I am here to say, “I do not have a fear of fruitcake”. I have been called a fruitcake on more than one occasion, but I take it as a complement. My mom used to make honest to goodness fruitcakes at Christmastime to give as gifts. I don’t actually remember eating her fruitcake, but I do remember tying ribbons around them. They were like bricks made out of fruit made pretty with a red bow. “Merry Christmas, by the way be careful not to drop it on your toe……”
In your mixer beat the eggs with the sugar for 2 minutes. Add mayonnaise and mix until incorporated, but no need to go crazy.
Now alternate your dry ingredients and the 1/3 cup of milk. The batter will be sticky, like fruitcake batter, annoyingly tacky and ooey gooey. Do this until dry and wet are completely incorporated.
Sorry, I digressed on the apple peeling and song singing. Peel and chop your apples, add them along with the raisins to the batter.
Like I said you can do muffins, layer(2 9″) or 9×13 sheet cake with this recipe. What ever floats your apples.
It will only fill the pan half way no worries it will rise. Remember this is a dense cake, however, it will not raise up past top of pan.
Place in oven for 40-45 minutes at 350 degrees.
While cakes are cooling you can start to make your “no fail caramel frosting” that’s the original name. I’m just going to call it Caramel Maple Frosting.
Can I hear an Amen for brown sugar and butter! And another….Amen! Someday when I am old and nuttier, I’m going to take a bath in this stuff. But for now I’ll just melt the brown sugar, butter and salt over medium heat in a saucepan.
Whisk to blend and create a creamy caramel. Writing about brown sugar made me think of Mick Jagar….ever see him in concert? He’s a freak of nature. I saw his Steel Wheels Tour at the Pontiac Silverdome, in Detroit….yes, that was a long time ago…and oh I’m sorry I didn’t mean for you to loose your appetite by bringing up Mick Jagar. Moving right along………
This is liquid gold. It is extremely valuable and never to be wasted. Pure Maple Syrup. I buy my syrup from a maple farm just 10 miles south of me. I would share the info, but it is so “mom and pop” that I just have their personal home phone number that was given to me by a friend. This stuff is the insiders secret maple syrup. The moonshine of syrup.
Add the vanilla and milk. Whisk. Let cool for 5-10 minutes. Then add 1 cup of powdered sugar.
You could get out your hand mixer at this point, or you could whip the dickens out of the frosting with your whisk and give your wrist muscles a good work out.
You want the frosting to be loose, not stiff. Gradually add the last 1/2 cup of powdered sugar and beat with whisk until smooth. Add chopped nuts if you like. I always use pecans, but I believe my mom used walnuts….didn’t you?
If you are a lover of caramel, this frosting is going to push you over the top. Salty, maple, buttery….finger licken’ good!
I also made muffins from the batter. For the muffins I cut the frosting recipe in half and left out the nuts, spooning it over the hot muffins right out of the oven.
If I haven’t said it already…I’ll say it again. Fall is my favorite time of year for food. Summer is good, but Fall is the BEST! So many comforting foods. This cake recipe is definetly one of my comfort foods. I hope you find it comforting too.

It's 7 am and that is what I want for breakfast. So yummy. Those would not last long in my house! Thanks for sharing all the delicious details. I made a yummy apple recipe yesterday, too. I have a whole bunch I need to use up. Luv u!
This looks so amazingly good. I'll have to try it when our weather gets cooler!
Do you need my address or do you remember how to bring me over goodies? Those look AMAZING!
This looks fan-dan-tas-tic! I will for sure try this…maybe minus the raisins…wonder if it would spoil the flavor?
That is intense! I have to try this!
Melissa I think you could leave out the raisins, but they really just add to the moisture of the cake, you hardly notice them…are you allergic? 😉
Sophia, I is intense, the frosting is crazy good. Hope you do try it!
That frosting looks too good to be true! Yum 🙂
Sheila, I am dying to try this one–especialy the frosting! Looks great! Ooooh la la
I AM afraid of fruit cake, but your recipe and tips just might have given me hope! Great job!
Blessings-
Amanda
OK…that was SOOOO good. Quote from Mr. F
Are these the muffins you brought to our most recent Meet The PRC???
YES! ; )
They are DELISH!!!