Caramel Apple Cake

Simple, homey, comforting apple cake

– the perfect tea time treat for fall.

It’s fall and the time of year when it just seems right to put apples and cinnamon in everything. And what goes perfectly with apples and cinnamon, why caramel of course!

Filled with apples and topped with a delicious caramel sauce, this cake is quick, easy and oh so good. It makes for the perfect fall treat with its warm cozy flavors.

You start off by making a simple oil based cake. Followed by folding in chunks of apples and toasted walnuts. Finish off by drizzling the mist freshly baked cake with a thick velvety caramel sauce, a sauce which literally takes minutes to make, and is SO good..

Caramel Apple Cake
Servings: 10-12
 
Ingredients:
 
Cake
·         2 cups all-purpose flour
·         ¼ tsp salt
·         ¾ tsp baking soda
·         ½ tsp cinnamon, optional
·         ½ cup walnuts chopped
·         1 cup vegetable oil
·         1 cup granulated sugar
·         2 eggs, at room temperature
·         ½ tsp vanilla
·         2 cups apples, peeled and chopped into 1/2″ thick pieces
 
Caramel Sauce
·         ½ cup brown sugar 
·         2 Tbsp milk 
·         45g salted butter 
 
Directions:
 
For the cake:
Preheat oven to 180˚C. Grease a 9-inch spring form pan or a Pyrex dish with butter or oil.
In a bowl, whisk together the flour, baking soda, cinnamon and salt. Set aside.
In a large bowl, beat the eggs, oil, vanilla and sugar on medium speed with an electric mixer until well blended.
Mix in the dry ingredients until just combined.
Using a wooden spoon, mix in the walnuts and the chopped apples.
Bake the cake until golden brown about 45 to 50 minutes or until a toothpick inserted comes out clean.
Once the cake is done, poke it all over with a fork or a skewer. Pour the prepared sauce over hot cake while still in the pan. Give the cake a few minutes to absorb the sauce before slicing and serving.
For the sauce:
1.       Place sauce ingredients into a small saucepan over medium heat. Stir constantly and bring it to a gentle boil. After it begins gently boiling, continue to stir and allow to cook for about three minutes on low heat. It should be loose and will lightly coat the back of a spoon.
 
Notes
·         You can choose not to use the caramel sauce. In that case, let the cake cool for 10 minutes, dust with icing sugar and serve.
·         I like to toast my walnuts before adding to the cake batter. To toast walnuts, simply heat them on low heat in a nonstick frying pan for a couple of minutes until they are light brown and fragrant.
 
 
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Salted Caramel Chocolate Tart

A fancy shmancy dessert, worthy of consumption only for the above-average chocolate fanatic.

A dark chocolate all-butter cookie crust, lush salted caramel, and an incredibly decadent chocolate ganache –Salted Caramel Chocolate Tart

Hi everybody, I’m baaaaack! NIMUN was awesome, thanks for asking!

No, but really, I had a great time.

For all of you who have no idea what I’m talking about, NIMUN is an international model UN held at my college last week. I was part of the OC and stayed on campus the entire last week, and had the time.of.my.life! And thus had been MIA. Also, because, finals. Eh. Let’s not talk about them.

Let’s, instead, talk about the gorgeousness I’m sharing with you today! Yes people>>> it’s none other than a SALTED CARAMEL CHOCOLATE GANACHE COOKIE TART.

There, the whole dessert, each of its beautiful bold layers perfectly inundated, by the name.

A dark chocolate all-butter cookie crust, lush salted caramel, and an incredibly decadent chocolate ganache –Salted Caramel Chocolate Tart

A dark chocolate all-butter cookie crust, lush salted caramel, and an incredibly decadent chocolate ganachethis Salted Caramel Chocolate Tart is sure to grab your attention! Heck anyone’s attention! Perfect for the coming Valentine’s Day. Jussayin’ 😉

aamaz-2A dark chocolate all-butter cookie crust, lush salted caramel, and an incredibly decadent chocolate ganache –Salted Caramel Chocolate Tart

This tart is not your average chocolate dessert. It’s a fancy shmancy dessert, so rich; so indulgent; so very scrumptious, you’ll be coming back for more and more, knowing the disastrous effects its having on your waistline; totally shamrockin’ your “new-fit-me” New Year resolution.

A dark chocolate all-butter cookie crust, lush salted caramel, and an incredibly decadent chocolate ganache –Salted Caramel Chocolate Tart

This extra decadent tart has three parts to it; the crust, caramel, and chocolate ganache, but they’re all very easy.

It’s the long never-ending wait in between the making of each layer that kills you! Other than that, it is one simple dessert to make; the varying texture of each layer creates magic in your mouth. This takes more time to prepare, but itisworth it!

A dark chocolate all-butter cookie crust, lush salted caramel, and an incredibly decadent chocolate ganache –Salted Caramel Chocolate Tart

A dark chocolate all-butter cookie crust, lush salted caramel, and an incredibly decadent chocolate ganache –Salted Caramel Chocolate Tart

We begin at the base of this delicious dessert: the dark chocolate cookie crust!

A dark chocolate all-butter cookie crust, lush salted caramel, and an incredibly decadent chocolate ganache –Salted Caramel Chocolate Tart

You start off by creaming together your butter, icing sugar, egg yolks and vanilla.

Then fold in the flour, cocoa, and salt. Mix till it all just comes together and forms a big clump. Now plop this crumbly mix into a lightly greased tart shell.

The loose bottom tart shell is the way to go but I couldn’t get hold of it. The silicone kind worked wonders, the tart easily slides from it and was much cheaper too.

A dark chocolate all-butter cookie crust, lush salted caramel, and an incredibly decadent chocolate ganache –Salted Caramel Chocolate Tart

Press the dough evenly with your fingers.

