OMACT! or Oh My Apple Cake Tatin

Hello Gorgeous. Mmmm your caramel is showing.

Okay! so as some of you may or may not be aware, I am a refugee, hopelessly self-banished from my home due to a complete lack of interesting parents. Today however, I was forced to spend the evening at home in the company of my papa.

"Where's my damn cake!?" my dad chides, referencing my half hearted promise to bake him something in remuneration for helping my fix my car.

"Oh...you're serious," I groan disparagingly, "Hold on."

Screw those store bought cakes. Pshaw to those dry layer cakes with too much frosting. Apple Cake Tatin, I choose you! Thank you once again, Ina, for providing me with a tasty, challenging and thoroughly entertaining evening. Before you freak out over the decidedly French name, this recipe had to be one of the easiest cakes I've ever made. Originally, the recipe was called Plum Cake Tatin and it consisted of 10-12 plums slaughtered and doused in boiling sugar all topped with a body bag of tender cake flecked with lemon zest. I don't know about you, but in my mind the only thing a plum is good for is curing constipation, and frankly...I don't need my dessert to coax any unwelcomed visitors out of me. I used apples because I've been thinking about caramel apples since I walked by the Rocky Mountain Chocolate Factory at the Legends this afternoon, and Anne Burrell did an Apple Tart Tatin on her show a couple weeks ago and I wanted to best her.

Okay, so The most difficult part about this cake is making the caramel. You have to make sure you have real cane sugar (some off brand sugars are made from beets rather than sugar cane, and thus don't caramelize), and you MUST watch it carefully. I was trying to slice apples while it was boiling away and if I hadn't turned around when I did, I would've had a pan full of burnt shit rather than golden amber deliciousness. By the grace of Gaga, I turned around right as the sugar was reaching the desired temperature (360 degrees). So WATCH YOUR SHIT! Okay, so slice the apples fairly thin. I cut them into about 1/2" slices and carefully splayed them out in a nautilus pattern. Once this was accomplished and my sugar was perfectly browned, I drizzled the boiling caramel over the fresh granny smiths.

The batter is fairly basic. Flour, baking powder, a tiny bit of salt, butter, sugar, two eggs, sour cream, vanilla and a sprinkling of lemon zest and you're set. Pour the batter over the caramelized apples and pop it into a 350 for 30-40 minutes. So wonderful. The caramel melts into the light refreshing cake and the apples nestle in as though snuggling into big puffy duvet. Honestly, try this cake it's so simple and absolutely the most delicious cake I've ever made

For the full original recipe, click here --->http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/ina-garten/plum-cake-tatin-recipe/index.html