I have a pretty good feel for recipes, and as I was making this I could tell that the sugar was a little high, and while I really like apples in my recipes, it seemed like quite a bit for the amount of batter as well. But I decided to just go for it and see what happened because this recipe is in this same basic form in tons of different places around the internet. It’s obviously been around for a long, long time so it must work just fine.
And sure enough. I was experimenting with pans this particular time, which is why you see mine in 2 8-inch rounds instead of the standard 9×13. See, something amazing happens in the oven when all that extra sugar starts cooking and caramelizing and turns into this to-die-for delicately chewy crust around the outside and top. Don’t be weirded out if your cake looks like a brain on top. The brain is the best part. (I’m going to now get emails about how I grossed someone out. It also happens every time I use the word crap. Crap, I just did it again. And I did it in the opening paragraph. Strike 3.)
Guys, this cake is SO GOOD. It’s so moist (see? It’s good enough for me to actually use the word moist) and there are so many apples in there that it’s almost more of a cake/cobbler. You could just shovel it in bowls over ice cream instead of cutting into nice slices.
We could not. Stop. Eating. And I did drizzle caramel on mine because heck, it seemed like a natural thing to do, but it totally doesn’t need it. The cake is sweet enough, that plain vanilla ice cream or whipped cream is the perfect compliment.
You can see how the top is all bumpy and crackely, kind of like it was made to catch melted ice cream. Put this one on your must-make list!
