This cake is heavenly. Seriously, I had people tell me that it’s the best cake that they’ve ever had and I can’t say that I disagree with them. It was incredible.
I originally got the recipe from the Whole Foods website while I was looking for organic recipes to make for an Earth Day party that Bryan and Umut had the weekend after Earth Day. I had wanted to find a recipe that I could use local ingredients for, but since it’s still very early in the growing season here in Kansas there wasn’t much to choose from locally. I’ve had good luck with recipes from Whole Foods before and I really like the premise of the store, so I decided to go this route. It is definitely a cake that will stay in my recipe collection.
Just be sure when you bake the cake that you actually have 2 9” round cake pans that are 2” deep. Otherwise, it’s going to end up all over the oven. . . lesson learned!
Ingredients For the Caramel Cake 2 cups whole wheat pastry flour 1¾ cups all-purpose flour 1 tablespoon baking powder 1½ teaspoons baking soda 1½ teaspoons ground cinnamon ½ teaspoon fine salt 1½ cups light brown sugar ¾ cup canola oil ¾ cup unsweetened applesauce ¾ cup jarred caramel dessert sauce or dulce de leche 2 teaspoons vanilla extract 3 eggs 1½ cups buttermilk
For the Apple Frosting 5 cups (about 1¼ lbs.) confectioners’ sugar ½ cup (1 stick) butter, softened 1/3 cup apple cider or apple juice ½ teaspoon ground cinnamon Pinch of fine salt
Dried apple slices (optional)
Preparation For the cake, preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease and flour two (9-by-2-inch) round cake pans; set aside. In a large bowl, whisk together whole wheat pastry flour, all-purpose flour, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon and salt. Set aside. In a second large bowl, beat sugar and oil together with an electric mixer until well combined, about 30 seconds. Add applesauce, dulce de leche and vanilla, beat for 30 seconds, then add eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition. Add flour mixture in three parts, alternating with the buttermilk, and continuing to beat until well combined.
Pour batter into prepared cake pans and bake until golden brown and a toothpick inserted in the middle of each cake comes out clean, about 40 minutes. Set aside to let cool for 10 minutes, then gently loosen cakes and turn out onto a cooking rack; set aside to let cool completely.
For the frosting, put sugar, butter, cider, cinnamon and salt into a large bowl and beat with an electric mixer until light and fluffy, about 5 minutes. Arrange one cake on a large plate and spread about 2/3 cup of the frosting evenly over the top. Arrange second cake on top then frost top and sides of entire cake with remaining frosting. Decorate with dried apple slices, if you like, then set aside at room temperature or in the refrigerator for at least 1 hour to allow frosting to set before serving.
Nutrition Per serving (about 6oz/169g-wt.): 550 calories (160 from fat), 19g total fat, 5g saturated fat, 60mg cholesterol, 350mg sodium, 92g total carbohydrate (3g dietary fiber, 67g sugar), 6g protein