Recipe: Mini Apple Cakes

My lonely mixer has been begging to be used and I had the perfect recipe for it. This recipe is for mini apple cakes with a caramel glaze given to me by cousin Krista [thanks!]. The cake is good by itself, but the glaze is just OOOHH SOO yummy.  Served with a scoop of ice cream it is irresistible! This would be great to have in the fall. Don't they look so good?!  This recipe makes about a dozen mini cakes.

Ingredients for the cake:                                    
1 1/2 cups of all purpose flour                                          
1 cup of sugar                                                                            
1/2 tsp baking soda                                                                
1/2 tsp salt                                                                                  
1/2 tsp of cinnamon
1 tsp vanilla
2 eggs
1/2 cup of canola oil
2 cups of finely chopped green apples
1/2 cup pecans hopped pecans or walnuts

For the glaze:
1/2 cup brown sugar
3tbsp butter
1/2 tsp vanilla
1 tbsp heavy cream

The How to:

Heat oven 350 degrees.

1. Combine the flour, sugar, baking soda, salt and cinnamon.  Stir to mix everything together.  See my tins, I am still in love with them.  

2. In a large bowl, mix the eggs with a mixer until light in color and foamy.  Add the oil and vanilla and beat well.  Stir the flour mixture with a wooden spoon and continue stirring the batter until the flour disappears.

3. Add the apples and nuts.  Stir to mix them into the batter.  Cutting the apples was the hardest part of this recipe. 

4. The batter was a little different than regular cake batters.  It was all stickyish.  I was a little uncertain at first but it ended up just fine. 

5. I placed them in these little bundt molds.  My first time using silicon and I have to tell you that I really like it!  The cakes popped right out!  

I cooked mine for about 15 minutes in these molds.  The amount of time it takes depends on your molds or cake pan.  An 8 inch round pan takes about 40-45 minutes.  Aren't these little cakes so cute!! I would love to serve these at a tea party or something.  

To prepare the glaze:

Combine all the ingredients into a saucepan.  Cook over medium heat, stirring often until the mixture comes to a gentle boil.  Cook for three to five minutes.  

The glaze is really what brings the little apple cakes the wow factor.  Without them, they kind of taste like banana bread but with apples.  It is also best to serve both warm and fresh.  This is a yummy recipe that has already made it to our family cook book.