Caramel Apple Cream Cheese Crackle Cake (or Pie?)

Do you like cake?  Do you like pie?  I like both, and if you do too then you'll like this cake (or pie - or whatever you want to call it).  I've had the idea for this cake (I'm calling it a cake) for a few months now, but only just got around to making it last week.  It turned out slightly different than I had imagined it would, and in the end the line between cake and pie was slightly blurred.  It's tall like a cake, but has a crust like a pie, and is super ooey gooey inside!

I've been on a bit of a caramel apple kick lately which is kinda weird because I usually only think about caramel apple combinations in the fall, and it's practically Easter! 

I whipped up my latest creation imagining the end result as something slightly different than what it actually turned out to be like, but needless to say I was pretty pleased with the results.  

My cake has a solid crunchy cookie type crust on the bottom and has a layer of cinnamon apples and then a creamy gooey dulce de leche caramel filling. Yum!  But beware!  This cake is sweet.  It's super duper sweet, so don't cut your slices too big. 

Caramel Apple Cream Cheese Crackle Cake

Cookie Crust

2 Cups (250g) Flour 

1 1/2 (335g) Cups Sugar 

2 tsp Baking Powder 

1 tsp cinnamon 

1/4 tsp salt 

1 egg 

1/2 Cup (114g) Butter, melted 

2 Tbs Milk  

1.  Grease a 9 inch round Spring Form pan.  In a large bowl, combine the flour, sugar, cinnamon, baking powder, and salt.  Next, add in the egg, melted butter, and milk. Using a spoon or an electric fitted with a paddle attachment, mix the ingredients together until it forms a dough.  

2.  Press the dough evenly in the bottom of the Spring Form pan, and set aside.  

Apple Layer 

4 Cups Apples, sliced

1 Cup (225g) sugar 

7oz (200ml) Water 

3 - 4 Tbsp Corn Startch 

1 tsp Cinnamon 

1/4 tsp Nutmeg 

1/4 tsp Salt  

1.  Combine the water sugar, cornstarch, cinnamon, salt and nutmeg in a large heavy pot, and and bring to a boil.  Boil for 2 minutes, stirring constantly - the sauce should become slightly thickened.  Add in the apples, cover and simmer until apples are tender, about 5 minutes. Cool and set aside.   

Dulce de Leche Caramel Layer 

8 oz (225g) Cream Cheese, softened 

1 cup (250ml) Dulce de Leche 

3 Eggs 

1/2 Cup (114g) Butter, melted 

3.5 Cups (450g) Icing Sugar  

1.  Preheat oven to 350ºF (175ºC).  In a large bowl, beat the cream cheese and Dulce de Leche together until smooth.  Add the eggs, vanilla, and butter and beat together.   

2.  To assemble the cake, layer the apples on top of the cookie base so that it's completely covered.  

3.  Gently spoon the dulce de leche mixture over the top of the apples until you've used all of the mixture.  *If you pour the mixture directly from the bowl onto the apples the pressure of the mixture may shift your apples all over the place so they're no longer evenly covering the crust.  Bake the cake uncovered for about 45 mins, or until it starts to brown, then cover with foil and bake for an additional 30 - 45 minutes or until the center is slightly giggly, but not runny.  Once done, cool in the fridge overnight before serving.

So what do you think? Is this a cake?  Or a pie?

A Winning Combination

First of all, my apologies for the lack of posts over the past few weeks.  Our home computer was broken so I haven't been able to get to my baking pictures, and I've also had a horrible cold for the last week.  Throw that into the mix along with the pre-Christmas events that I've had going on, and I'll admit I've been pretty useless.  I mean, I haven't even been on Twitter for 7 days!  Me!  Yeah, I know.  It's sooo not like me!   BUT- I'm back now with a few weeks worth of Christmas baking posts that I'm going to try and get up before the big day.   

