I woke up this morning wanting pancakes, but the idea of tending them and flipping them really wasn’t working for me today. It is grim and grey and cold outside today. Perfect baking weather.

Preheat the oven to 375 Degrees Fahrenheit.

Peel, core and slice thinly one apple. Go into the fridge and grab a handful of pecans and chop them up a bit. In a bowl with the sliced apples, put in half a cup of sugar, apple pie spices of your choice, and the zest and juice of one orange, a quarter cup of flour and a few pinches of salt.

In another bowl, put in half a cup of A/P flour, 1/4 teaspoon of baking soda. 1/4 teaspoon of baking powder. 3 tablespoons of sugar, two pinches of salt, and whisk together. In another bowl, put in a cup of milk and two eggs. Beat together. Combine the wet into the dry but DO NOT OVERMIX.

In a cast iron (I prefer enameled) skillet, put in 2 tablespoons of butter and heat until the butter melts.

Pour the batter into the skillet, then dump in the apple mixture and sprinkle the top with the pecans.

Put the skillet into the oven and bake for 30-35 minutes.

While that’s baking, get a cup of sugar and a 1/2 teaspoon of cayenne pepper and quarter cup of water. put them in a saucepan over medium heat. Don’t stir it, just swirl the pan. Once the sugar has dissolved, get out your whisk, drop in about a tablespoon of butter and whisk it into the hot sugar. You now have caramel sauce. Let it cool before you taste it. Sugar burns are no joke.

Test the cake with a toothpick. If you stick it in a cakey part, and it comes out clean and dry, take out your cake. Let it cool for a few minutes, then turn it out onto a cake stand.

The caramel should have set up a bit while cooling. Get a spoon and drizzle some of the warm caramel across the top. Finish with a fine sprinkle of sea salt.

If you have any ganache (melted chocolate with cream) laying about, that’s nice over the top of this too, but I wanted to keep it somewhat simple.

Dig In. 🙂