Dulce de Leche Apple Cake

Blustery fall days call for... APPLE DELIGHT! I am not usually an apple dessert fan; I don't love apple pie or apple crisp but yesterday I was inspired by the changing leaves, cool breeze and my mom's homemade apple sauce. This recipe caught my eye not only because of the fall flavors but because it also used dulce de leche.

I've been wanting to try to make dulce de leche for a while but never found a recipe that called for it. I will never make it again for fear that I may eat the whole bowl before being able to use it for anything..... it's that good.


Anyway, this cake was fabulous! Tons of apple-cinnamon flavor, creaminess from the dulce de leche, not to mention the brown butter icing it's topped with. I will admit, it didn't come out the most visually appealing, but once you tasted it that didn't matter.

One last thing... I bought Nixon a Halloween costume. I thought it would be funny and ironic to make him the animal he hates most... a squirrel. Boy, is he handsome and he sure LOVES to wear it! If that's not the face of a happy dog then I don't know what is!?


Dulce de Leche Apple Cake with Browned Butter Icing
Adapted from recipegirl.com

Cake:
- 1½ cups all-purpose flour
- ¾ tsp baking powder
- ¾ tsp baking soda
- ¾ tsp ground cinnamon
- ½ tsp salt
- ½ cup butter (1 stick), softened
- 1 cup packed light brown sugar
- 2 large eggs
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 1½ cups chopped, peeled apples
- ½ cup dulce de leche*

ICING:
- 2 tbsp butter
- 1½ cups powdered sugar
- ¼ tsp vanilla extract
- 1½ to 2 tbsp half and half cream**

Preheat oven to 350°F. Grease and flour a 9 inch round baking pan. Combine flour, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon and salt. Set aside. In a large mixing bowl, beat butter, sugar, eggs and vanilla until fluffy. Stir flour mixture into sugar mixture, just until combined. Carefully stir in apples (sprinkled the apples with a little cinnamon sugar before incorporating them into the cake mix). Spoon 2/3 of the batter into the prepared pan. Drop dulce de leche by heaping tablespoons over batter. Drag a butter knife through dulce de leche to swirl through the batter. Drop remaining batter over dulce de leche. Bake 25 to 30 minutes, or until browned and firm to touch. Let cool completely.

Prepare icing: In a small saucepan, heat butter over medium until it begins to brown. Remove from heat. Add to a bowl with powdered sugar, vanilla and half/half. Beat on high speed with electric mixer until creamy. Drizzle and spread over bars, and chill until icing is set

Baking Notes:

*Find the recipe I used to make dulce de leche here.

** I used heavy whipping cream for the the icing because I didn't have half/half. The icing was too thick and didn't glaze the way I wanted. I will definitely use half/half next time.