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Keto Apple Skillet Cake with Salted Caramel Drizzle (gluten free)
It is apple season and you cannot go without baking something in your cast iron skillet even once! Fall festivals, visits to the apple orchard for fresh apples, pumpkins, crunching leaves under your feet, and of course caramel apples!
So many caramel apples that it is only natural to capture the intense fall flavor in the perfect fall dessert, a warm, gooey Keto Apple Skillet Cake with Salted Caramel Drizzle! It has all the moist crumbs you would expect from an apple cake with loads of “caramel-infused apples” flavor.
There are no soft caramel candies needed for this recipe! I show you how to make a delicious homemade 3 ingredient caramel sauce to drizzle over the top of the cake!
Before you get started you will need to go make some of my Keto Apple Pie Filling!
This “apple mixture” is best if it gets a chance to sit overnight in the fridge and thicken up. Making sure it is cold when you put it in the skillet will help to prevent it from thinning out too much.
Now lets make some Caramel Apple Skillet Cake!
First start out by greasing your 10-inch cast iron skillet, or if you want a thicker cake like mine pictured, use an 8-inch cast iron skillet. Make sure you are generous with greasing so the cake will come out when you flip it over at the end.
In a large mixing bowl start by whisking up the wet ingredients until smooth. You can use a handheld electric mixer if you wish, but it is not necessary.
Starting with the large eggs that are at room temperature, whisk in the melted and cooled coconut oil. If you add coconut oil to cold eggs it will turn into chunks and cause a mess.
Now add in the granulated allulose or erythritol and whisk until the alternative sugar dissolves. Set aside. In a medium bowl whisk together your dry ingredients.
Its important to pre-whisk them as coconut flour tends to clump. The easy way to do this is to measure your ingredients into a sieve placed over your bowl. Then all you have to do is push the clumps through without the need to whisk.
Add this flour mixture to the wet ingredients EXCEPT for the tea and whisk until smooth.
At this point you could bake, but I have a special step that takes this Keto Apple Skillet Cake to the next level of apple flavor. Celestial Seasonings makes an apple cider tea that is sugar free and made from herbs. It turned out to be a perfect way to add in some extra apple flavor without the need for an extract!
You will steep 4 bags of Celestial Seasonings apple cider tea in a regular coffee mug. This ensures that it is ultra concentrated like we want. If you want to leave out this step you can, just use water instead. You could substitute a spicy tea instead if you want to stay with the extra flavor.
After the cake batter is mixed you will then add in 1 cup of the concentrated tea. Whisk well. Set aside.
Take your greased cast-iron skillet and spoon in 2 cups of the prepared apple filling into an even layer on the bottom.
Then pour all of the cake batter over your prepared skillet and bake in your preheated oven 30-35 minutes for a 10-inch skillet and 40 minutes for an 8-inch skillet.
Its important for you to let the cake cool for 10 minutes before loosening the sides, placing a plate over it and flipping over. Fair warning, my cake still did stick a little at the edges, but it came out 99%. Once you pour over the homemade caramel sauce no one will even care and it will still look fabulous!
Now you will make the homemade caramel sauce! It comes together quickly in a saucepan and makes extra for another recipe, ice cream topping, or top your pieces with additional caramel sauce after you plate up.
Melt 6 tablespoons butter in a small saucepan until you have browned it. We are looking for the milk solids to brown but not burn. There is a fine line between browned and burnt and it takes your attention to make sure this doesn’t happen!
This is my favorite recipe that makes caramel without the need for dark brown sugar! I also use allulose in the caramel recipe as well.
This helps to keep the caramel pourable and slightly thin even after being cooled. It will set up well from being thickened but won’t crystallize like erythritol will.
My favorite brand is by Wholesome Sweeteners and is a blend of allulose and erythritol.
Now that the butter is browned, quickly pour in the heavy cream and whisk vigorously. This helps to combine the fats together and get them to emulsify. Now add in the allulose sweetener. Whisk well and turn to medium heat.
Wait until it starts boiling, then turn down to low to simmer. It will take 4-5 minutes for it to simmer and start to thicken up. The best way to test if your caramel is ready is to dip in a spoon.
Does it coat the back of the spoon? If it coats the back of the spoon like this in the video, then you are ready to remove it from the heat.
Set it aside to cool slightly.
You can make both the cake and caramel sauce ahead of time if it is for a special occasion. Just warm up the caramel sauce a little in a saucepan to make it pourable.
Now you will assemble your salted caramel apple cake by drizzling the caramel over your cooled cake. You can also add a pinch of fine sea salt over the top as a garnish to really bump up the flavor!
- If you want to use chayote squash instead of the zucchini in my Keto Apple Pie Filling, go ahead!
- Keep in mind that coconut flour cannot be substituted with any other all purpose flour. It is very unique in how it absorbs moisture and this original recipe is set up for the best texture using coconut flour.
- You could bump up the flavor by adding in a teaspoon ground cinnamon to the caramel sauce.
- The ultimate dessert with this Keto Apple Skillet Cake with Salted Caramel Drizzle would be to top it with a scoop of ice cream and then drizzle MORE caramel sauce over it! Oh my, heaven!
Keto Apple Skillet Cake with Salted Caramel Drizzle
Ingredients
Apple Cake
- 1/2 cup coconut flour
- 1/2 tsp baking powder
- 1/2 tsp baking soda
- 1/2 tsp apple pie spice
- 1/4 tsp salt
- 4 large eggs room temperature
- 1/3 cup coconut oil melted and cooled
- 1/2 cup granulated allulose sweetener or erythritol
- 2 tbsp heavy cream
- 1/2 tsp apple cider vinegar
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 4 bags Celestial Seasonings Apple Spice Tea steeped in 8oz water
Salted Caramel Sauce
- 6 tbsp butter
- 3/4 cup heavy cream
- 1/3 cup allulose sweetener
- 1/4 tsp salt
Instructions
- Make the Keto Apple Pie Filling and cool.
- Preheat oven to 375F. Grease an 8-inch cast iron skillet and set aside.
- In a medium bowl, whisk together all of the dry ingredients except for the allulose. Set aside.
- In a large mixing bowl add all of the wet ingredients EXCEPT for the tea concentrate and whisk well.
- Now slowly whisk in the tea concentrate well.
- Spread 2 cups of the prepared Keto Apple Pie Filling into the bottom of the greased skillet.
- Pour the cake batter on top and bake at 375F for 40 minutes.
- Cool in the pan 10 minutes before turning over onto a plate. Place the plate on top of the skillet and in one swift motion turn it upside down.
Salted Caramel Sauce
- In a small saucepan melt the butter over medium heat until it turns brown. Whisk constantly so it does not burn.
- Once it becomes dark brown, not black, pour in the heavy cream and whisk well.
- Add in the allulose sweetener and salt.Whisk well.
- Bring to a slow boil and then turn down to simmer.
- Simmer for 5-10 minutes until it coats the back of a spoon and is thickened well.
- Pour 1 cup over the cooled cake and then serve.
- Extra caramel can be saved in the fridge up to 2 weeks.
- Warm up in a saucepan to bring to pouring consistency again.
Notes
Store your cake covered with plastic wrap or in an airtight container. It will last at room temperature a few days or in the fridge up to 1 week.
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