Spiced Apple Bundt Cake with Easy Salted Caramel Glaze

try saying that 3 times fast...HA!

Recently I was invited to join a group of bloggers in a Cooking Challenge hosted by Sheryl at Lady Behind the Curtain. I'm always up for a good challenge, so I said "I'm in!"

Every month she assigns 2 ingredients that must be used in a recipe. This month's challenge?
APPLES & CARAMEL. What a yummy combination!

Here is the recipe I have submitted for the challenge...

Spiced Apple Bundt Cake with EASY Salted Caramel Glaze

Cake Ingredients:
2 cups flour
1 1/2 cups sugar
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/8 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1/4 teaspoon ground cloves
1/2 cup milk
1/2 cup butter, melted
1/2 teaspoon vanilla
3 large eggs
3 cups apples, cored, peeled and chopped
Cooking spray

Cake Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350°
2. In a large bowl, combine flour, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, nutmeg, and cloves; set aside.

3. In a mixer fitted with a paddle attachment, combine butter and sugar. With mixer running on low, carefully add milk, eggs and vanilla; stir until well-blended.
4. Mix in dry ingredients.

5. Fold in chopped apples. 

6. Spoon batter into a 12-cup Bundt pan coated with cooking spray. 

7. Bake at 350° for 45-50 minutes or until a wooden pick inserted in center comes out clean. Cool in pan 10 minutes; remove from pan. Cool completely on wire rack. (adapted from Cooking Light, December 2000)

Now, on to the glaze!

This caramel sauce is seriously the easiest thing to make (spoiler alert! you make it in the microwave!) and it's soooo good!

Glaze Ingredients:

1/2 cup butter

1 cup brown sugar

1/4 cup light corn syrup

1 teaspoon vanilla

1/2 teaspoon coarse sea salt

Glaze Directions:

1. Place butter, brown sugar and corn syrup in a microwave-safe bowl (I use an 8-cup glass batter bowl).

2. Place bowl in the microwave for 1 minute on high. Stir. Repeat for 5-7 minutes, stopping and stirring after each minute, until the sauce gets bubbly.

3. Add vanilla and salt.

4. Pour hot glaze over cooled cake.

This caramel recipe makes quite a bit. You'll probably only need about half for the cake. 

Use the rest to drizzle over ice cream, popcorn, dip apples or eat it by the spoonful.

Or all of the above. 

Just don't eat it with a spoon while it's hot out of the microwave...it will be very hot!

ENJOY!!

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