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When I was around 10 years old, my friend Amy and I tried to bake brownies from a mix. We baked them, and checked them, then baked them some more, then checked them again...those brownies never got done. I think we baked them for nearly two hours, and ended up with brownie soup.

To this day, neither of us knows what went wrong. All I know is that I have a major cooking complex, and I blame the brownies. (Well, the brownies plus about a million other failed kitchen experiments.)

I'm no Barefoot Contessa, that's for darned sure.

While I really stink at cooking, over time I've become a pretty decent baker. I go crazy at Christmas and I bookmark dessert recipes all the time. I don't bake often because I don't like to have that much dessert sitting around my house. But, come fall, I'm always itching to get in the kitchen.

Last fall I tried a new recipe: Caramel Apple Bundt Cake. It's divine. I forgot just how divine until I made it again this weekend — and I have testimonials to back me up. I sent a piece home with my brother-in-law last night and a few hours later Nate received this message from him: "Tell Abby that cake is ridiculous."

Ridiculous, indeed.

I am going to share this recipe with you because I love you and want good things for you. And I'm going to type it here instead of linking to it because it's best if you never know how many calories are in it. Just print up this blog post and make it. Trust me.

Caramel Apple Bundt Cake

Cake Ingredients:
3 cups of flour
2 teaspoons of cinnamon
1 teaspoon of baking soda
1/2 teaspoon of baking powder
3 granny smith apples, peeled, cored, and chopped into 1/3 inch cubes
1 teaspoon salt
1 1/4 cups brown sugar
1 1/2 cups vegetable oil
1 cup white sugar
3 large eggs
3 teaspoons of vanilla
1 cup of chopped pecans

Glaze Ingredients:
1 stick of butter (no substitutions)
1 cup of brown sugar
1/4 cup of half and half
1 teaspoon of vanilla

Directions:
1. Preheat oven to 350 and set oven rack to second lowest position.
2. Grease a 12-cup bundt pan (I'd use butter vs. Pam...less chance of sticking)
3. In a medium bowl, sift flour, cinnamon, baking soda, baking powder and salt.
4. Sprinkle 3 tablespoons of the flour mixture into the bundt pan; tilt pan to coat.
5. In another medium bowl, place the chopped apples and 2 tablespoons of the flour mixture; toss to coat.
6. In a large bowl, combine 1 1/4 cups of brown sugar, 1 cup white sugar, vegetable oil, eggs and vanilla; beat with an electric mixer until combined and thick (3-4 mins).
7. Gradually beat in the remaining flour mixture until combined.
8. Fold in the chopped apples and pecans (your arm will hurt, it's super thick).
9. Transfer to bundt pan and bake for 1 hour or until cake tests done with toothpick.
10. Pull out the cake, set aside. Begin preparing glaze.
11. Melt butter in a small heavy-bottomed saucepan.
12. Whisk in 1 cup brown sugar, then half and half.
13. Continue whisking until glaze is smooth and comes to a boil.
14. Stir in vanilla; remove from heat.
15. Spoon 1/4 cup of the hot glaze over the cake (still in pan).
16. Let the cake sit for 15-20 minutes to absorb the glaze.
17. Turn the cake onto a platter, then pour the remaining glaze over it.
18. Let stand until cool (at least 1 hour) before slicing.