The first Christmas event I went to this year was actually back in November.  It was a product launch hosted by Sainsbury's for their new Taste The Difference (TTD) Christmas & Party Food product range. I had a fabulous evening chatting with the lovely folks at Sainsbury's and learning about the products in their new TTD Christmas range.  I was impressed to hear that their Panatonne is sourced straight from Italy, and comes from an old family recipe passed down from generations. There was plenty of delicious food on hand to sample including miniature Thai Fish Cakes, Steak & Ale Pies, Chicken & Bacon Pies, and the cutest little paper cones filled with tiny pieces of fish & chips!  

 

More Christmas Appies

They also had some delicious prawns rolled in a crispy wonton wrapper and then tied at each end to look like a mini Christmas cracker - too cute!  I washed all of those delicious appies down with several glasses (ok, more like 5 - it was a long day!) of the new Sainsbury's Hibiscus Pink Fizz which was sweet and delicious - one of my favourite things of the evening.  Another favourite of the night happened to be their new Mince Pie Ice Cream.  It's deliciously creamy, with chunks of mince pie folded throughout.  I think it would be amazing on a nice hot waffle drizzled with a bit of syrup.   

Mincemeat Pies & the delicious Mince Pie Ice Cream!

For those of you who aren't familiar with a mincemeat (or mince) pies and tarts, they don't actually have real meat in them.  At least they don't anymore.  Mince pies have been a traditional Christmas treat for hundreds of years, and traditionally they did contain real meat, along with fruit and spices.  Nowadays mincemeat is made using a mixture of dried fruit such as apples, raisins, currents, candied citrus peel, brown sugar, spices and brandy. I'll admit that when I first moved here I was quite put off by mincemeat pies.  Perhaps it was just the name, or that I wasn't used to the combination of strong flavours, but after being surrounded by boxes and boxes of mince pies at work during the weeks leading up to Christmas, I actually found myself growing quite fond of them.  Mincemeat pies aren't very common in Canada or the US, but I do know that you can purchase pre-made mincemeat in a few Canadian stores (not sure about American ones), but I don't recall ever seeing any pre-made pies or tarts available. 

A month or so ago Sainsbury's sent me a jar of their new Taste The Difference Mincemeat filling.  Since mince pies are so common during the Christmas period, I decided to try and use my jar of mincemeat for something other than the predictable pie.  I've come up with a few delicious recipes that make a great alternative to the traditional mincemeat pie.  The first one is a delicious Apple Crumble with a few spoon fulls of mincemeat tossed in to create a Chrsitmassy twist on a classic dessert.  

Mincemeat Apple Crumble 

6 Apples of your choice.
1/4 heaping Cup mincemeat filling
1/4 tsp Cinnamon
1/8 tsp Nutmeg 

2/3 Cup + 2 Tbsp packed (155g) Brown Sugar (called Dark Muscavado in the UK)
1/2 Cup (63g) Flour
1/2 Cup (45g) Oats
3/4 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp nutmeg
1/3 Cup (75g) Butter, softened 

1. Pre-heat oven to 365F.  Grease a dish of your choice. I used a 6x8 deep casserole dish, but an 8x8 glass pan would work as well. Peel and slice your apples, and place them into your dish.  Sprinkle with cinnamon and nutmeg.  Dump in the mincemeat and stir until mixed throughout (If your dish isn't deep enough, you may have to combine the apples and mincemeat in a separate bowl before putting it into your baking dish. 

2. In a large bowl combine brown sugar, flour,  oats, cinnamon, nutmeg and softened butter. Using clean hands, combine everything together in the bowl by tossing the dry ingredients together with the butter, and then squeezing the butter together with the dry ingredients until well combined.  Really squish it around so everything is moist and mixed together.  The mixture should crumble into little balls - break up any really large ones.   

3. Sprinkle the crumbly mixture on top of the apples and bake for 35 - 45 minutes, until apples are tender and the topping is golden brown.  The juice from the apples should be bubbling through the edges of the dish and crumbly topping when done.  Let the apple crumble cool for about 20 mins, and serve over vanilla ice cream. 

