Apple Oatmeal Cake with Brown Sugar Caramel

It's always 'Ashley make dessert' whenever I'm invited to anything. At this point it seems I have no choice. So when we were invited over for a small retirement party of course I made dessert. It was slightly difficult being that the entire weekend we tore up the old hardwood floors in our kitchen and the boards underneath. With that being said, it meant none of our appliances were where they needed to be and I hadn't been to the grocery store. When this happened I resorted to my pantry and used what I had, considering by the time we were able to move the oven back to where it belonged it was 8 PM on Sunday night. Oy vay. That was an exhausting weekend if I ever knew one but at least you get an amazing cake out of it. The glaze was a total accident too. I just looked up brown sugar glaze and whatever combination my ingredients created was heaven. It was pretty much like a cinnamon caramel and I was eating it by the spoonful.

Apple Oatmeal Cake with Brown Sugar Caramel
Yield ~12 servings

1/2 vanilla cake mix
1 cup whole wheat flour
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 package vanilla pudding mix
1 pack apple cinnamon instant oatmeal mix
1 pack cinnamon spice instant oatmeal mix
2 eggs
3/4 cup oil
2/3 cup water
3/4 cup sour cream
1 tablespoon vanilla

Glaze
1/2 cup brown sugar
3 tablespoons butter
1/4 cup heavy whipping cream
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon

chopped pecans

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. In a bowl mix the eggs, oil, water, sour cream, and vanilla. Then add in the cake mix, flour, sugar, instant oatmeals, and pudding mix. Pour into a 9 inch cake or springform pan. Bake for 1 hour or until toothpick inserted comes out clean. In a pan bring the brown sugar, butter, and whipping cream to a boil. Reduce to medium heat and stir until sugar is disolved (about 5 mintues). Take off heat and stir in the cinnamon. Poke some holes in the cake after it's cooled some and pour the glaze on top then sprinkle the chopped pecans on top of the cake.