up during this time.
  4. Remove the pan from the heat and slowly add in the cream. The mixture will bubble up again. Continue to whisk until everything is combined.
  5. Stir in the sea salt.
  6. Let the caramel cool for 10-15 minutes before pouring into a jar.
  7. It will yield about 2 cups. Store in the refrigerator for 1-2 weeks.
Notes
This process goes surprisingly fast. Make sure to have all the ingredients measured and nearby so that they are ready to use when needed.
I was able to make this alone, but an extra set of hands would have been helpful and appreciated.

Inspired by this recipe from Brown Eyed Baker.

I know this ode-to-mothers post is a day late, but I was hanging out with my mom (along with my dad and brother) yesterday. We baked, brunched, laughed, and had a grand time. Therefore, there was no time to post this until right now.

Here are my favorite mother/daughter pictures from the last year:

moms. the best. Happy (late) Mother’s Day to my mom and to all the other fabulous mom’s out there!! You are all so amazing. THANK YOU FOR ALL YOU DO <3

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