Mini Caramel Apple Cakes
These would be perfect to make for your fall bake sale, or a fantastic dessert for adults on Halloween night. Don’t forget about Thanksgiving…and Christmas…and Tuesday (because really they are easy enough to make on a weeknight).
Servings: 6 cakes
Ingredients
- ½ cup finely chopped pecans
- 1 ½ cups all-purpose gluten-free flour blend
- ½ cup granulated sugar
- ½ cup packed brown sugar
- 1 teaspoon cinnamon
- 1 teaspoon xanthan gum
- ½ teaspoon sea salt
- ½ teaspoon baking soda
- ½ teaspoon ground nutmeg
- ¼ teaspoon ground allspice
- 2 large eggs room temperature
- ¼ cup plus 2 TBSP canola oil or melted coconut oil
- ¼ cup plus 2 TBSP unsweetened applesauce
- 1 teaspoon gluten-free vanilla extract
- 1 ½ cups peeled and diced granny smith apples
For the caramel glaze:
- ½ cup packed brown sugar
- ¼ cup butter
- 3 tablespoon milk or half and half
- 1 teaspoon gluten-free vanilla extract
- 1 cup powdered sugar
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350 degrees and spray a mini bundt pan (the kind with 6 wells) with cooking spray. (Alternatively, make cupcakes and line a muffin pan with liners). Set aside.
- Place the pecans on a baking sheet and bake for 8-10 minutes or until lightly golden brown and fragrant. Set aside.
- Mix the flour, sugars, cinnamon, xanthan, salt, baking soda, nutmeg and allspice in the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment. Add the eggs, oil, apple sauce, and vanilla and beat until smooth. Gently mix in the apples and pecans by hand.
- Spoon the mixture equally into the wells of your prepared pan and bake for 18-20 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center of one of the cakes comes out clean. Cool in the pan for 5 minutes, then turn out onto a rack to cool completely.
- Make the glaze. Heat the butter and brown sugar together in a medium saucepan. Boil for 1 minute, whisking constantly, and remove from heat. Stir in the milk, vanilla and powdered sugar and beat with a whisk until smooth. Drizzle the glaze evenly over the cakes.
Notes
These sweet cakes just sing fall. Chock full of sweet tart apples and smothered in a rich caramel glaze, it’s hard to stop after just one. If you don’t have a mini-bundt pan, make cupcakes instead. To feed a larger crowd, double the cake recipe and use a large bundt pan.