Pretty tempting, eh?

I have made these cobblers with a group of very young cooks, who really enjoyed chopping up the apples and putting everything together, but when it came to the eating part, they gobbled up the whipped cream, sampled the cake, and left the “healthy” part (the apples) untouched at the bottom. I was reminded of many birthday party experiences, where icing and ice cream were eagerly consumed, and carefully crafted cake was left forlornly on the plate.  If I had been smart, I would have had my junior chefs turn their creations out onto a plate, as pictured above. When we made the butterscotch sauce to dip apple slices, huge volumes were consumed, so I knew the flavors were not a problem.

At the development stage of this recipe, I looked to the existing “3-2-1 cakes” for insight (check them out – a neat use of cake mixes). They are certainly quick and easy, and a cake-mix-based recipe for the batter clearly works, but it undoubtedly tastes like cake-mix-cake (not always a bad thing).  I wanted something less sweet and more “homey”, and something that could be made gluten-free if that was required.  As with all baking, my biggest consideration was whether to use an egg or not, and so began a happy day of kitchen experimentation.  My garbage can consumed a few failed trials — too heavy, too runny, too icky — until I got it just right.  The egg-less cake was pretty stodgy, which could probably have been moderated with a tablespoon of white bean canning liquid (Google “Aqua Faba” for more details).

The biggest trick turned out how to get the job done without the caramel boiling out all over the microwave (coffee mug preparations showed their limits pretty quickly).  Not surprisingly, less is more. The recipe got simpler and simpler with each trial.  Hope you like it!