Usually I am not the type that uses a boxed cake mix to make a cake. I thoroughly enjoy making almost everything from scratch. BUT there are some times in a girls life where she doesn’t have the time and can’t make something from scratch. Or she is so tired she wants to bang out something so she can take a bit of a nap. That was me yesterday. I was up at five, made the Chocolate Espresso Loaf, worked, did laundry, cleaned and wanted a nap. So I made this recipe. It is an old standby from when I just started to cook. The recipe is originally from Kraft Foods.

Caramel Apple Cake
1 package (2-layer size) yellow cake mix (do not use cake mix with pudding in the mix)
1 package (3.4 oz.) French Vanilla Flavor Instant Pudding
1 cup water
4 eggs
1/3 cup oil
3 Granny Smith apples (peeled and coarsely chopped)

* I also added 1 teaspoon of cinnamon and 1 teaspoon of vanilla just because I like both flavors!

Heat oven to 350. Grease and flour a bundt pan (I used a mini bundt pan). Beat first five ingredients in large bowl with mixer on low speed until blended. Beat on high speed 2 minutes. Fold in chopped apples. Pour into prepared pan.
Bake for 50 minutes to 1 hour (for a large bundt pan – 30 minutes for the mini bundt pans) or until toothpick inserted near center comes out clean. Cool cake in pan 15 minutes. Loosen cake from side of pan; invert onto wire rack. Gently remove pan. Cool cake completely.
Transfer to plate and drizzle caramel over!

* You can make the caramel drizzle with 20 caramels and 3 tablespoons milk.  Just microwave the caramels and milk in microwaveable bowl on high for 1 1/2 minutes, stirring every 30 seconds until blended. Cool 10 minutes or until slightly thickened. Drizzle over cake. But I just used store bought caramel to drizzle over. Less of a mess and more time for me to nap!

{Caramel Apple Cake}