Let it chill in the fridge for about 15 to 30 mins, to prevent the sides from slumping.

Then bake it, and allow to cool.

A dark chocolate all-butter cookie crust, lush salted caramel, and an incredibly decadent chocolate ganache –Salted Caramel Chocolate Tart

Next you’re going to be making a caramel sauce by cooking together water and sugar. Once amber, add in; cream, salt, and butter.

A dark chocolate all-butter cookie crust, lush salted caramel, and an incredibly decadent chocolate ganache –Salted Caramel Chocolate Tart

The caramel sauce is really easy and only takes a few minutes on the stove-top.

My only piece of advice here is to stay close while the caramel is cooking. Caramel starts out slow but when it reaches a certain level, it happens fast, and if you walk away to check your Snapchat or charge your phone, you may very well return to a pot full of burnt ingredients. And that would be a downright shame and you’ll have to start all over again.

A dark chocolate all-butter cookie crust, lush salted caramel, and an incredibly decadent chocolate ganache –Salted Caramel Chocolate Tart

This caramel guysss!

I’ve made caramel before but nothing like this. It was beyond my imagination.

Reminiscent of a molten éclair candy. My sisters swooned over it. Everyone was going vavavoom over it.

Chewy and gooey and oh so melt-in-your mouth good.

You’ll find yourself sneaking it in your mouth again and again. But don’t eat all of it, ok? We need some for our tart ala magnifique!

A dark chocolate all-butter cookie crust, lush salted caramel, and an incredibly decadent chocolate ganache –Salted Caramel Chocolate Tart

Next up is your basic Ganache, made juuust pourable.

To do this you’ll simply place the chocolate in a bowl, pour warmed cream over top, and stir like crazy!

A dark chocolate all-butter cookie crust, lush salted caramel, and an incredibly decadent chocolate ganache –Salted Caramel Chocolate Tart

Pour over the caramel, and allow to set.

Then top with an extra chocolate drizzle, just because…why not?

And then sprinkle with sea salt (I might have overdone it a teeny bit), and then dig in!

A dark chocolate all-butter cookie crust, lush salted caramel, and an incredibly decadent chocolate ganache –Salted Caramel Chocolate TartThat first bite though.

Rich, fudgy, and utterly decadent.

The caramel settles just the slightest bit and makes a small layer of fudge-like goodness on the bottom.

Then you have the chocolate that melts slowly in your mouth as you chew.

And the slight tinge of saltiness from the sea salt. *swoooon*

A dark chocolate all-butter cookie crust, lush salted caramel, and an incredibly decadent chocolate ganache –Salted Caramel Chocolate Tart

A dark chocolate all-butter cookie crust, lush salted caramel, and an incredibly decadent chocolate ganache –Salted Caramel Chocolate Tart

Now get thee into the kitchen and make this. Then pour yourself a tall glass of cold milk, or green tea, and enjoy bite after decadent bite.

Salted Caramel Chocolate Ganache Tart with Cookie Crust

Prep Time: 30 minutes                                                                        Yields: 8-10 servings
Cook Time: 35 minutes
Ingredients:
FOR THE COOKIE CRUST:
  • 1 ½ cups all-purpose flour
  • ½ cup cocoa powder
  • 1/4 tsp salt
  • ½ cup + 2 Tbsp butter (125 g), at room temperature
  • ½ cup confectioner’s sugar
  • 2 egg yolks
  • 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
  FOR THE SALTED CARAMEL:
  • 1 1/2 cups (300 g) sugar
  • 1/2 cup water
  • 1/2 cup (120 g) cream1
  • 5 tbsp (70 g) unsalted butter2
  • 1 tsp salt
   FOR THE CHOCOLATE GANACHE:
  • 4 oz (120 g) bittersweet chocolate, chopped3
  • 1/2 cup (120 g) cream
     Coarse sea salt, for garnish
Directions:
  1. Preheat the oven to 180 degrees C. Grease lightly a 9 inch tart pan.
  2. For the crust, whisk to combine the flour, cocoa powder, and salt. Set aside. In another bowl, cream together the butter and sugar. Add in the egg yolks and vanilla, and mix until combined. Little by little, add the dry ingredients until incorporated. The dough may look crumbly, but it should come together easily when you pinch the dough between two fingers.
  3. Press the dough out into your prepared tart pan. Prick all over with a fork, and pop into the fridge for 15-30 minutes. Bake for 15 minutes, then cool completely.
  4. For the caramel, place the sugar and water in a heavy bottomed saucepan over medium-high heat, and cook until sugar dissolves and gets a dark amber color. DO NOT stir.4
  5. Remove the pan from the heat and add the cream. It will bubble up.
  6. Cook for about 1 or 2 minutes stirring constantly with a wooden spoon until smooth. Remove from heat and add butter and salt. Stir well until smooth.
  7. Let the caramel cool slightly before pouring over the chilled cookie crust. Refrigerate for about 4-5 hours, or preferably overnight.
  8. For the chocolate ganache, Heat the cream in a small saucepan. When the cream just begins to boil at the edges, remove from heat and pour over the chopped chocolate. Let sit one minute, then stir until smooth.
  9. Pour the chocolate ganache over the caramel. Spread it evenly and refrigerate for another 2-3 hours before serving. Sprinkle with coarse sea salt and serve.
Notes:
1.       I used Olpers Milk Cream.
2.       I used salted butter, both for the crust and the caramel, and hence reduced the salt amount to ½ tsp in the caramel.
3.       Milk, semi-sweet chocolate, or a combination can be used too. I used Lindt 90% Cocoa which proved to be a bit too dark.
4.       DO NOT STIR when the sugar and water are cooking, otherwise the mix will clump up. Mix only after adding the cream.
Adapted from: Home Cooking Adventure

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