I was recently given a sample of maharaja masala spice from Seasonality Spices and wanted to try it out. To be honest I am not the biggest fan of curry so I wanted to do a recipe that people could use if they had some masala but wanted to try something different. For this recipe I’ll be including the cake, buttercream, and caramel sauce along with some tips and things I would have changed along the way.

Masala Spice Cake:

• 2 C Unsalted Butter (Softened)
• 1 C Brown Sugar
• 1 C White Sugar
• 2 tsp Vanilla
• 8 Eggs
• 2 1/2 Tbsp Masala
• 1 tsp Baking Soda
• 1 tsp Baking Powder
• 2 tsp Salt
• 2 1/2 C AP Flour

Cream together butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Add vanilla and eggs one at a time. Sift together dry ingredients and slowly add to wet. Mix on medium speed until combined (scrape down bowl). Spray two 8″ cake pans and place equal parts batter in both. Bake in oven at 350º for 30-35 minutes until toothpick comes out clean. Remove from oven and let cool on racks. When cake is cooled cut tops to make even on both sides.

Coconut Buttercream:

• 3 C Powdered Sugar
• 1 C Butter (Softened)
• 1/4 C Coconut Milk

In mixer cream together powdered sugar and butter until combined. Add in coconut milk and mix on medium to high speed until smooth. Scrape down side of bowl.

Caramel Sauce:

• 1 C Brown Sugar
• 1/4 C Heavy Cream
• 3 Tbsp Butter

In a small pot whisk together brown sugar, heavy cream, and butter. Cook on medium to low heat for about 7 to 8 minutes until caramel begins to thicken. Remove from heat and let cool.

For the apples I sliced them very thin and placed in a bowl of water with a little bit of lemon juice, this will help prevent the apples from browning while you are placing them on top. I decided to not cook the apples to give the cake a nice crisp crunch factor.

To assemble the cake spread buttercream on bottom layer then place the second layer of cake on top. Continue to frost the cake until evenly coated and smooth on top and sides. Chill the buttercream completely before pouring caramel and decorating. Remove apples from water and place in strainer to drain excess water. Arrange the apple slices on top in whatever style you would like! The one thing I would do differently for this recipe that I discovered is that you want to wait until the caramel is fully cooled and as thick as can be, I was a little impatient when I poured it on and it was still a little too runny, you can see the difference in pictures from it being too runny. Live and learn I guess!

I was very happy with how the cake turned out and though the maharaja masala was a perfect fit for it. So a special thank you again to Seasonality Spices for the masala! I look forward to trying out some of their other spices! As always thank you again for reading and if you have any questions feel free to ask!