Dulce de Leche Caramel Apple Cake

By garciamoss

Ingredients

• For Crumb Mixture:
• 1 cup room temperature butter
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 tablespoon lemon or lime juice
• 2 eggs
• 2 teaspoons Mexican vanilla extract or regular
• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 2 cups coarsely chopped apples, Granny Smith (I used Braeburns)
• 1 1/2 cups dulce de leche caramel, softened slightly in microwave before adding to recipe.
• 1/2 teaspoon ground anise
• 2 teaspoons cinnamon (freshly ground if possible)
• 8 tablespoons flour
• 8 tablespoons brown sugar
• 8 tablespoons cold butter

Details

Adapted from hispanickitchen.com

Preparation

Step 1

1. Preheat oven to 375ºF. Use 1 large loaf pan or a 10-inch round cake pan (I used Pyrex 10-inch round), spray liberally with cooking spray. Place the pan on a baking sheet lined with foil paper, in case it spills over in the oven.

2. In a large bowl, cream together the butter and sugar until creamy. In a separate bowl, dissolve the baking soda into the lemon juice. Mixture will foam up; that's normal. Once dissolved, add the baking soda mixture, eggs and vanilla to the butter and beat to combine.

3. Add the flour and salt until thick batter has formed. Stir in the chopped apples with wooden spoon or silicone spatula.

4. In a bowl combine the crumb ingredients, cut the butter in to the mixture with a pastry cutter, set aside.

5. Spread ½ the batter in the bottom of pan. Sprinkle heavily with ½ the crumb mixture, and drizzle ½ of the dulce de leche caramel on top. Repeat with another layer of each batter, crumb and caramel.

6. Bake for 1 hour or until knife inserted near the center comes out mostly clean. After cooling slightly, remove the bread from pan and allow to cool completely on a wire rack.

7. Bread can be stored up to 2 days at room temperature, wrapped tightly. Yields up to 10 servings.