I've got a dreamy gluten free salted caramel apple cake recipe for you today!
But please don't judge me for this… I have a confession to make: I used a boxed cake mix for this recipe. Before you all start unsubscribing, just hear me out!
I've told you how crazy our 2nd year of homeschooling has started off (it's getting a little better), well on top of that, we had three different groups of friends visit in September. We love having people over, and by planning the gatherings all close together like this it means I only do the big housecleaning once, ha! But it was a busy time for sure. For all of these get-togethers, we had one or two friends coming who are avoiding gluten, and I wouldn't have had time to make two desserts, so I knew I had to make just one really good one. Since I also didn't have time to experiment with recipes, I took my friend Sonia's word for it that this gluten free cake mix comes out really moist and perfectly delicious, and it's one of the rare times (only time?) that I've included anything boxed in my recipes here on the blog. Although I used to mostly cook with boxes, before I knew better. But I did make homemade frosting!
This gluten free salted caramel apple cake was a really yummy fall treat. Also, if anyone has a tried and true homemade gluten free cake recipe, feel free to share in the comments!
Gluten Free Salted Caramel Apple Cake
Ingredients
Ingredients for cake:
- One box of gluten free yellow cake mix Wow, that hurts to see the word ‘box' here.
- 1/2 cup butter or ghee preferably pastured butter + 2 Tablespoons melted
- 4 eggs
- 2/3 cup milk read about healthy milk options here
- 1/4 teaspoon sea salt
- 1 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
- 3 organic or chemical-free apples apples are a highly sprayed crop, chopped into small pieces
Ingredients for salted caramel frosting:
- 2 cups organic cane sugar yes, that's a lot of sugar, but that's how you make homemade caramel, and this isn't something you will make very often!
- 1 cup milk
- ½ cup palm shortening melted
- ½ cup butter or ghee melted
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- ½ cup butter
- ½ teaspoon sea salt
- 1 1/2 cups organic confectioner’s sugar
Instructions
Instructions for cake:
- Mix the cake according to directions using the ingredients above, and also add in the salt and cinnamon, then stir in the apples. Using a rubber spatula, scoop the batter into a buttered bundt pan.
- Bake at 350* for about 42-44 minutes. Just feel the top to see if it feels fairly firm and then it's done. Let it cool as directed on the box.
Instructions for frosting:
- Stir sugar, milk, palm shortening, butter and baking soda in a medium saucepan over medium-low heat, continuing to stir as it cooks. Cook until it's at about 235*, but I got sick of checking it with my thermometer, so I just watched until it started turning a brown color and thickened up, being careful not to let it burn. Until you've made it a few times, just go with the thermometer. Remove from heat and let cool a few minutes. Pour into the Bosch or another mixer, and using the whip attachments, whip it until it has cooled even more.
- Then add the other butter, salt, and sugar, but add the confectioner sugar slowly, and mix on high for a few seconds every so often to incorporate air in. You may not need all of the sugar, or you may need a bit more to get it to the right consistency.
- My first batch frosted perfectly. With my next batch I got too impatient and the frosting was a little more thin, so I just drizzled it over each piece. I served this with vanilla ice cream, be sure to make homemade vanilla ice cream if you have a few extra minutes because it's so much better. Note: This amount of frosting was enough for 1 1/2 cakes, so feel free to use the extra to dip your apples into for more dreamy-liciousness. This frosting was adapted from a recipe I found online here.
Speaking of Sonia, here are more posts by her (that link is just a google search for “Kitchen Kop Sonia” to find all of her recipes, and wow, there are a lot!) Read Sonia’s Health & Nutrition Guest Interview, although now her story would be different since she began eating meat again a couple of years ago or maybe more. (It wasn’t because I annoyed her like crazy about it either, honest!) She said she’ll tell you all about it one of these days. Maybe she'll see this and be inspired… And here’s the interview with her husband, Bob, who is also a great friend! (Those are all old posts, so overlook all the typos and disorganization please.)
Pop Chef says
The caramel coating certainly makes this visually appealing, and anything with apples in it has to be a little bit healthy, right? Thanks for posting this delicious looking recipe.
Beth says
Looks delicious. My oldest requested caramel frosting for her last birthday so this would go over really well at my house.
jmr says
You’re not perfect all the time!!!?? Unsubscribe me now! Just kidding; I hope we all allow ourselves a little leeway now and then. I’ve made the white bean cake Tina writes about and I bet it would be delicious as a caramel apple cake, too.
Anastasia @ eco-babyz says
Thanks! My husband still likes junk store treats, I think this would be a better option! 🙂
Denise says
Powdered xylitol works great for powdered sugar.
tina says
HI Kelly,
This looks so good!! I just wanted to add a note for anyone who might see this and be heartbroken that they can’t make it if they are on sugar restricted life plans right now.
We made something similar to this for a fall event last year. I used a gluten free white bean birthday cake recipe I found on line, and made the caramel sauce with honey and coconut milk so it was sugar and dairy free for my GAPS kids…. and of course, once you process honey into caramel it’s still a processed sugar so we enjoyed conservatively, but it was a safe option for anyone wanting to have this cake and not able to use the sugar or boxed cake ingredients.
🙂
Samantha ryan says
I LOVE that particular brand for gluten free box mixes. Love them! Occasionally of course. 😉
Rhonda says
I have been craving my fresh apple cake ever since fall has been in the air (which is really a figment of my imagination here in southwest Florida!). Recently realizing that my wheat allergy is getting worse and thus banning it from my diet, this cake sounds like a good alternative! Thanks!