Fall Spice Cake with Caramel Fudge Icing

Fall Spice Cake with Caramel Fudge Icing

Come late September early October, my mind turns once again to baking.  One of the memories that also returns is of my Dad’s favorite, spice cake.

 
In an article titled How Smell Works, Sarah Dowdey tells us “smell can bring on a flood of memories, influence people's moods and even affect their work performance.  Because the olfactory bulb is part of the brain's limbic system, an area so closely associated with memory and feeling it's sometimes called the emotional brain.”

While Dad’s favorite was spice cake, my favorite is anything caramel.  Put the two together and “fall” in love with these smells and make your own memories.

Fall Spice Cake

2 1/2 cups cake or all purpose flour
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon nutmeg
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1 teaspoon ginger
1/2 teaspoon allspice
2 sticks (1 cup)unsalted butter
1 3/4 cup sugar
1/2 teaspoon salt
3 fresh eggs
1 cup milk
1 tablespoon lemon juice

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees and butter and flour two 9 inch cake pans or a 9x13 pan.

Cream the softened butter, sugar, and salt together until fluffy. 

Butter-Sugar-Salt-Eggs

Continue to beat in one egg at a time, beating well after each egg.
Measure all of the dry ingredients into one bowl and mix them together.
Measure the milk and lemon juice into a separate container.
Alternately, beat the dry and the wet ingredients into the butter, sugar, and eggs, beginning and ending with dry ingredients as follows: 1/3 dry - 1/2 wet - 1/3 dry - 1/2 wet - 1/3 dry.
The batter will be light and fluffy.  Spoon it evenly into the cake pans and spread it out.

Bake for approximately 25-30 minutes until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean.  You may bake this as a 9x13 or in cupcakes or even mini muffins but vary the times accordingly.

Once baked, turn the cake(s) out to cool on a rack.

 

Caramel Fudge Icing
1 stick (1/2 cup) unsalted butter
1 cup dark brown sugar
1/4 teaspoon of salt
1/4 cup milk or cream
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
3-4 cups of confectioner’s sugar

Melt the butter with the brown sugar in a saucepan.  Bring it to a boil and cook it over medium heat for 2 minutes, stirring constantly.  Remove the pan from the heat and add 3 cups of confectioner’s sugar.  Beating with a spoon or a mixer until smooth, add the vanilla and the additional cup of confectioner’s sugar.  The mixture should be thick but still pour-able.  If it gets too thick, warm it again gently and add a touch of milk.

While the mixture is thick but pour-able, pour a puddle on the first cake layer.  Spread it quickly with a knife and put the second layer on top.  Quickly pour the rest of the icing around the cake making ribbon like motions or just let it drip down the sides and empty the remaining icing into the center of the top of the cake.  It is important to work quickly with this icing because it is like fudge.  It will set up quickly.

UMmm. UMmm. Memories, light the corners of my mind, Misty watercolor memories of the way things were...  Remembering you Dad!




Also just in case you see it and are curious.  The plate does say something... it has a drawing of a turkey, a tipi, and a little Indian and it says "Two Bobbe - Ray, 1976"  That's when my son was 6 and he made the plate for me in school - yes, more memories...

Enjoy!

Caramel Apple Upside Down Cake

Caramel Apple Upside Down Cake

My husband could eat butter cream icing from a bowl with a spoon any day of the week, but it is the main thing that I don’t like about cake.  I’ve found a delicious way around dealing with icing and that is the old fashioned upside down cake.  I’m going to give you two versions of this cake so that you will be free to experiment with any fruit you like.  It seems like such a great answer to never having to deal with icing again.  I make them frequently with whatever fruit I have on hand or that is in season.

I make a version of this cake with my frozen Flathead cherries that is beautiful and delicious too.  If you’re using frozen fruit or canned fruit, be sure to drain the fruit before using it in this recipe.  There are just 2 basics steps to this recipe.  The topping, which goes into the pan first, and the cake.

Upside Down Cake

Begin all cakes with a generous spray of Pam or similar vegetable spray on the 9 x 9 x 2 inch deep square pan or a pan that will accommodate the cake.
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. 

Heat the butter, sugar, and vanilla to make a sauce.

The topping:
4 Tablespoons butter
3/4 cup brown sugar (for caramel apple) OR 3/4 cup white sugar (for other varieties)
1 teaspoon of vanilla (for caramel apple) OR 1 Tablespoon of lemon juice (for other varieties)

Melt the butter, sugar, and vanilla or lemon juice in a small sauce pan over low heat until the sugar melts and the mixture bubbles.
Pour into the prepared pan and coat the bottom of the pan.

Layer the fruit on top of the sauce.

2-3 Apples or fruit of your choice
Add a layer of apples or any fruit to cover the bottom of the pan.  (Apples, cherries, peaches, pears, apricots, and pineapple of course) Fresh apples like I used can have a double layer or overlap significantly as they do shrink.  Other more moist fruit won’t shrink.

 



The cake:
1 stick butter
1 cup sugar
2 large eggs
3/4 teaspoon salt
2/3 cup of milk (or use apple cider for the apple cake)
1 ½ cups sifted flour
1 ½ teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon vanilla

Sift together the dry ingredients into a bowl and set aside.
Cream together the butter and sugar.  After this becomes light and pale, add the eggs one at a time and then the vanilla.

Continue beating adding ½ the dry ingredients, then the milk, and follow with the other half of the dry ingredients.
Spoon the batter onto the top of the fruit and bake until the cake is well risen and golden brown.  At around 45-55 minutes, the cake will be firm to the touch, a tooth pick inserted into the center will come out clean, and the cake will begin to pull away from the sides of the pan.

Apples shrink so add twice as many as you think.

Have a plate or platter ready to receive the cake.  Run a knife around the edges to make sure it is free.  Immediately upon removing it from the oven, invert it onto the plate.  Leave the pan inverted for a few seconds, up to a minute and then gently lift it off.  Should any of the fruit have stuck to the pan, you can quickly transfer it back to the cake.

Allow the cake to cool and serve with a little whipped cream.  You won’t miss the icing.