Everyone loves a caramel apple but they aren't that easy to eat and there's always the risk of expensive dental repairs afterwards. For that reason, I came up with this cocktail a few years ago and it has certainly become a fall favorite. Serve it as a cocktail or as an adults only dessert at the end of the evening.

The perfect fall cocktail: my Caramel Apple Martini.

Put martini glasses into the freezer to chill them. Drizzle caramel sundae syrup into the chilled martini glasses and put them back into the freezer while you mix your drinks. Make a design like a flower, polka dots, a spider web for Halloween parties, etc. Be creative! I wanted mine to look like a caramel apple.

In a cocktail shaker filled with ice mix:

2 parts Butterscotch Schnapps

2 parts Sour Apple Pucker Schnapps

1 part vodka-- use plain vodka or adjust the recipe by using vanilla vodka for a sweeter drink or Vox Green Apple vodka for an extra apple kick. I prefer the vanilla vodka but it may be too sweet for some people.

Shake and pour into the chilled and decorated glasses. Yum. Now go enjoy the weekend. This will certainly make it better.

When I was a kid, my mom would make us a cake or pie everyday... usually it was pie but on occasion, she would make Apple Dapple Cake... a recipe she got from someone along the way. It was one of the few recipes she actually used and I have a copy of it in her handwriting... a treasured possession. I took that basic recipe and made it into one of my favorite fall desserts by adding the hot caramel because what is more fall than caramel apples? I like to serve it slightly warm with a scoop of vanilla ice cream.

I served this cake to over 300 guests at the after-party following the Hangout's Oyster Cookoff in November to rave reviews. My mom would be so proud.

Caramel Apple Cake is a wonderfully easy cake to make for fall tailgates, festivals, or Saturday morning coffee.

Prep Time: 15 minutes

Cook Time: 1 hour plus 15 minutes

INGREDIENTS

3 cups flour

1 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon baking soda

1 1/2 cups pecans, chopped fine

3 apples, peeled and chopped fine

1 1/2 cups vegetable oil (like Wesson)

2 cups sugar

3 eggs

2 teaspoons vanilla

HOT CARAMEL SAUCE

1 cup packed brown sugar

3/4 cup whole milk

3/4 cup butter (1 1/2 sticks)

DIRECTIONS:

Spray a tube pan with Baker’s Joy or grease and flour it. Preheat oven to 350.

For the cake: Sift together flour, salt, and baking soda. Add apples and pecans. Stir to coat the fruit. Mix together oil, sugar, eggs, and vanilla. Add to the fruit mixture. Bake at 350 degrees for one hour. Remove from the oven and sit on a wire rack to cool. While the cake is still hot, pour the caramel sauce over it and then let it cool completely before removing from the pan.

For the hot caramel sauce: Put the sugar in a saucepan over low heat until it starts to melt. Add the butter. Swirl the pan until the butter melts. Add the milk. Bring to a boil, reduce heat to low and cook for 3 minutes, stirring constantly so it does not burn. Pour the hot caramel directly over the hot cake while it is still in the pan. Be careful- the hot sugar will burn!

NOTE: It is important to pour the caramel over the cake in the pan because it creates this great coating on the bottom, side and top of the cake. As much as you want to eat it, you have to allow it to cool completely before you remove it from the pan. Run a knife around the edge of the pan to help release it.