Cake Duchess' Caramel Apple Bundt Cake with Nutella Ganache

In absolutely no way had I intended to make this cake. The truth is that I was looking at Cake Duchess' beautiful post and cake, which you can find here (especially if you want to make it since I won't re-post her recipe), and reflecting on two things. The first is how she got me hooked on Nutella, which is odd because I don't like chocolate.

I further pondered the fact that I believe I like Nutella because it takes me back to my youth and seeing round containers sitting on the counters at many check-outs in stores. In those containers were small square chocolates called Ice Cubes. They had an unbelievable icy feel and the taste was unique because it contained hazelnut. Just like Nutella. Every time I taste it, I remember loving Ice Cubes.

The second think upon which I was reflecting was the fact that if you look at the top photo of Cake Duchess' original version of what I've made, I think you can actually see someone sitting in the chair in the reflection that her glossy ganache makes. Will someone else please go look and tell me that I'm not seeing things? Again, the picture and recipe are here.

While I was reflecting on the reflection, Dudette walked by and said in an awed, hushed voice, "Oh Mommy! What IS that? Are you going to make it?" Like I had any choice after that. If I had just been faster with my mouse and cursor on the little red x.+

I did make the cake this afternoon. Since I didn't have any caramel apples and Halloween is over, I opted to buy apples and caramels and make my cake just a tad differently than Ms. Duchess. Rather than folding in the cored and sliced caramel apples, I put half the batter in my pan, then lay the apple slices carefully over the batter, chopped up caramels over that and a drizzle of the ganache I had already made over that. Then I carefully poured the rest of the batter over the top, spread it out and baked the cake. Once it cooled, I poured the ganache over the cake and voila.
When trying to think of the best words to use to describe this, "holy cow" comes to mind. The chocolate, I can take or leave, but the cake is one of the most tender and moist white cakes I've ever made. It was outstanding. The apples and caramel work in it (ok, ok, yes, the Nutella ganache does too) but it's the actual cake recipe that holds everything together (literally and figuratively). It is fantastic.

Thank you for sharing this wonderful recipe with our family Cake Duchess. We loved it.