Reviewed: Oct. 18, 2009

This cake was very average. I really wanted to like this cake and I didn't think you could go wrong with apples and caramel but this recipe proved that it is possible. Even with the adjustments made based on other reviewers (i.e. 1 cup sour cream and 2.5 apples), it was very dry and dense and the crust was very hard and chewy (perhaps the flour should be cut down to 2 cups?) This wasn't horrible, but not worth the calories. I will not make this again as there are better recipes out there (i.e the Butter Rum Glazed Applesauce cake on this site, or the Apple Spice Cake on marthastewart.com). Regarding the sauce, I will add the brandy as an ingredient to the caramel sauce recipe from Martha Stewart. This is a great basic sauce to use on pancakes, baked apples, or perhaps on the Pear Cake recipe from this site.

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Veggie Girl

Cooking Level: Intermediate

Home Town: Half Moon Bay, California, USA

Living In: San Jose, California, USA

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Reviewed: Oct. 5, 2009

This recipe and the Brown Sugar Sauce that goes with it are requested by everyone who has had a piece of this cake.

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WOLFERHONDA

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Reviewed: Sep. 22, 2009

I left out the nuts for a personal preferance. Overall it was a keeper. Will make again. Its a nice fall recipe.

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Tia

Cooking Level: Expert

Home Town: Morton, Illinois, USA

Living In: Peoria, Illinois, USA

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Reviewed: Sep. 16, 2009

delicious, its a heavy cake, which I like very much. My family and I liked it better without the brown sugar sauce.

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debbie

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Reviewed: Aug. 11, 2009

Delicious I like to use different flavours of yogurt to replace the sour cream. You don't have to at all, this recipe is fantastic, but it gives you more flavour and aroma options. Blueberry is a good one. I sell at markets and as soon as I open up the container the smell really hits the shoppers. Followed everyones advice for baking time. First time I went for the 45 minutes and it wasn't completely cooked in the middle (still really good like that though). Second time for an even hour and it was perfect.

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craiglalonde

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Reviewed: Jan. 23, 2009

I cooked mine for the full 1.5hrs at 375 and it turned out quite dark (should have read the reviews beforehand - see picture). In the end though, the cake turned out very tasty. Not too dense, but not light either. Haven't tried the brown sugar sauce yet, but it sounds like a winner.

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Darryl

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Reviewed: Dec. 25, 2008

Good. Would not separate mixture next time.

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macgral

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Reviewed: Oct. 19, 2008

This is a pretty nice coffee cake. Some reviewers said not to press the mixture into the bottom of the pan, but I disagree--the crust is the best part of the cake, and it looks nice too. My modifications were to use only one cup of sugar and 2.5 apples. Also, I didn't find the cake dense at all, and I would add a full cup of sour cream next time. I have a 3-year-old oven that cooks rather fast, so I did a toothpick test and took the cake out at 45 mins. It was NOT enough--a few parts in the centre of the cake were still gooey, so I would probably go to a full hour next time. I put foil on top of the cake at around 40 minutes to prevent over-browning. I will definitely make this again.

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DetectiveL

Home Town: Toronto, Ontario, Canada

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Reviewed: Oct. 8, 2008

I don't usually make a recipe for co-workers unless I have tried it myself, but I experimented this time and it worked out great. I made the Brown Sugar sauce to go with it and it was great too. Thanks for the recipe, I will make this cake again.

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Leeanne O'Donohue

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Reviewed: Aug. 30, 2008

Delicious and moist. I used a bundt pan, and baked for 45 minutes. It was great even without making the sauce!

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Pattie D

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Reviewed: Jul. 24, 2008

Family loved it even more the day later! Very moist! One thing I would change would be to not press the crumb mixture into the pan, but rather let the apple-mixture soak into it, so it would be less of a pie-crust thing (because after a day the crust got hard and chewy and wasn't coherent with the texture of the apple cake).

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spainandkaffiene

Cooking Level: Intermediate

Home Town: Melbourne, Victoria, Australia

Living In: Toronto, Ontario, Canada

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Reviewed: Jul. 23, 2008

It was good. I left the nuts out of the crust and I baked it for the full 1 hour and 20 minutes, the last 20 I covered it in foil. It turned out perfectly, not overbaked, and was quite yummy with vanilla bean ice cream.

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ShellyW

Cooking Level: Intermediate

Home Town: Regina, Saskatchewan, Canada

Living In: Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada

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Reviewed: Jul. 19, 2008

Fantastic! It's not too heavy and pleasantly moist. Brought it to a party and everyone loved it! ...add some ice cream and it's even more splendiferous ;)

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MissRebeccaEmily

Cooking Level: Intermediate

Living In: Vancouver Island, British Columbia, Canada

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Reviewed: Apr. 29, 2008

I opted to make this cake without the brown sugar sauce. On its own, it is quite tasty, but quite frustrating to bake all the way through. I had to tent it with aluminum foil from about 40 minutes on, checking every five minutes to see if it had cooked through. I ended up baking mine for a little over an hour. I found that, although it tasted great, it did not hold together very well, and the cake separated entirely from the crust-like bottom. Overall, I would serve this to family with a scoop of vanilla ice cream, but wouldn't trust it to hold together for company.

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kpenn

Cooking Level: Intermediate

Home Town: Toronto, Ontario, Canada

Living In: Windsor, Ontario, Canada

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Reviewed: Jan. 31, 2008

Not much flavor, really, besides the butter. Leaves a greasy feel to the mouth and a bit too greasy for the tummy, too.

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simplechef

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Reviewed: Jan. 28, 2008

An hour was way to long to bake. Couldn't even eat the crust. I might try this recipe again using a lot less cooking time. Not sure though.

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sparkysarah

Cooking Level: Expert

Home Town: Worland, Wyoming, USA

Living In: Sheridan, Wyoming, USA

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Reviewed: Nov. 3, 2007

I followed reccomendations of others... heavy on apples, easy on the sugar, and reduce either the temperature or the cooking time. Without the sauce, it was a moist cake-like concoction. The caremely nuts on the bottom were a nice treat. Overall, it wasn't anything incredible. It is a good cake for people who like a more delicate, less sweet cake. I'll try it one more time with the sauce.

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MARANITA5

Cooking Level: Intermediate

Home Town: Brownsville, Texas, USA

Living In: Boynton Beach, Florida, USA

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Reviewed: Nov. 2, 2007

This is fabulous. It will be especially good as an autumnal dessert. The sauce reallly make it!

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Krista

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Reviewed: Jun. 7, 2007

This is abxolutely wonderful, I made it for my little brothers and they wanted to eat the whole pan full! I will definately made this again and again. a few things I did differently: used whole wheat flour, and sucanat instead of sugar, also in the sauce, I omitted most of the ingrediants and just mixed 1/4 cup of butter, and 1 cup of brown sugar on the stove, and it really added to the flavor of the cake.

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Jacqueline B.

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Reviewed: Apr. 29, 2007

This was very nice. I used almonds instead of walnuts as I don't like walnuts. At first I thought the cake wouldn't work as the crumble base part was very dry and the batter part was also dry. The cake actually turned out quite moist. The brown sugar sauce went very well with it.

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