** This apple crumble is absolutely delicious, even without the added mincemeat.  If you don't feel like added in the mincemeat to the apple crumble, it can be made without and served over the Waitrose TTD Mincemeat Ice Cream.  The first few times I tested out this recipe I used Gala apples, but then I made a full sized version using Granny Smiths for a dinner party I had and I think I preferred it with the Granny Smiths, although both were really tasty.  

 

And now for the part you've all been waiting for!  The winner of the Cupcake Bag giveaway is: 

Congratulations Liz!!!  I'll be in touch shortly to get your mailing details, but if you see this before I email you then feel free to contact me with your details.

Sticky Caramel Apples

I don't know when the last time I had a caramel apple was.  A rough guess would probably be over 20 years ago, but for some reason I really got the urge to make a batch this year.  Halloween is quickly approaching which signals the start of the holiday season for me.  It also means that I get to look back on nearly 30 years of Canadian holiday traditions - most of which I don't get to see here in the UK.

Halloween is a relatively new thing over here, and it's for kids only.  No crazy adult parties with everyone decked out in costumes, no one really carves a pumpkin or decorates their yards to look like graveyards, and worst of all there are no traditional home baked Halloween treats!  Kids are just beginning to trick or treat which means that the adults who own the doors these kids are knocking on probably aren't aware that Halloween is making it's way "across the pond." 

Over the next few months my blog will be filled with traditional Holiday treats, including some UK ones I've grown to love since moving here 2 years ago.  

Anyway, back to the apples!  For North Americans (more for Americans I'd say) caramel apples are a pretty traditional snack around Halloween.  They come in every size and flavour imaginable, and have become pretty trendy lately with specialty stores selling nothing but gourmet caramel apples covered in everything from drizzled chocolate to crushed oreos and gummy bears.  I decided to keep it simple and used finely crushed oreo crumbs and some cute milk and white chocolate stars.

 

Making caramel apples is fairly easy, all you'll need is some caramels, a small amount of heavy cream, candy to decorate and of course some apples! 

I'm not sure if they sell chewy caramels like this in the UK.  I've never seen them, but to be honest I've never looked.  I have a feeling that Werther's Original Chewy Toffee pieces would probably work though.  I bought my bag of Caramels way back in August when I went back to Canada - yeah, they were already selling Halloween candy back then! 

Try using different sizes of apples. I found some cute mini ones that would be good for kids. The one in the middle formed some bubbles in the caramel that look like creepy warts :-s

Caramel Apples

6 apples - I prefer tart ones like Granny Smiths
14oz (400g) chewy caramel pieces
2 Tbsp (30ml) heavy cream
6 popsicle sticks 

1. Start up by inserting a popsicle stick into each apple, and then place them in the freezer for 15 minutes (this helps the caramel set). 

2.  In large glass measuring cup, melt your caramel pieces in the microwave together with the heavy cream, and stir until smooth.  Try melting the caramels for 1 minute, and then 30 second intervals after that.   

3. Take your apples out of the freezer and dip them into the melted caramel using the popsicle stick as a handle.  Start by plunging each apple directly into the caramel, rotating it with the stick to help coat the apple evenly.   

4. Once covered, pull the apple out of the caramel and let the excess drip off.  If you'd like to put any "toppings" on your apple, now's the time to do it.  Immediately after I take the apple out of the caramel I place it in the oreo crumbs and let it set.  The caramel will set quite quickly if you're apples are cold, so you'll also have to work quickly!  Make sure you set your apples on some kind of non stick surface like a greased plastic lid or a silicone baking mat so they don't stick! That's pretty much it!

You can eat these apples off the stick, but I prefer to cut mine up into sections and share it with someone else.  I find that they're quite filling and there's a lot of chewing involved, so I couldn't eat a whole one.